She kisses me hard and quick. “Go. Do the thing. Come back to me.”
“I will.”
She gathers her clothes from where they’re scattered around my bedroom—her dress, her jacket, one shoe by the door and one under the bed. I watch her get dressed, trying to memorize the details. The way she hops on one foot, pulling on her shoe. The way she twists her hair up off her neck. At the door, she turns.
“Hey, Asher?”
“Yeah?”
“Last night was…” She shakes her head, smiling. “I don’t have words either. But it was really top-notch.”
“It really was.”
Then she’s gone, walking across the space between our houses, and I’m standing in my doorway watching her go.
I catch Ethan en route to Climax where he apparently needs to fetch some sort of tractor part. I hoist myself into his truck, tossing my suitcase into the bed alongside his tarps and tools. He grunts a greeting and shuts off the radio, where his brother Jackson’s voice had been blaring. Then Ethan starts laughing.
“Look at you. You’re miserable.”
I glare, buckling my seatbelt. “Well, yeah. Would you want to go into the city?”
He shakes his head. “Never again if I can help it. But that’s not what I’m talking about.” He grins. “Thought you’d ask your date for a ride to the station…”
“Colleen shouldn’t be talking about restaurant patrons outside of work.” I smile and shake my head, knowing the entire town probably watched Eva’s and my date through the restaurant windows.
He shoots a finger gun at me as he turns onto the highway. “So, what’s the problem? You look like someone kicked your puppy.”
I avoid eye contact, staring at the passing fallow fields as I tell Ethan about the job. “I just got her, and I have to leave.”
“You’ll come out on top.” Ethan’s voice is serious now. “She’s not going anywhere. She’s building a whole life here.”
“I guess.”
“What are you actually worried about?”
He’s giving me that look—the one he’s been giving me since we were teenagers, and I was convinced every good thing in my life was about to implode. And I have no idea how to answer him.
Four years ago, he was facing literal bankruptcy. His family brought the whole damn community together to help raise funds to save Bedd Fellows Farm. My cruel words to Eva echo in my head as I think about how focused I’ve been on my stupid job as the only lifeline. The thing is, I haven’t built the goodwill Ethan has. I don’t have a parade of family members ready to come to my rescue. I have exactly one marketable skill, a new relationship I probably fucked up, and a benefactor who ran out of money.
Ethan drops me at the train station and drives off with a salute. The next time I see him, my entire world may have shifted.
18
Eva
I spend a day talking to contractors and bankers and ignoring my feelings about Asher. Just as I’m on the verge of acknowledging my physical and emotional exhaustion, I hear the familiar growl of Eliza’s ancient pickup truck grinding up the lane.
For a second, I think I’m hallucinating. Stress-induced auditory delusions. Too much sex and not enough sleep and way too many emotions in the past twenty-four hours. But then the truck crests the hill, and I realize this is actually happening.
My sisters are here. All of them.
“Surprise!” Eden is out of the truck before it’s fully stopped, arms spread wide, practically vibrating with excitement. “We came to see your artisanal maple orchard!”
I sprint over to them, arms extended like airplane wings, not sure who to hug first. Esther emerges more slowly, surveying the property with her critical eye. “It’s just like you described.”
“Really good sun,” Eila adds, climbing out of Eliza’s passenger seat. She’s holding a potted plant that would be perfect for Asher’s kitchen.
Eliza kills the engine and hops down, hustling to the covered bed, where there appears to be a small goat. “I brought you a friend. Her name is Pepper, and she’s very good at eating weeds.”
