by Ward Maia
Rudá paused his attempts to try to organize the desk and turned to Ellis. “I could tell you about her.”
Ellis looked up at him, surprised and suspicious of the offer. He opened his mouth to ask why, but Rudá cut him off.
“After I feed you and show you around a bit. It’s late, but there are still a few things to see and people to meet.”
Ellis glared at his use of “after I feed you,” but his anger diminished when Rudá flashed him one of his full dimpled smiles. The one Ellis was already growing accustomed to.
“Deal,” he said.
Rudá glanced at the ledgers Ellis still held, and Ellis’s grip around them tightened. But Rudá said nothing as he gathered the remaining documents, closed the windows, and ushered Ellis out of the office.
His movements were automatic and economic, as if he’d tidied and closed Meredith’s office thousands of times. But they were also careful, almost caring, made evident by the way he tapped the handle three times after closing the door, a soft smile playing on his lips.
The bright dimpled grin replaced the soft smile when he turned back to Ellis, but it felt forced.
Neither man spoke as they climbed the stairs, leaving the office behind and Ellis nowhere closer to finding a solution so he could just go back to Rio.
Chapter 7
“THE WORKERS are going to start again next week full-time. Most of them have already started to trickle into town and will also be arriving next week,” Rudá said as they walked along a dirt road.
He’d been going on and on about all the things that would start happening over the next weeks as the harvest kicked into full force.
Ellis only half paid attention. After foraging enough ingredients to make him a sandwich, Rudá’s grandmother gave him an earful about skipping lunch. Rudá only smiled and translated enough words for Ellis to understand that was what she said but had otherwise left him to try to make sense of her rapid-fire Borun. Which, of course, he hadn’t.
Afterward he took Ellis for a tour of the house, showing him the main rooms and introducing Ellis to some of the people who worked there. Ellis tried paying attention to the names, faces, and jobs the people he met performed, but his mind kept wandering back to the scribbled notes next to his and his sister’s birthdays. He couldn’t even appreciate the beautiful wooden furniture or how smooth it felt as he ran his fingers over various surfaces, thinking back to the ledgers tucked away in his room.
Then Rudá took him for a walk on the grounds around the house. He told Ellis the house was built in 1890 during the Coffee with Milk Politics period. Which, from what Ellis could remember from history class, was a period marked by agreements between the elites of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. Since both provinces represented the biggest electoral votes of the time, they had united their political and economic forces to control the political scene through a relay in the power of presidents. Since back in those days there was no such thing as secret votes, the rich people in power basically ran the country.
So, not much had changed over the past century.
“I thought you said this region produced and exported milk.” Ellis tried to pull his thoughts away from dead estranged family members and focus on the impromptu history lesson he was receiving.
“Actually, Minas Gerais was also an important producer of coffee, and it sometimes surpassed the milk production. No one really knows why Minas became known for the milk and São Paulo for the coffee,” Rudá answered.
“Who built this farm?” Ellis asked.
“A retired diamond miner from Diamantina. When he lost the right to mine the land, he took his savings and bought this land.” Rudá gestured toward the dirt road and the house.
“Did it work for him?” Ellis kicked up dirt on the path they were walking. The reddish-brown dust floated in the air and then scattered, coming to rest back on the ground.
“It did. Until he sent his daughter to Rio to study and she ended up marrying some rich boy. He disowned her and was so heartbroken he couldn’t manage the land anymore.”
Ellis frowned. The story seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“You recognize the story?” Rudá asked, a playful smile dancing on his lips, like he had a secret he was dying to share. Ellis nodded, and his smile widened. “You should. It’s about your family.”
“My family?” Ellis stopped and turned to face Rudá.
“Your great-great-grandfather was the one who bought this land when it was nothing but an overgrown forest. He turned everything around and made it into a semisuccessful coffee farm.” Rudá spread his arms and gestured to encompass everything around them once more, from the main house to the coffee stalks that blanketed the rolling hills.
“Really?” Ellis asked skeptically, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “And how is it you know more about my family history than I do?”
“Probably because your great-grandmother ran away with the rich boy she met in Rio and lost her inheritance and her family name. Campos is from your father’s side of the family.” Rudá arched one eyebrow at him.
“She didn’t run away,” Ellis snapped. “She met my great-grandfather the semester she was sent to study in Rio. She chose not to come back.”
Rudá chuckled, seemingly amused Ellis would jump to his family’s defense. Ellis shook his head and resumed walking back to the main house, more questions than he already had to contend with bombarding his brain.
Was Rudá even telling the truth? Or was this just another ploy to get him emotionally invested in the farm? To try to keep him from selling it. Well, the joke was on him. Ellis had little to no interest in his family, living or otherwise, and its history.
The actions of his great-grandmother, Meredith, or even his great-great-grandfather in no way changed his desire to get rid of the farm and return to Rio. To his real life.
At that point, as if sensing Ellis’s confused thoughts, Rudá launched into a monologue about the harvest, detailing the wet process to separate the ripe from the green coffee beans. And Ellis, mind still reeling from learning his supposed family history from what was virtually a complete stranger, thought back to the ledgers and again only half paid attention to what Rudá was saying.
They finished climbing the steps, and instead of going into the house, Rudá turned and sat on one of the benches on the porch. After only hesitating for a moment, Ellis joined him and allowed his body to relax against the solid wooden bench.
The minutes trickled by unperturbed and in silence. Ellis closed his eyes and let the perpetual breeze that seemed to permeate everything wash over him. The day had been long and the temperature oppressive. Some of the mosquito bites he gained while sitting pathetically on the side of the road were still itching. He swallowed, and the dry feel of his throat reminded him that the temperatures were still high despite the cool breeze.
The air around him was quiet, save for the constant rustling of leaves, the distant sound of voices coming from somewhere inside the house, and the steady breathing of the man sitting next to him.
Ellis focused on the sound of air going in and out of Rudá’s lungs and matched his breathing with his. Rudá was sitting close enough for Ellis to pick up the faint traces of coffee and sweat that clung to him and breathe it in greedy gulps.
He was undeniably handsome, with his dark brown skin, warm brown eyes, and impossibly black hair. The one stray dimple he flashed, whenever he wanted to charm Ellis’s pants off, also added to his appeal. In any other setting or circumstance, Ellis would most definitely try to lure him into bed. But the last thing he needed was the complication of fucking the guy who was probably playing him in some capacity. Maybe after he sold the farm and everything was set for him to return to Rio. Maybe then he’d pursue Rudá to see if he was interested.
The loud ringing of his phone interrupted the calm and his thoughts. Ellis jerked and fished it out of his pocket, cursing softly when he fumbled with the device, almost dropping it. Pedro’s handsome face smi
led up at him, and Ellis rolled his eyes, rejecting the call and tossing the phone on the bench next to him.
“Boyfriend?” Rudá asked casually.
“Assistant,” Ellis snorted.
Rudá hadn’t been the first person to ask that. Pedro micromanaged almost every aspect of Ellis’s life, professional and personal. And Ellis was sometimes embarrassed to admit even to himself just how much he depended on Pedro.
“News from the city?” Rudá stretched his arms on the back of the bench, his knuckles bumping briefly against Ellis’s shoulder.
“Maybe” was Ellis’s response.
There was another beat of silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Ellis closed his eyes again, his mind wandering to Pedro and what was happening at the office. If he was back in Rio, he would be gearing up to meet one of his clients for dinner. Or preparing to stay overtime again.
But sitting on Meredith’s porch, the evening stretched on into the night with no plans in sight. The thought made Ellis feel antsy. His fingers twitched, and he sat up straighter, lacing them together on his lap.
Trying to find peace in the quiet was like stuffing cotton into his ears.
“What was she like?” Ellis blurted out, his tongue getting ahead of him in the hopes of filling the fading daylight with something other than the creeping dread brought on by the prospective emptiness of the night.
“Your aunt?” Rudá asked.
Ellis hesitated for a moment, considered dismissing the whole thing, but decided this was as good a time as any to get some information about Meredith Campos. Maybe help him figure out her thought process behind leaving him the farm in her will. Maybe he could even find out about the documents he needed in order to sell the farm. At least that’s what he told himself. Finally, he nodded.
“She was tough.” Rudá reached into his back pocket and pulled out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Ellis’s eyes snapped to the one he pulled out. Rudá raised one eyebrow and offered him the pack. Ellis accepted and took a deep drag after Rudá leaned into him to light it.
Ellis closed his eyes, letting the smoke curl around his mouth and lungs, before releasing it in a huge relieved sigh. Rudá chuckled and just watched Ellis take another deep drag and repeat the process, his own cigarette poised between his index and middle finger, forgotten.
Uncomfortable with the sudden attention, Ellis waved the hand not holding the cigarette, indicating Rudá should keep talking.
Rudá lit his cigarette and pocketed the lighter. “Meredith Campos was… a complicated woman.”
Ellis snorted. “I figured that when she left me this farm without having ever said two words to me.”
Rudá turned his head to survey the patio in front of them, without acknowledging Ellis even spoke. “She loved this farm. Spent every waking moment working here or pestering the suppliers.”
Ellis sneaked a look at Rudá and saw a small fond smile curve his lips.
“How long have you been working here?” Ellis asked.
Rudá turned to look at him, his dimpled grin on full display. Ellis took a drag from his cigarette just to give his hands something to do and flicked the ashes gathered at the tip.
“I started working here about four years ago, after I finished university.”
Ellis nodded, letting Rudá know he was listening.
“But I’ve lived here since I was fifteen years old.”
The cigarette paused midway to Ellis’s lips, and he just stared at Rudá. The other man kept smiling at Ellis and bumped his knuckles on the back of his neck. The unexpected touch jolted Ellis, and he brought the cigarette the rest of the way to his lips and took a deep drag again.
“Let me guess,” Ellis said drily, regaining some of his composure. “She was the saint woman who saved you and guided you to a better path.”
Rudá laughed, shaking his head. His reaction surprised Ellis, but Rudá’s boisterous laughter filled the quiet that had made Ellis antsy only a few minutes ago.
Rudá’s laughs receded and he turned back to Ellis, chuckling. “I showed up here when I was fifteen, demanding a job. Meredith, your aunt”—Rudá pointed the fingers holding his cigarette at Ellis—“bought me a ticket back home and told me to go back to school.”
“Did you?”
“Fuck no. I came back the next day, demanding a job again.” Rudá shook his head and gazed back out to the patio, his eyes taking on a wistful look. “She sent me away again. I came back the next day. And the next. I was a cocky little shit who thought the world owed me something. Every time she sent me away I got angrier, even though I knew she was trying to help me.” Rudá took a long drag from his cigarette as silence descended around them again.
Ellis threw his cigarette butt on the floor and put it out with his shoe. Not wanting to break the silence that had settled over them or intrude into whatever memory Rudá was currently lost inside.
“I came back one night. It was the middle of the harvest, and the coffee beans were separated and laid out to dry.” Rudá lifted his chin and tilted his head to the left, not indicating anything in particular. There was a slight hesitation before Rudá started to speak again. When he did, his voice was rough and low. “I sneaked into the farm and set fire to the beans that were air drying.”
He turned to look back at Ellis, his eyes daring Ellis to judge him, to say something hurtful or offensive. Ellis returned the stare but didn’t voice any of his thoughts. What was there to say? Ellis didn’t know Rudá when he was fifteen. Hell, he barely knew Rudá now. The lawyer in him knew that breaking into private property and setting fire to their product was illegal. He also recognized that he didn’t have enough information to pass judgment on what Rudá had done. In the end, Ellis stayed quiet and waited for the other man to pull himself from whatever silent dark corner he had retreated into.
“They managed to put out the fire before it spread, but a good part of the beans were lost,” Rudá said quietly. He pulled another cigarette from the pack, lit it, and handed it to Ellis wordlessly. Ellis took it and waited patiently for Rudá to speak. “Meredith called the police, and I was arrested.”
Ellis frowned. “So how did you go from juvenile delinquent to foreman of the farm?”
“She didn’t press charges and later told the police it was actually an accident. Then she bought two bus tickets, put my ass in it alongside herself, and took me home. I’d been gone for a few months, and my father was pissed when I got back. The fact that Meredith was actually the one to bring me back only made things worse. He kicked her out of the reservation and locked me inside our house for a week.”
“Still doesn’t explain how you ended up back here.”
“Patience,” Rudá said, brushing his fingers on the back of Ellis’s neck, letting his touch linger before pulling back. “After my weeklong punishment was done, I left and found my way back here, demanding a job.” Rudá smiled. “After pestering her for hours, she agreed to take me in as an apprentice, on the condition I go back to school. Man, I fucking hated having to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to go to school every day.”
“Don’t we all?” Ellis mumbled. The movement made ash from the cigarette poised on his lips fall to his lap, only to be carried away by the warm evening breeze.
“But I loved apprenticing here. Even though your aunt never made anything easy. I used to sneak into her office and hide behind the sofa to listen in to her phone calls. I thought I was so fucking clever. She caught me one day and asked why the hell I thought hiding behind the sofa was a good idea. I told her I had to learn everything I could for when I owned my own farm.”
“Sounds like she wasn’t very fond of you,” Ellis remarked.
“Nah, it wasn’t personal. Meredith just was never really good with people. Or with showing affection.”
“That why she never got married?”
Rudá chuckled, his eyes twinkling at Ellis. His smile looked mischievous. Ellis was sure he was hiding many secrets, but the one dancing on his lips loo
ked to be about something Ellis had said.
“What?” Ellis turned his body partially toward Rudá.
“Who says she never got married?” Rudá asked.
“Did she?” Ellis asked, genuinely surprised.
“Almost. Twice. The first one being the reason she ended up here in the first place.”
“How so?” Ellis crossed one leg over the other and turned to face Rudá.
“Your grandparents wanted her to marry this rich bastard, Beto-something, and she didn’t want to. No one listened to her, so she packed up her bags, grabbed all of her savings from the bank, and left.”
“But why here?” Ellis tapped a finger on the bench they were sitting on.
“Your family is originally from here. I told you this.”
“But she could’ve gone anywhere.”
“Some people want to connect or, in Meredith’s case, reconnect with their roots.”
“Says the man who left everything he knew behind,” Ellis shot back, and the moment the words left his mouth, he wanted to take them back.
Every vestige of Rudá’s smile vanished from his face, and his jaw tightened. His pretty almond-shaped brown eyes flashed with annoyance.
“I left for my own reasons that have nothing to do with giving up my roots and heritage. Your aunt knew that. That’s why she tried to turn me away and send me back to my tribe.”
Rudá’s voice was harsh and his words clipped. Ellis could feel the anger and frustration in every syllable, even if he never raised his voice.
Ellis held Rudá’s glare for a few more seconds before turning away. Being an asshole usually worked well for him in his professional life, not so much his personal one. He could thank his darling parents for that particular trait.
“Did she find it?” Ellis asked, not looking at Rudá “Whatever the fuck she came here looking for?”
There was a tense moment of silence that stretched between them. Ellis didn’t dare break it.
“Yeah, she did,” Rudá said after a while “This place, this land, was everything to her. To us.”