“Do you grow anything on the farm, like crops?”
Jameson ran in and placed a blob of blocks on the table. “That’s great, buddy.”
“It’s Gazelle,” he pronounced.
“You mean Gizelle.” He ruffled his son’s hair. “She’s one of our goats. We have half a dozen. I also have a dozen lambs that we raise for meat and four steers that I have for the same reason. The farm itself is four hundred acres, most of it hayfields for the horses. We’ve done the cutting for the year. Right now I keep the horses out in their paddocks as much as I can. That way they eat on their own, and it preserves the hay stocks. I might get a few more weeks of that, and then I’ll need to start taking them inside.”
“Do you grow corn?”
“Not really. I feed the cattle any hay that isn’t good enough for the horses. My neighbor grows corn, and he has a couple horses for his daughters, so I keep him in hay all winter, and he supplements my cattle feed with some of his corn.”
“Sounds like you’re pretty self-sufficient,” Lucas said.
“Mom used to have a huge vegetable garden, and that was something she was really good at. Me, not so much.” He groaned and wiped his hands down his face. “I forgot all about the trees out front. They’re loaded with apples, and I need to figure out what to do with them.”
“What did your parents use them for?” Lucas asked.
“Mom and Dad used to make cider. They’d press the apples and put it in barrels to ferment. I’m willing to bet that the equipment is still here. But I just don’t have the time.” There were never enough hours in the day to do all the things that he wanted to get done, and doing something with the apples wasn’ta high priority. He got up from the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Lucas brought his over, and Brendan took care of them as well before tidying up the kitchen.
“Let me go check on things around the buildings, and then I’ll take off and see you in the morning.” Lucas left through the back door. Brendan shamelessly watched him through the window, loving the view from behind. Damn, the man was huge, but his waist was much smaller, and his backside was a thing to behold.
“Daddy, come play with me,” Jameson said, pulling him out of the imaginings that he shouldn’t be having. It didn’t matter if Lucas might be interesting or hot as all hell. He worked for him, and it was not worth getting involved with an employee, even one that set his heart to pounding.
“Okay.” He turned away from the window and followed Jameson into the living room, where Legos and train tracks were spread everywhere. Apparently, Jameson had decided to meld his wooden train set with the Legos. “What is it you want?”
“A train city,” Jameson explained before the two of them got to work.
“Morning, Mom,”Brendan said when he opened the front door. “Thanks for coming.” He had so much to do.
“Of course. Is Jameson still in bed?” It was a little before seven, but after all these years, his mom was still an early riser.
“Yes. He should be waking up soon. I have a new client coming in an hour, and I need to get that last stall looking decent.” He hadn’t rented it out because it needed work, but it was the chance for additional income.
“No problem. Maybe Jameson and I will pick apples. There are tons of them this year.” She patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, that wasn’t a dig at you. They’re having a fall festival ina few weeks at the Village, and I said I might have a real cider connection.” She met his gaze. “They’d be willing to pay if it’s good. So I thought I’d see if I could make some like we used to, and we could split the money.”
He shook his head. “If you do the work, then you get the money.” It was that simple as far as he was concerned. “That’s what you and Dad did for me.”
“How about we put the money into Jameson’s college fund?” She took off her jacket and went right into the kitchen. “Go get your work done. I’ll call you when breakfast is ready.” A knock made her jump. “You expecting someone?”
“I am.”
She hurried to the door and opened it. “Hello. And you are?”
“I’m Lucas, and you must be Brendan’s mom.” Lucas smiled, and his mom slowly stepped back.
“Lucille, and yes.” She turned to him and then looked back to Lucas. “I think I’m going to need to make a lot more food than usual.” Mom went to the stove as Brendan joined Lucas outside.
“I got my things, but I can unload them later. Let me check that no one has been sneaking around, and then you can put me to work.”
“Oh, I got plenty for you to do,” Mom said through the back screen door. “He can help us with the apples later this morning.” She turned away, and Brendan sighed.
“Mom decided to make cider.”
“Cool. Let me get the lay of the land and then we can get things done.” Lucas jogged off to make his rounds, and Brendan hurried into the barn to begin making repairs to the stall.
What hefound was both worse and better than he expected. The frame of the stall was good, but the other boards all needed to be replaced. Brendan measured and then cut the boards,stacking them inside the stall before cutting out the old ones and starting the replacement process.
“What do you need help with?” Lucas asked from outside.
