“My wife would love you forever if you’d take some of the stuff off her hands. She’s been bugging me for ages. I might be paying you for the favor.” He belly laughs. “Let’s get ready for the party. You can choose afterward.”
“I…What do you want to do?” she asks timidly, a tiny spark of hope flashing behind her beautiful eyes.
For you? Anything. Barn party, square dancing, sign me up.
“I just met my uncle. We have to stay.”
Her reaction is instant, sinking her teeth into her lower lip.
“Is there a motel around?”
“Don’t be silly, son. You can take one of the guesthouses. You passed them on your way here.”
Eliza clears her throat and looks at me intently. “I didn’t pack anything for overnight.”
Sleeping naked sounds like a great idea. “I have an emergency bag with some clothes in the trunk.”
“Problem solved,” Kenneth says. “Come on, the girls are excited to get ready with you, I’ll show you more tomorrow.”
The guesthouse has one bedroom. I drop the bag on the floor and rush outside before I get lost in fantasies revolving around sharing a bed with a sweet redhead riding my cock until we’re both spent.
“They’re gonna keep your girl,” Kenneth says, leading me to the larger, red and black barn.
My girl?
“They’re squeaking and giggling like teenagers up there.”
My heart warms for her. Being in the middle of a big loving family is something she craves. It’s not the worst feeling in the world, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s uncomfortable like a new pair of dress shoes and I’ll need some time to get used to this type of family life.
“She’s not my girl. We just—” Why am I explaining this to him? “It’s nothing serious.”
“It never is in the beginning.” My uncle laughs heartily.
“I have to return home soon.” Why do I keep talking? “It can’t go anywhere. The company needs me.”
“Does it?” At my confused expression, he continues, “You don’t run a family bodega. It’s an empire. At this size it’s self-sustaining.”
“I can’t leave everything behind. My mother, Jackie—”
“I can’t tell you what to do, son. I’ve missed so much not seeing you grow.” He shakes his head and puts his arm around me, this time I don’t tense as much. “This farm is the biggest supplier for restaurants and shops in the state,” he says, brimming with pride. “Been through bad times. But I always had Linda by my side. You can build a business without being buried by it. We built it together. This beautiful family and the farm. It would mean nothing without them.”
The uncomplicated logic of this man disarms me. “It doesn’t work for everybody.”
Kenneth huffs, amused. “I saw the way you were looking at her. I’m willing to bet all my goats you had no intention of spending too much time around us.”
My mother sent me here with zero context. “I didn’t know—”
“It’s alright, son. I can’t refuse my Linda anything either.”
The family is bringing food into the barn, the long table heavy with mouth-watering dishes. My aunt prides herself on the farm-grown ingredients. A pile of familiar sweets catches my eye. The two chocolate-cake-like round sponges with white cream filling in my parents’ fridge pop to the front of my mind.
“I remember these.” I know why the sign is familiar. It was the logo on the white cardboard box I always found in the fridge around my birthday.
My aunt’s blue eyes sparkle with unshed tears. “I wish I could have shared them with you then.”
Bitter resentment floods my insides. I’ve been robbed of my family’s love and care and I didn’t even know it.
I find Eliza talking with my cousins and other guests who arrived at the party. She stands out with the grace of a water lily in a clear pond. It’s not the flowery dress or the way my cousin styled her hair. It’s that smile and the twinkle in her eyes when they joke around.
