Chapter one
Brooks
Why was there acow at my window?
I mean, I did live on a farm, so it wasn’t that unusual, but she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. I pushed myself up and stretched, my muscles slightly sore from putting up the new fence in the western field. It was supposed to hold the cows, but obviously we missed a spot.
I let out a long sigh. We would need to wrangle the ones that got out and get the fence finished. Maybe I could ask Bryce to help me with that this morning.
I stood up and made my way to the kitchen. My hooves clicked on the wooden floors of my farmhouse. I always made sure I took the time to enjoy the quiet mornings before I made my way to the main house.
It was always bustling with people. I grew up there with my parents, my grandfather, and my four siblings. There was never a quiet moment back then.
Now, I lived in a house I’d built on the south side of the farm. It still wasn’t perfect, and there were a lot of things I wanted to add, but I built it with my two hands with the help of a few of my brothers, and I loved it.
I ran the coffee machine and watched as the dark liquid dripped down into the pot. As I waited, I checked the calendar I had pinned to my fridge.
I paused when I read tomorrow's date.
Visit from the Organic Certifiers of Stonebridge.
Was that tomorrow? I swore they were coming next week. I went to my kitchen table that doubled as my office and flicked through the forms until I found the letter with the date on it.
Yup, tomorrow was the day, and I was not as prepared as I wanted to be. I knew the farm was well qualified to be certified organic. We didn’t use artificial pesticides, and the animals on our farm were well taken care of.
Even though the certification was just a stamp on the label, it was a stamp that could help our sales.
Though we did pretty well for a small, family-run farm, we needed to do more. Being able to charge more and attract more customers would help. With all my siblings growing up and most having families, one bad year could put us in trouble, and I never wanted to worry about that.
A knock came at the door, making me jump. It was still dark outside, so I knew it could only be one person. I opened to see Gabe, one of my best friends, standing there, his circular glasses on, pushed up high on his nose.
“Mornin’,” I said, leaving the door open for him to come in. “You know you don’t have to knock.”
Gabe came around often in the morning—he’d been doing that since we were children since I had to be up early to help with the farm chores. Being a gargoyle, he could only be awake at night, and I was one of the only people in town up at the same time as him.
“I always knock,” he asserted.
“Fine, have it your way.” We’d been through this before. “I’m gonna go get dressed. There’s coffee ready.”
I heard him clank around the kitchen as I went up and threw on a pair of jeans and a Henley and grabbed my worn brown hat. When I went back down, I set it on the table and grabbed myself a cup.
“How’s the shop doing?” I hadn’t been going into town in the evening lately. Spring was a busy season for us.
“Fine. It’s always a bit slow in the winter, but it’s getting better now. How’s the farm been?”
“Busy as always,” I said with a sigh. “But I’m feeling pretty prepped for Blossom Fest this year, and we have the organic auditor coming tomorrow.”
“Are you ready for it?” he asked, his tone taking on that therapist tone he developed in school.
I rolled my eyes, as I often did when his questions turned clinical. “Yes, and I had a good childhood.”
It was his turn to roll his eyes. “I’m just saying, I know how big a deal this is for you.”
I looked down into the black abyss of my mug, my own reflection looking back. I wanted to change things.
My entire family had pretty good genes, so much so that people thought I was still a teen well into my twenties. My hair was still blond as ever, but I was starting to pick out the fine lines around my mouth and eyes and I could feel my bones growing tired. I didn’t want to hope things would work out while I broke my back every day.
I needed a strategy, a long-term plan that would keep this place going long after me. And this was a great first step.
