Phoebe took a minute to calm her breathing before speaking. “There was a snake over there. It ran after me.”
Billy started to chuckle but stopped himself when Phoebe narrowed her eyes at him. “What the heck is so funny? It might have been poisonous.”
Billy reached up and removed a piece of debris from Phoebe’s hair and tossed it to the ground. Then, lowering his voice, he spoke calmly. “Snakes don’t run. They slither,” he said with a smile. “And those snakes aren’t poisonous, Feebs. And, believe me; they’re more scared of you than you are of them.”
“I really doubt that,” Phoebe said, wiping a smudge of mud off her arm. “Are you sure they’re not poisonous?”
“Positive,” Billy said, smiling. “So, Norm put you to work?”
“All part of the plan to teach me a lesson, I guess.” Phoebe rolled her eyes.
“Well, that’ll teach you to stop painting your boyfriend’s face on the school wall, now won’t it?” Billy said and they both laughed.
Billy followed her to the area where Norm had assigned her to work.
“I have to move all those sprinklers today.” She pointed to the sprinkler pipes that extended further than her eyes could see.
“Do you want me to help you until you get the hang of it?” Billy asked.
Phoebe shook her head. There wasn’t much to get the hang of. Pick up a dirty, wet, heavy pipe and move it from one spot to another. “Thanks for offering. But, I got it.”
“Okay. But if you need me just squeal and I’ll come running.”
“Very funny.”
The work was hard—the hardest work Phoebe had ever done. Actually, it was the only work she’d ever done. After three hours of moving sprinklers, her hands were blistered, her back ached, and she was covered with dirt and sweat. While she worked, she thought about the previous day. Anna had gotten up early and gone to church. She’d invited Phoebe to come along and when she found out that Billy was also going, she was tempted. But, when she thought about it, she was sure it would be terribly uncomfortable and boring so she declined the invitation.
Instead, she had taken advantage of having the house to herself by checking email and Facebook. She hadn’t expected to hear from Jaxon and it was a good thing because he hadn’t emailed. She’d gotten one email from Elise saying that she saw Jaxon out with Laree Sharman. Phoebe thought she should have been bugged but she wasn’t. There was an email from her dad—Hope you’re settling in, I’ll call you soon—short and to the point. Phoebe had picked up the phone to call him but hung it back up. She wanted to know about the conversation she’d overheard but she wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.
Nothing but drama was happening on Facebook so Phoebe shut down the computer and took Bandit for a walk. She let him lead since he seemed to know his way around. He took her to the row of cabins where Billy and the others lived and Phoebe took a minute to glance at each one. She decided Billy’s was the one with the purple and yellow flowers blooming in the wooden flower box attached to the porch railing. She smiled while she admired them. The other three cabins were free of color or decoration. Billy’s—or the one she was sure was Billy’s—also had a wind chime hanging on the porch. The sound it made was pretty. It, combined with a nearby finch’s melody and the rustling of leaves, created a peaceful song. Something about the feel of Iron Springs was growing on her.
***
“You’re doing a great job, little lady!” Norm said when he came to check in on the progress she was making with the sprinklers.
Phoebe glanced up at Norm, using her hand to shield her eyes from the beating sun. She didn’t respond to the compliment but there was a part of her—a very small part—that enjoyed hearing it. For her whole life, she’d worked hard to hear similar words come out of her father’s mouth. But all she got from him were lectures on how she ought to get serious about her future and start thinking of something productive to do with her life. What he meant, of course, was that she ought to do something other than painting.
“Only three thousand more trees to irrigate before we start it all over again.” Norm chuckled.
“Great,” Phoebe said before forcing herself to get back to work.
Norm, as usual, was incapable of silence. He talked nonstop. He possessed more useless information than anyone she’d ever met and she was convinced that he planned to share it all with her all in one day.
“You ever heard of Steve Jobs?” he asked as he watched her carry a load of pipes along the dirt trail.
Phoebe gave Norm a flat stare. “No.” But I’m sure you’re going to tell me all about him.
“Well, you’ll be interested to know that he worked in apple orchards as a kid. He liked it so much that he named his company Apple Computers.”
“Wow.” Phoebe replied dully.
***
After what seemed like an eternity of muddy and exhausting work, Phoebe checked her watch. She had been moving sprinklers for five straight hours. The sun was beating down on her and her arms were covered with scratches.
“Time for lunch,” John announced as he and Billy headed toward the area where Phoebe was working.
“Why are you always the one who announces lunch?” Billy joked. He patted John’s large belly and the two men broke out in loud laughter.
As soon as she heard John mention the word lunch, Phoebe became aware of her hunger. She hadn’t eaten the toast Norm gave her that morning and she’d worked up quite an appetite. Ready to fill her stomach, she took off her gloves and followed the others to the truck.
Stephen stood beside her while they waited for Norm to unload the lunch cooler. He smiled a wide, child-like smile at her. “You’re a hard worker,” he said.
“Thanks,” Phoebe mumbled. At first, she was uncomfortable by the way the shy man stared at her. But the kindness in his eyes quickly settled her feelings.
“You’re Bessie’s daughter,” Stephen glanced awkwardly at his worn out shoes.
“Yes,” Phoebe answered. She stared off in the distance.
“Bessie was nice to me.” The innocence in Stephen’s words made Phoebe wonder if he could possibly understand where Bessie was. She didn’t even know if she was sure where her mother was.
“That’s good,” Phoebe said. She liked Stephen but her heart couldn’t take a conversation about her mother, not today. She headed toward the picnic table.
Norm opened a large red cooler and pulled out a big bowl of chicken salad, thick slices of Anna’s fresh baked bread, homemade potato salad, bottles of ice cold water, and an entire apple pie. Phoebe reached for a plate and two slices of bread and dumped a heaping serving of chicken salad onto the bread. Then, she piled a huge mound of potato salad onto her plate. She grabbed a bottle of water and sat down beneath a tree. Billy served himself and sat down beside her.
“You got a lot done already,” he said. He took a big bite of his chicken sandwich. “You really seem to know your way around an orchard.” He twisted the cap off his water bottle and drank the whole thing. Then, he grabbed a second bottle and opened it. “You see any more snakes?”
Phoebe bit into her sandwich and enjoyed the tasty combination of chicken, sweet grapes, crunchy celery and mayonnaise. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was starving or if it was Anna’s chicken salad, but the sandwich was delicious. “Nope, no more snakes,” she said. “But a raccoon fell out of a tree onto my head.”
Billy laughed and so did she. “It was a baby; he was really cute so I named him Fritz.”
She finished her bottle of water and took another one with her as she headed back to work.
***
“Are you comin’?” The voice came from behind her. Phoebe glanced over her shoulder and saw Billy standing there.
She raised her eyebrows in his direction and tightened her grip on the pipe she was carrying. “Coming where?”
“We’re finished for the day.” Billy smiled and pointed toward Norm’s truck. Norm was in the driver’s seat and the others wer
e in the bed waiting for her. Phoebe wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced at her watch—two thirty. She had worked for over eight hours. She looked at her arms; they were covered with scratches. A thick layer of dirt and sweat covered her completely and every muscle in her tired body ached. She did her best to brush the dirt from her arms as she followed Billy to the truck but it was an exercise in futility. Only a long, hot shower would get her clean. Once she was seated, she allowed her head to fall back. Her eyes closed and within seconds, she was asleep. Forty minutes later, the truck jolted her awake when it came to a stop outside Anna’s house.
***
Phoebe heard the knock at her bedroom door and the one that followed but she was so caught up in the painting she had propped in her lap that she didn’t bother answering it.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Anna said, joining her on the balcony. She pointed to the painting.
Phoebe nodded her head.
Anna gazed at the mountainside. “It was painted from this spot right here.”
“Yeah . . .” Phoebe spoke softly. She glanced at the painting and then her eyes moved to the mountain peak. “I was just comparing this one to the real thing. It’s that peak right over there, isn’t it?”
“Why yes, it was.” Anna smiled. “You have quite an eye Phoebe.”
“I noticed the silhouette at the top of the mountain over there. It’s the same as this one.” She pointed to the painting. “Except that here it’s covered in snow . . .” Phoebe paused for a moment. “. . . You can still see the form of the mountain peaks right here and here.”
“Did you notice that it’s not signed?” Anna asked.
Phoebe nodded her head and glanced curiously at Anna. “None of the others are signed either,” Anna said glancing over her shoulder at the paintings hanging on the wall in Phoebe’s room.
Phoebe was sure Anna knew who the artist was but she didn’t want to ask. She had already concluded that they were all painted by the same person and she knew that most artists either signed all of their pieces or none of them.
“I thought it was strange that she wouldn’t sign them,” Anna said. “But she told me that her favorite art teacher once said that it was not a good idea to sign paintings.”
“That’s odd,” Phoebe said. She had taken several art classes and she had never heard anything like that from any of her teachers.
“That’s what I said. I don’t know why the teacher said that but Bessie apparently had a lot of respect for his opinion so she never signed any of her paintings.”
It took a moment for Anna’s words to register in Phoebe’s ears and when they did she turned to face her aunt. “Bessie? Did my mother paint these?”
Anna nodded slowly as she studied Phoebe’s eyes. “Yes, she did.”
She glanced at the painting and then at Anna as her eyes started to water. She stood up and went inside with Anna following behind her. Tears rolled down her face as she stood before the group of paintings. She wondered why her father had never mentioned anything about her mother being an artist. Why did she have to find it out from Norm and Anna? None of her mother’s paintings hung in their home.
“I kinda want to be alone.” Phoebe glanced at Anna who stood silently beside her as her mind flooded with thoughts.
Anna nodded and headed toward the door. “Okay, dear. I just wanted to check in on you. I’m sorry I upset you.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I just feel like being alone.”
Anna nodded and gave Phoebe a kiss on the cheek. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Phoebe stood before the paintings looking at them now through different eyes. Noticing each brush stroke and imagining her mother putting it there. Wondering about the story behind the paintings and wanting, so badly, to talk to her mother. Tears filled her eyes, spilled over and ran down her cheeks and she did nothing to stop them. For once, she let them flow.
Five
“Let me help you with that.” Billy ran over and removed several heavy branches from Phoebe’s arms. In her rush to get finished, she had picked up more than she was able to manage. Now, carrying a much smaller load, she could actually see where she was going and wouldn’t risk smacking into a tree on her way to the mulch pile.
“Thanks,” she said, shifting the load she was carrying. “I guess I shouldn’t have tried to carry so much at once.” After two weeks in the orchard, she was getting pretty good at the job—that’s not to say she was enjoying it but she was adjusting to her new routine.
Billy chuckled. “You’re a hard working girl now. Pretty soon those biceps will be bigger than mine.” He gave an appreciative glance at Phoebe’s newly toned arms.
“I sure hope not. Your arms are huge.” Phoebe immediately regretted her words. She didn’t want Billy to think she was flirting with him. “I mean, on a girl they’d be huge but on you they’re fine.”
Billy laughed even louder. “So, you think I’m fine?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Phoebe stammered, her face grew hot. “I was just saying that boys are supposed to have bigger muscles than girls.”
“Oh, I see. You think I have huge muscles.” Billy transferred the braches from one arm to the other and made a show of flexing his bicep.
“No, I was just saying that—”
“It’s okay Phoebe.” Billy chuckled. “I was just messing with you. I know what you meant.”
When they arrived at the mulch pile, Phoebe dropped her load and brushed the dirt and debris from her arms. “It’s so hot today,” she said, running her arm along her forehead. The sun was shining brightly and without a breeze, the orchard was terribly hot.
“Come on, let’s take a break,” Billy said. “It’s gotta be over a hundred degrees today.”
Phoebe nodded and followed him to Norm’s truck. He reached into the cooler and pulled out two bottles of cold water. “Here you go,” he said handing her one. He hoisted himself up on the back of the truck. “Have a seat,” he said, patting the spot next to him.
Once she was seated, Phoebe opened her water and took a long refreshing drink.
“So, how’s day going? Have you run into any more snakes?”
Phoebe laughed. She had seen at least half a dozen snakes since her first day in the orchard. It hadn’t taken long for her to get used to simply letting them go about their business as they let her go about hers. “It’s great. I love my job.” She turned slightly and smiled at Billy.
“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in your words?”
Phoebe took a long drink of the cold water. “Maybe just a little, I mean, it’s not exactly what I had in mind for my summer.” In the time since she’d started working in the orchard, not a day had passed that she hadn’t fallen into bed completely exhausted. But, while it wasn’t what she wanted to be doing, there was something about the job that was satisfying. “I’m getting used to it though,” she added before finishing off the last drop of water and tossing the empty bottle into the bed of the truck.
“Well, you have to admit, this is almost as good as New York.” Billy made a sweeping motion with his arm.
“Yeah, almost.” Phoebe laughed.
“Well, from where I’m sitting, I actually think it looks a whole lot better than New York.” His eyes had settled on Phoebe and a sly smile spread across his face.
Phoebe’s eyes met his and, as the unavoidable heat rose in her cheeks, she smiled. “Really, why is that?”
“Well, let’s just say, the scenery in Iron Springs recently got a whole lot better.”
Despite that she had no idea how to respond to it, Phoebe appreciated the compliment.
“Thanks.” She smiled shyly. “And, thanks for your help.” She hopped off the truck bed and brushed off the dust that had settled on her pants. “I better get back to work.”
“Me too,” Billy said. He reached over and pulled a piece of tree bark from her hair and threw it to the ground. Then, he used his hand to smooth her hair. “Call me if you need help with
anything,” he said, tapping his hand to the radio attached to his belt.
“Thanks,” she said, again. “I’ll see you later.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” he said, winking as he turned to walk away.
Phoebe stood for a moment in that spot. She reached up and put her hand to the place where he had just touched her hair. She and Billy had spent a lot of time together over the past couple weeks and the feelings she had developed for him were like nothing she had ever felt before. She looked forward to seeing him each day. She anticipated lunch breaks so she could be near him. She’d even started getting up before Norm’s bellowing voice rang through the house so she could put at least a little effort into her appearance. She’d stopped wondering about Jaxon and was actually happy when Elise emailed to say that he was spending all his time with Laree. She guessed that meant they were no longer boyfriend and girlfriend and that was fine with her.
***
“Hi Anna. Hi Alyssa,” Phoebe said, hurrying up the porch stairs toward the front door. She couldn’t wait to get in the shower and get rid of the dirt and sweat that covered her body.
“Hang on one second,” Anna said. “This is for you.” She held up a white envelope.
Phoebe glanced at Anna. “It’s probably a letter from my dad. I’ll read it later.” She figured her father had written to her because she hadn’t been answering his emails.
“It’s not from your dad,” Anna said smiling. “It’s from me.”
Phoebe turned to face her aunt. “What is it?”
“Open it and find out.” Anna smiled and held the envelope out to Phoebe.
Phoebe shrugged, walked across the wooden porch and took the envelope from Anna. She slid her fingernail under the flap and pulled out a check for almost five hundred dollars. She stared at it for a moment before looking at Anna.
“What’s this?”
“It’s your paycheck Phoebe. “Anna said. “You worked hard these past two weeks.”
Phoebe smiled and glanced at the dollar amount again. She’d read it right—it was for four hundred ninety seven dollars. “Oh, I thought . . . I mean—I didn’t know I was getting paid.”
Summer In Iron Springs Page 6