Luke
I loved farming with all my soul. It was in my blood.
I’d lived on this land my entire life, and I planned to work it until I was dead. It was my family’s legacy, dating back to my grandparents, and I hoped Addie would love it the way I did and continue the tradition.
There were days though…
Today had been one hell of a Monday so far, and though it was after five o’clock, our work was nowhere near done.
“How close is Gary?” I asked Scotty, my right-hand guy and the manager of the apple orchard, as we stood staring at the truck that apparently needed a new alternator.
“ETA is five forty-five,” Scotty said. “He oughta be here any minute.”
“I hope he’s right that it’ll take no more than an hour and a half.”
Scotty chuckled. “You doubting Gary’s skills now?”
I shook my head and glanced at the sky, reassuring myself it was still clear, as the weather app promised it would be. The truck was full of crates of apples to be delivered to local stores. They needed to reach their destination as soon as possible since it wasn’t refrigerated.
“Your dad know you hired out?”
I shook my head and gave him a look that said, No need to tell him.
“When did Cheyenne say she’d be here?” I asked.
“I told her six. That’ll give her time to eat and relax a spell.”
I nodded, trusting Scotty and Cheyenne to take care of the apple deliveries. They were two of my top people and did what they said they’d do no matter what. Scotty had been with us since I was in grade school, working with my dad back then. He knew all our operations as well as I did. Cheyenne was in her sixth year with us. This was far from her first time distributing apples to the retailers during the season.
“Weren’t you fixin’ to check on Gage before your meeting?” Scotty asked.
“I’m heading that way. Call me if anything unexpected comes up.”
“Will do. Get outta here.”
I climbed into my truck and pointed it toward the outbuilding where Gage was checking the shakers and balers to make sure they worked and were ready to go for Christmas-tree season. When I pulled up, he was coming out the door.
“Everything good?” I asked as I got out of the truck.
“The shakers and balers are ready to go, but Matilda needs a battery. I can pick one up tomorrow before I come in.”
“Sounds good.” Matilda was one of our tractors, and yes, they all had names, a tradition started by my mother years ago.
“Yeah, that’s the good news,” Gage said. The look on his face had me bracing for the not-good news he seemed to have.
“And?” I prompted.
“The Heinrich kid took a different job.”
“The guy we hired Friday?”
“One and only. He was supposed to show up at four, after school. Texted me at twenty after to let me know.”
Dammit. “Better now than two weeks into the season, I guess. How many more interviews do we have set up?”
“Three tomorrow and two on Wednesday. Plus there’s the Webber kid we couldn’t decide on. We got prospects. We’ll get a crew in place.”
“Fast, I hope. How’s the pricing going?”
