Someone let out a wet chuckle.
“She would tell us to get over ourselves and get on with it. And then she’d tell us to get some food in our bellies because everything looks better once you’ve had a nap and a snack.”
A few more throaty laughs.
“She couldn’t stand a hangry person. That’s probably why she and Holden fought so much.”
That did it. The group erupted in soft laughter. Especially Holden, the “third twin,” the Duprees called him. He’d made an unplanned appearance eleven months after Silas and Sophie. And he was always hungry. Had the metabolism of a hummingbird. It had driven Sophie nuts.
“So that’s what I think we should do right now. Go eat. Go tell some of our favorite Sophie stories—because there are plenty to tell. And let’s celebrate the life of a woman whose presence will never”—I choked and recovered with a gulp—“truly be gone.” I pointed to my chest. “Because she’s right here. In all of us.”
Nods all around.
I circled my arm in a lasso motion above my head. “Let’s move 'em out.”
Then I turned and headed for my truck. I needed a minute to pull myself together before I was bombarded with condolences at the potluck.
Anna jogged up to me, wet-cheeked but smiling. Oh, how I loved this raven-haired beauty—spitting image of her blond momma but with an Italian twist. She’d inherited it from her father, Gianni, the hot exchange student from Milan, who’d suckered Sophie out of her virginity and then taken off at the end of freshman year without a trace. “Is it okay if I ride with Silas to the church?”
I caught Silas’s eye two cars over and nodded. Anna hadslept over at my place for the last few weeks while Sophie was in the hospital. But as soon as Silas showed up five days ago, she’d been glued to his side, even slept on the floor in his old room. I got it. He was Sophie’s twin—as close to flesh and blood as she could get to her momma. If I were her, that’s where I’d want to be too. You know, if Silas hadn’t ignored me for the last decade.
My momma walked up and squeezed me against her. “How you doing, baby girl?” She’d always called me baby girl. I was the only baby she’d ever had. Something about having her arms around me almost did me in. I blew out my breath. She pushed my hair out of my eye and tucked it behind my ears.
I pasted a resolute smile on my face. “I’ve got this. I’ll be okay.”
“You have to be, for that girl.” She glanced at Annaleise, who was getting into the rental with Silas and his girlfriend, whatever her name was. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember.
“I know, Momma.”
She patted my shoulder. “It was a beautiful service. You know Sophie loved a warm spring day. Couldn’t have asked for better weather.” She gave my hand a squeeze before she walked away.
“Lemon,” someone hollered. I turned to see Jackie Shumaker, our nearest neighbor, jogging toward me. “BJ just called. You’ve got a cow out. Number fifty-six.”
I swore under my breath, and my temper flared like a red-hot firecracker. Billy’d been promising to fix the fence on the south pasture for months now. I’d patched it a dozen times, but that section needed to be torn down and rebuilt. Not a one-person job. Fifty-six was the most trifling cow we had. If there was a weak spot in the barbed wire, she found it. Every. Time.
“BJ chased her back onto your land. He would’ve gotten her all the way, but he just had that knee replacement.” She seemed annoyed that he’d done that much in his condition—and I couldn’t blame her. “But you and I can probably get her back in together.”
“No, it’s okay.” I wouldn’t bother Jackie. She was supposed to help with the potluck. “You go ahead. I’ll get her.”
“You sure?” She asked to be nice, but I saw the relief in her eyes.
“Yeah.” I shrugged like it was nothing. “You go.”
I pulled out my phone, tempted to text Billy, but he would only remind me he had an emergency. Whatever he was doing always took precedence over the farm. And I was tired of asking. Tired of the lecture that he shouldn’t have to do menial work now that he was a doctor, even though the cows brought in good money. I’d get the cow back in and arrive in time for a piece of pie. Easy-peasy. And tomorrow I would fix that confounded fence.
“Hey, need any help?” Silas asked, leaning over the top of the car. I hadn’t realized he was listening. And I’d forgotten how deep his voice was. And when had he gotten so tall and broad shouldered? I couldn’t even stand on tiptoe next to Billy without him getting mad. Forget about wearing heels. But dang. Silas had to be at least six feet four inches now. He’d finally gained some weight, too. No, not weight. Muscle. He’d been so skinny in high school it was painful. My daddy, rest his soul, used to tease Silas that one gust of wind would carry him away just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. And of course, Silas took it straight-faced. Not even a grin or a scowl.
“Clem?” he asked again, and it sent a jolt up my spine. He was the only person on earth who called me that, besides Momma. When Anna was learning to say my name, she couldn’t quite pronounce Clementine. Instead, she’d calledme lemon-lime, which quickly got shortened to Lemon. It stuck. But Silas had never made the switch.
Did I want his help? Absolutely not. Did I need his help? Probably.
I was about to accept his offer when Girlfriend Barbie gave me a threatening look from the passenger seat.
My drama threshold was maxed for the day, so I shook my head. “I’ll be okay. Should only take a few minutes.”
He cocked his eyebrow as if he didn’t believe me, but I didn’t give him time to counter. If I could’ve gone anywhere right then, I would’ve headed straight to The Downward Dog, my yoga-barre studio. I needed the endorphins a good workout always brought. Instead, I slid into my dad’s old truck and headed in the opposite direction of the church—home to Firefly Fields Farm. My personal piece of heaven.
two
