by Lynne Norris
“No that will hold him for about an hour. We’ll give him what’s left in the bucket once we get him settled in the barn.” About this time fat raindrops started to fall. “Let’s get him on the towel,” Grace said.
Grace and Emma dragged him to the barn. It was all they could do to get him inside. “Nothing like dragging live deadweight a few hundred feet.” Grace braced her hands on her back and bent backwards a few times to stretch out.
“If you want I can have someone drive you back home,” Grace offered as she towel dried the calf.
“No. I’d like to stay.” Emma swept a hand through her rain-dampened hair brushing it back out of her face.
“Sure. You can lend me a hand cleaning out a stall for him.” Grace gave the calf one last rub down with a clean towel and stood to retrieve a shovel and a pitchfork from a rack on the opposite wall.
In short order they had the stall cleaned out and fresh bedding spread for the calf to lie on. Annabelle continued to get acquainted with her new charge, sniffing, nudging, and licking him in an effort to get him up.
Each time the calf tried valiantly to stand he would end up spread-eagled on his front legs or doing the splits on his back legs. Emma and Grace took turns bottle-feeding him every two hours.
Emma tilted the bottle up for the calf to drain the last of the milk. “Nobody can say you don’t have a good appetite.” She couldn’t help herself as she scratched affectionately under the calf’s chin. Chocolate brown eyes blinked up at her and he snorted in apparent satisfaction before he lowered his head onto Emma’s lap and closed his eyes. “Grace?”
“What’s the matter?” She poked her head over the top of the stall and peaked in at Emma.
“I think he’s falling asleep.”
“I really appreciate you sticking around to help out.” Grace walked over and knelt down beside Emma. She rubbed in between the calf’s ears.
“I’m surprised Michael didn’t come back.”
“Michael’s kind of pissed off at me.”
“Why?” Emma extricated herself from underneath the sleeping calf.
Grace climbed to her feet and offered Emma a hand. “It’s been brewing for a couple of weeks. My father asked me to be the manager of the farm.”
“Grace that’s fantastic!” Emma grabbed hold of her arms and shook her.
“I wish I could feel that way. Tony’s pissed because selling the farm is officially off the table and Michael’s ticked off because my father didn’t ask him to be the manager. It hasn’t been real pleasant around here lately.”
“I’m sorry.”
Grace shrugged and closed the gate to the stall. Mom and baby calf were both resting comfortably now. “It’ll pass eventually. We have to talk to each other about the big things, but Mike was my best friend. I feel like that got screwed up and I don’t know how to fix it.”
Emma grabbed Grace’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “I’m sure you two will work things out.”
“I hope you’re right.”
At that moment, Emma’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at her screen. “I should take this.”
“Go ahead. I have a few things to take care of here.”
Emma walked out of the barn as she answered the phone. “Hi, Tom.”
“Emma, how are you?”
“I’m doing great. I just finished watching a calf being born.”
“Did you say you saw a calf being born?”
“He’s the cutest thing. We bottle fed him because he’s too weak to stand.”
“That’s amazing. So Friday is okay for you?”
“Yes, Friday’s fine.”
“I know it’s short notice, but I have a list of clients that are very interested in us investing their money for them. It’s all hands on deck to get this off the ground as fast as we can. I made a reservation at Trinity’s for one o’clock. Does that give you enough time to get here?”
“I’ll leave early. If traffic’s not bad it should take less than three hours to get there.”
“All right then, I’ll see you Friday.”
Emma said goodbye and tucked her phone into her back pocket. She felt exhilarated and nervous all at once. When she turned around Grace was walking toward her. “What’s up?”
Emma fought back a swell of conflicting emotion. “A colleague of mine called. He’s gathering a group of us who used to work together to form our own brokerage. He asked me to come down and talk about being a founding principal.”
“That’s great. You must be excited.”
Emma looked over at the tree line and blinked back tears. “Yes and no.”
“Why?”
The word echoed inside her head and she felt her heart breaking. “What happens to us if I go and he offers me the position?”
Grace shifted her weight and tucked her hands into her pockets. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“We’ll have to figure something out.”
“Just like that?” Emma’s voice quaked.
“We’re not the first couple who’s had this problem,” Grace said.
“You don’t understand! I’d have to go back to New York.”
“I don’t know what to say. All I know is what I feel.”
“What do you feel?” Emma asked, afraid to look into Grace’s eyes for fear of seeing too much. There was too much emotion churning inside of her threatening to break down the walls she erected to protect herself.
“Like I’m falling in love with you.”
“Damn it.”
Grace threw back her head and laughed. “It is lousy timing. Isn’t it?”
“How can you laugh?”
“If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry,” Grace admitted.
Emma gathered her courage and looked at Grace. She was solid. There was strength in that body that Emma felt when they made love, but the strength ran deeper than that. She wished she had Grace’s strength. Grace’s hair looked wild and sexy as the breeze lifted it from her shoulders. And those eyes, calm and patient, looked right into hers.
“It should be simple, right? When someone falls in love with you that should be all we need. I built my life around being successful. I made something of myself and I was proud of that. It’s who I was, who I am, who I want to be.”
“You are still who you are,” Grace said. “Losing your job didn’t take that away from you.”
“Then why do I feel this gaping hole inside?”
“What were we told since we were kids? Go to school. Study hard. Get a good job. Everything about our adult life is focused around being successful by the standards that society dictates. Success can be whatever we want it to be. Not what society tells us it should be.”
“Oh my God. You’re killing me. You know that?”
“Are you worried that I don’t want you to have that again?” Grace asked.
“No. I’m worried about if I can have both.”
“Why can’t you?”
Emma held her hands out to Grace. “Tell me what falling in love feels like.”
“Like something warm is bubbling up inside. It’s like spring when everything smells fresh and new. There’s a rhythm, a beat that feels lighter. It feels good and a little bit scary,” Grace said, crossing to Emma.
“I don’t know if I have it in me to do this again,” Emma said blinking back tears.
“I don’t know if I can either. But I am so tired of being tired. I’ve been going through the motions here like treading water and fighting to stay up just a little bit longer. I don’t feel like that when I’m with you, Emma. Part of it scares me and that hurts. But I’ll take the risk just the same.”
Grace cupped Emma’s face in her hands. “Maybe you can, too.”
Emma clasped her hands over Grace’s wrists, holding on and wanting desperately to believe. “Maybe.”
Chapter Sixteen
“YOU LOOK LIKE you lost your best friend.”
Startled, Grace
looked up from her coffee mug. Her mother was standing in the doorway, arms folded studying her.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know you’re stewing about something. You’re just like your father.”
“Just have a lot on my mind.” Uneager to discuss what was really bothering her, Grace pushed her chair back and stood. If she could she would have bolted from the room. But no one did that to Lucy Moretti.
“Exactly like your father.” Lucy crossed the kitchen to the table.
“Is there more coffee in that pot?”
“I made enough for a few cups,” Grace said.
“Would you mind pouring me some?”
Grace pulled another mug out of the cabinet, filled it with the coffee and walked it over to her mother.
“Have a seat.” Her mother tapped the table with a finger indicating the chair Grace had just vacated.
“I have to get out to the fields.”
“I know you do, but you can sit and talk to me for few minutes.”
Grace held back an exasperated sigh and sat across from her mother. She leaned back in the chair waiting. There was no point in trying to rush her. Over the years, Grace learned it never did her any good to push her mother when she was intent on making a point. She did it in her own good time.
“Have you talked to Michael?” Lucy scooped a rounded spoonful of sugar into her mug and stirred it.
“Can’t say I’ve seen him much to talk to since the cookout.”
Her mother eyed her over the rim of her coffee cup. “Nothing much changes from middle school on up to adulthood.”
“What do you mean?”
Lucy sipped her coffee. “When you and Michael argued as kids you would avoid each other like the plague afterwards. Still do as far as I can tell.”
“I’m not avoiding him,” Grace protested.
Her mother pressed her lips together. “You’re not going out of your way to talk to him either. Are you?”
With exasperation coloring her voice, Grace asked, “Why should I? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I never said you did, but you should be taking the high road here.”
“Mom.” Grace tilted her head back and wishing briefly for heavenly intervention. “You need to stay out of this.”
“Don’t tell me what to stay out of. One thing you both won’t acknowledge is no matter how old you are you are still my kids and this is my farm—your father’s farm too.”
“I wish you wouldn’t get involved. This is between me and Michael.”
“Too late. I already am and you’re going to listen me.”
She should have left before she got caught up daydreaming, Grace thought. She just needed to get out and clear her head. With a sigh she surrendered. “Alright. I’m listening.”
“Michael never wanted the responsibility of running the farm. Right now he’s got his nose out of joint.”
“I can’t help that he’s upset about Pop’s decision. Hell, he even told me he thought I should be the one to run the farm.”
“It’s easy to say things like that before it becomes a reality. His pride is hurt.”
“Not my problem,” Grace said.
“And that is where you could learn to take the high road. When Michael came back with the kids after his divorce the deal was he could live here as long as he worked on the farm and helped to keep it running. In return, he doesn’t pay rent and he and his two boys get fed. I reminded him that the agreement hasn’t changed just because you’re managing the farm now.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“There was no reason for you to know until now. It’s up to Michael to decide what he wants to do. He can stay and continue with the same agreement or he can find another place to live.”
“You told Michael he could find another place to live?”
“I most certainly did,” Lucy said.
Grace felt her chest tighten. “Jonah and Tyler would be heartbroken if they had to leave here.”
“It would be heartbreaking for all of us, but the farm is our livelihood and he can’t hold it hostage because he’s upset. He needs to move forward. I told him the time frame for him to make a decision is up to you.”
“Does Pop know you told Michael this?”
“Of course he does. We talked about it last night. How’s the calf?”
Grace almost laughed at the abrupt change in conversation. “He’s getting stronger. I don’t think we’ll have to bottle feed much past the weekend.”
“Good to hear. How’s Emma?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her.”
“I heard she was invited back to New York for an interview.”
Grace’s eyes popped open wide. “How did you know?”
A wry smile crossed her mother’s lips. “Grace, when you have a conversation out in the middle of the yard someone is bound to hear.”
“It was Rose, wasn’t it? She’s as nosy as they come.”
“Actually no. It wasn’t Rose. Paula happened to be around.”
“Paula?”
“She came over to let me know that she’ll be leaving. Apparently, she found another job closer to home.”
Grace frowned. One problem solved, but now she needed to find a replacement. “I didn’t know she was thinking of leaving.”
“I got the impression it was a last minute decision. If I had to guess it had something to do with you.”
“Me?”
“Grace, I would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to have missed all the goings on the day of the cookout.”
Mortified, heat flushed Grace’s face and she looked away unable to meet her mother’s gaze.
“Michael filled me in on what was going on between Paula and you.”
“Nothing was going on!” Grace protested.
A gleam crept into her mother’s eyes. “Something was, but I gather it was rather one sided.”
Grace leapt to her feet and stormed across the kitchen. “I’m going to hurt him.”
“You will not. Anyway, I rather like Emma.”
“It doesn’t seem to matter one way or the other. Emma was offered a position with a brokerage in New York.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I imagine she’ll be going back to the city once the offer is finalized,” Grace said.
“How can you be so sure that’ll be her decision?”
“She said herself she wouldn’t know what else to do.”
“How do you feel about her?”
Grace shook her head and stared out the window. “What difference does it make how I feel? If she’s in New York and I’m here, then what chance for us is there?”
“That’s a question, but you’re the only one who can answer it.” Lucy walked over to Grace. She settled her hands onto her daughter’s shoulders. “We always have choices, Grace.”
Grace slipped away from her mother to hide her tears. “Right now it doesn’t feel like there are any.”
“Even if you decide to do nothing you will have a made a choice.”
“Mom, I fell in love with her.”
“Well, that is something now. Did you tell her?”
“Before she left,” Grace said.
“So why are you sad?”
“She’s in New York. I’m here. It just seems impossible.”
“How long is she in New York for?”
“The interview is today. I didn’t ask when she was coming back.”
“Would it be so terrible to call her?” Lucy pulled a tissue from a box on the counter and handed it to Grace.
Grace wiped away tears. “I’ve started and stopped a half dozen times already today.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“She hasn’t been gone twenty-four hours. I’m not even sure what to say that wouldn’t sound like some ridiculous lovesick teenager.”
“You could start by asking her how the interview went. That seems like it would be a good place to sta
rt. Don’t you think?”
THE AUGUST SKY was overcast and threatening rain. The sidewalk was damp from an earlier rainstorm, but the rain had done nothing to relieve the oppressive heat. Emma had done her best to tame her unruly hair, but the humidity was winning the battle today. Emma was glad she chose a business casual pantsuit with modest heels to wear to her lunch meeting.
The restaurant that Tom had picked was built inside the famous Trinity building and housed in its old bank vault on Broadway. Emma pulled open the heavy mahogany door and stepped inside. The cool air conditioning was a welcome relief.
Down three steps and to the right an enormous ornately decorated mirror adorned the wall. The glass reflected a brass chandelier hanging from the ceiling and one of the famous vault doors. Through the arched opening she saw patrons sitting at the bar sipping cocktails.
“Hi, Emma.”
She recognized Tom’s voice behind her and turned. He was dressed in a grey business suit and carrying a leather briefcase. She noted it was new, not the old distressed briefcase he hauled around on his shoulder at SMB Capital.
“Hi! This place is impressive.”
“How was the drive down?”
“Not bad. I missed most of rush hour. I was able to reserve a parking spot online at a garage a block from here.”
“Excellent. Have you checked out the vault door?”
“How could I miss it? It’s tremendous.”
“Each door is five inches thick and weighs thirty-five tons. I’m told all the mechanics still work,” Tom said leading Emma toward the maître d'.
The clean-shaven man greeted them at the desk. “Two?”
“Yes.” Tom motioned for Emma to go ahead of him.
“Follow me.” The maître d' led them past what Emma estimated was close to a thirty-foot-long bar filled with top shelf liquor. A couple of people were engaged in quiet conversation, but the rest seemed to be content to be hunkered over their drinks in quiet contemplation. Emma counted at least seven beers on tap as she walked past, catching a reflection of herself in the mirror behind the bar. The maître d' stopped at a corner booth in the back of the room and laid two menus on the table.