by Ali Parker
It was really starting to look like we may be able to save the farm in the end. I hadn’t wanted to run the numbers too soon, afraid I’d jinx it. Yet at the same time, I already had a list of ideas started with things we could add for next year and various improvements we could make, starting with planting more corn so we could try for a record-setting corn maze.
“This is amazing,” Lucy said, beaming at me from Tyler’s arm. “I knew you guys were working hard over here, but I never expected anything like this!”
“It’s really cool,” Tyler added, nodding his head in agreement.
“Thanks, guys,” I said, grinning at them.
“How’s work been, Lucy? I hope things haven’t been too busy while I’ve been gone.”
Lucy laughed. “Are you kidding? It’s a good thing you guys aren’t open year-round or you might just drive Kinsey and his theme nights out of business!” she said.
I giggled and shook my head. “We’re definitely not going to be open year-round,” I said, stretching my arms and hearing my shoulders pop. “I’m exhausted already, and we still have a few weeks to go.”
“If you need any more help, I can probably rustle some up,” Tyler offered.
“I think we have enough at the moment, I’ve just been running around trying to make sure all the gaps are filled,” I told him.
“The perfect party coordinator,” Lucy said, a smile on her face. “So what’s next for you, once this place closes down? Are you coming back to Kinsey’s? Or headed back to North Carolina?”
I ducked my head, a small smile on my face. “I thought I was going to be headed back to North Carolina,” I admitted. “One of my best friends got me a job offer that would be really perfect for me. But things with Mason have been going really well over the past couple weeks, and we’re making enough money here that it’s looking like I could stay here on the farm if I wanted to.”
“Ooh, that’s great,” Lucy said. She paused. “Mason really is a good guy.”
“He is,” I agreed, absently scanning the crowd for him. I hadn’t seen him in a while, maybe an hour? I kind of lost track of time when we were in the swing of things. I hoped nothing had gone wrong. He must be just as exhausted as I was. Maybe he was off taking a power nap somewhere.
I smiled at the thought. I’d love to go find him in that case and curl up right beside him.
“Aww, look at you,” Lucy said, reaching over to pat my cheek. “You really like him, don’t you?”
I blushed, but kept grinning. “Yeah, I do,” I said, simply.
How things had turned around between us was kind of a mystery to me. The distance between us had seemed so insurmountable not that long ago. I’d been ready to accept the job in North Carolina, but then somehow Mason had quietly started to close the distance. The busier things got around the farm, the more he helped me in little ways, like coming down early in the mornings to help set the table while I put the finishing touches on breakfast; or doing a little cleaning around the house while I worked on yet another ad campaign with Jeff, one that featured shots from his first few photo sessions in the pumpkin patch. We worked very well together, especially when the pressures of a relationship were on the backburner, and we were free to just focus on the task at hand.
The first night, when he’d pulled me aside to tell me that we’d sold out of entry tickets and had to turn people away after selling them tickets for the next night’s event, I’d been so overjoyed that I’d leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him. And he’d kissed me right back.
There was still a measure of hesitance between us. I hadn’t told him that I was planning on staying around yet, though we’d had a couple tender moments that felt filled with a promise for the future. I knew he really cared about me.
“I’m really glad things are going well for you. With Mason and with all of this. We’re headed to the corn maze next,” Lucy told me, “guess we better get going.”
“Go on, enjoy it!” I told her. “Just don’t get lost in there. Kinsey will never forgive me if you end up late to work on my account.”
She laughed, and I watched as she and Tyler wandered away. Turning, I saw that Jeff was nearby. “How was your photo shoot earlier?” I asked.
“It was great,” Jeff said, enthusiastically. “We tried a couple new locations out by that big tree in the back field, and I think we got some good shots. I’m excited to put together a package for them and send it off.”
“That’s awesome, Jeff!” I said warmly. I’d honestly been a little surprised at how popular the photo sessions had been, until I’d seen some of my brother’s work. He had a really good eye for it, I could tell. People were really pleased with what he was printing for them, and his prices were more than fair. We were bringing in plenty of money, but we weren’t charging people through the nose. That in turn brought us more customers, including repeat business.
“Have you seen Mason?” I asked Jeff. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Yeah, he was helping me out with my shoot, sorry,” Jeff said.
I frowned at him. “He was helping with your shoot?”
“We wanted to do this one picture with the two lovebirds up in the tree, on that one branch that kind of swings out across like a seat? So I needed someone to haul a ladder out there. Sorry, I know it’s busy; I should have checked with you first, but I just got to talking with the couple about it and they were really excited.”
“No problem,” I said, shaking my head. “I just wondered where he’d gotten to, that’s all.”
“Yeah, he’s probably in the barn putting the ladder away by now,” Jeff said.
“Cool, I’ll go check,” I said. “I need him to look at one of the wagons; it’s not rolling quite right and I’m wondering if something’s happened to one of the wheels.”
Jeff nodded, and I made my way towards the barn. Once inside, I waited a moment for my eyes to adjust. Then I ducked into one of the stalls, my heart hammering wildly in my chest. I peeked back around the corner, and sure enough, there was Mason, leading a woman down the steps from the loft apartment. I swallowed hard, despair crashing over me.
She was pretty, I had to give her that. She had soft, slightly disheveled brown hair and a kind face. She was tucking in her shirt as she made her way down the stairs, Mason’s hand resting comfortably at her lower back.
I didn’t recognize her from around town, and I wondered who she was. She didn’t seem like some random stranger who had just come out here for the festival; Mason seemed too comfortable with her for that to be the case. Instead, I got the feeling that the two had known one another for a while.
They’d probably started fucking long before I arrived, but that didn’t make me feel any better about the fact that Mason was with her now. I’d thought things were going really well between us. Of course, we’d never talked about our relationship. Maybe once I’d made it clear that I was still considering going back to North Carolina, Mason figured that our relationship wasn’t very important anymore.
I swallowed hard, not even sure what emotions I was feeling at the moment. I was hurt and upset, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. It was one thing to find out he was screwing around on me. But did he really have to do it here, on my family’s farm? Why not take her back to the Dawson place? Or out to some field in the middle of nowhere, where I wouldn’t find them?
It was like he was flaunting it, like he wanted me to find out about it. “You asshole,” I muttered under my breath. At this point, he and the woman had left the barn, back to join the festivities. Just like nothing had ever happened.
My first instinct was to confront him. I wanted to march right out there and make a scene. But the harvest festival was doing so well that I couldn’t risk the big news narrative to be about my meltdown. No, I’d save it for later, in private.
Chewing on my lower lip, I wondered what I would say to him. I felt like a complete fool. I’d known he was a player, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. Sig
hing, I scrubbed a hand over my face and quickly blinked away the tears. I had to get a grip on my emotions and get my game face on.
Turning on my heel, I went to the storeroom. There was still work to be done outside. I had restocked the cups, but there were plenty of other things that needed restocking. I would deal with Mason later.
One thing was for sure—there was no way I was staying in Oklahoma beyond this season. No matter how successful the festival was, no matter how many great plans I had for the following year, as soon as the harvest was over, I was out of there. If Jeff wanted to, he could run the festival on his own next year. Or we could sell the place; I didn’t care anymore. There was no point saving a place that none of us were ever going to visit anyway, once my grandparents were moved into an old folks’ home.
Had I ever really been considering staying? I must have been crazy. That position in North Carolina was perfect for me. It was everything I’d been hoping for, for years now. I would have been an idiot not to take it.
I made a mental note to put in a couple calls and confirm a start date for it. This time in Oklahoma had been fun, but it was rapidly drawing to a close, and it was time to start preparing to go back into the real world.
Chapter 31
Mason
I led Sarah over to where David was waiting, leaning against a barrel of hay and surveying the festivities. “You know, you’ve done a really good job here, little brother,” David said.
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “What, you didn’t think I was capable of it?” I asked him. “I’m not so little anymore, if you hadn’t noticed. Anyway, a lot of it was Abi’s great ideas and eye for details. I was just the laborer.”
David laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. “Always good to keep your woman happy,” he said, winking at Sarah.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to do hard labor to please me,” she said fondly. She turned back to me. “Thanks again for letting me use your bathroom. That’s the one thing I think needs improvement here—the port-a-potty looks terrible.”
“I know,” I sighed, shaking my head. “No matter how many times we bring the guys in to clean it, it seems like the next person just mucks it up again. And I know women always go on about men who pee all over the seats, but ladies toilets are disgusting.”
Sarah and David both laughed. David gave me a hug. “We’d better get exploring, though. We don’t have a ton of time before we have to get headed back.”
“Are you sure you can’t stick around for a couple of weeks and give us a little live music show at the festival?” I asked teasingly. “We’re well enough ahead on the money that we needed to make that we could give you a pretty decent cut of the profits.”
David laughed again. “Maybe next year,” he said. “Right now, I’m so busy schmoozing with marketers that the last thing I want to do is play any of my songs in my free time. Sorry, bro.”
“When’s that album coming out, anyway?” I asked. “And when are you coming back here to the farm to get recording the next one? All your nice studio equipment is going to waste here.”
“We haven’t set a date yet, but you’ll be one of the first to know when we do,” Sarah said, her tone all business.
I snorted. “She really is the one holding the reins on your career, isn’t she?” I asked David.
He shrugged, smiling over at his girl. “She sure does a good job at it.”
“Thanks for coming, anyway,” I said. “And thanks for the ring, also. It’s gorgeous.” When I’d really decided that I wanted to propose to Abi, David, as my oldest brother, had been the first person I’d told. He had always been the most level-headed of all of us. The one of my brothers who was least like me. I’d figured that if anyone was going to talk me out of it, he would be the one.
But if anything, David had only persuaded me even more that Abi was the person I wanted to marry. All of the questions that he’d asked about her, everything that he’d drawn out of me about her, even I could hear that I loved her.
The next thing I knew, he and Sarah had sent me a big catalog full of rings.
“I know it’s different, seeing them in a catalogue rather than in person,” Sarah had said over the phone, “but this friend of mine is a jeweler, he did my ring too, and he’s got some really special rings. No pressure, I just thought one of them might jump out at you.”
I’d poured through the catalogue, only half certain that I would actually find a ring for Abi in there. I wasn’t sure if I knew her style well enough. Maybe I should propose to her with some cheap, temporary ring for now and let her pick out her own perfect engagement ring.
But then I’d seen it. Turning the page, I’d come across the ring that I’d ended up buying. Suddenly, I couldn’t picture proposing to Abi with anything else.
“Abi’s a lucky woman,” Sarah said, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “I can’t wait until I get to officially meet her. It feels like I already know her, with the way you’ve been talking about her. Abi this, Abi that.”
I ducked my head, but I wasn’t really embarrassed. I couldn’t help talking about Abi; she was wonderful. Things between us had been really good over the past couple weeks, ever since I’d made up my mind that I really did want to marry her. I’d been doing my best to make her see what life with me could be like, helping her out around the farm as much as I could, both with the harvest festival and with the daily chores.
My senses told me she was starting to come around to the idea of staying here in Oklahoma, and I was hoping that proposing to her would seal the deal. I really did want to take care of her, to wake up next to her every morning, and to build a life with her, there on the Brock farm. I knew that she wanted to plan events, but the farm would give her the perfect space to do that. Not all the events had to include zombies, either, although we were definitely capitalizing on those ghost stories to sell tickets to the haunted hayride.
I had a million ideas. But it all started with getting Abi to agree to marry me and to stay here in Oklahoma.
If not, though, I was prepared to follow her across the country. I’d talked to David about that, too. Things had been different for him, of course; he’d moved to Nashville because of his career. I’d have to find a career once I got to North Carolina. I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d do if we moved to Charleston, but it was worth figuring out if it meant I could stay with Abi.
I’d already sent in applications for one of the local trade schools. I could learn a trade, I was sure. Carpentry or something like that. I had been working with my hands for all my life; it couldn’t be that difficult to shift gears.
“You’d better be on your best behavior when I introduce you,” I said sternly. “I don’t need the family trying to scare her off again.” I’d told them about the terrible luncheon, and David had been ready to go off at Ted over it, before I reminded him that I was an adult now and needed to take care of things without my older brother intervening. David had finally calmed down some, but he’d promised to always be there to listen if I needed to gripe about the way our other brother was running things. I appreciated that.
“We would never scare her off,” David said.
“Especially not after your mom tried to meddle with us!” Sarah said, giggling. “Remember, she invited Ella over when I was first over there, trying to get David back together with her. I was certain he wasn’t over Ella yet and that I didn’t want to get caught up in the middle of the drama.”
I groaned and glanced over at David. Now was the time to say something, if I was ever going to. “Speaking of drama. You know, there was a rumor when Abi first got here—Ella was trying to convince everyone in town that she was pregnant with my baby.” I paused. “We did sleep together. Only once. We were both really drunk, and she was the only willing candidate. That’s it.”
David didn’t get mad like I might have expected, though. Instead, he just groaned. “Sounds like something Ella would do,” he said. Again, he smiled over at Sarah, lightly squeezing her
shoulder. “Man, I dodged a bullet with that one. I definitely ended up with the person I was supposed to be with. Drama-free and in love.”
Sarah smiled back at him. I frowned. “You’re not mad at me for sleeping with her?”
“I’m just glad you didn’t get her pregnant. For your sake,” David said. He shrugged. “Ella and I have been over for a long time now. Trust me, I really don’t miss her.”
“Good,” I said, letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest, and now I didn’t have to worry about David finding out from someone else in town at some point.
Sarah turned towards me. “Now, you make sure the proposal is just as special as the ring,” she said with a warning tone. “None of this silly modern stuff, proposing off-hand in the bedroom or whatever, as though you hadn’t thought about it at all. That ring is one-of-a-kind and my buddy in Nashville, the jeweler, wants to hear a good story about how you proposed with it.”
I grinned. “I have some ideas already,” I told them. I reached into my pocket, my fingertips tracing the edges of the box. I only hoped Abi would like the ring as much as I did. I’d really tried to pick out something special that I thought she would like, and since Sarah knew the jeweler and referred me to him, I’d gotten a pretty sweet deal on it, too. Like Sarah had said, the ring was one-of-a-kind, an ornate, antique band with diamonds scattered through it. I hoped it would remind Abi of our first time, there under the stars.
“Actually, I’m thinking of proposing to her tonight, right here on the farm,” I told them. “I want her to really think about everything we could have together. The future we could build together, right here. I don’t think there’s a better place to do it.”
“That sounds perfect,” Sarah said, smiling encouragingly at me.
Speaking of Abi, I glanced around to see where she had gotten to. I’d been helping Jeff out with one of his photoshoots, hauling a ladder all the way out to one of the back fields and back. Then, just as I’d returned to put the ladder away, Sarah had asked me if she could use one of the inside bathrooms. So it had been a while since I had seen Abi.