“I’ll see you at the town hall meeting! I dropped off some pickled eggs for you,” she said with a wave.
“Nothing like coming home to your small town,” I said to Ernest as we went into the farmhouse.
It was getting dark, and the greenhouses glowed softly off in the distance from the window of the farmhouse kitchen.
I set about boiling water and chopping onions for the sausage and pierogi filled with potato, cheese, mushrooms, and sauerkraut I was making for dinner.
“I’m glad you all have a wedding here,” Ernest said, slicing butter and throwing it into the pan, where it sizzled. “It’ll be nice to see more of you.”
I patted his arm. “I’m just doing the flowers for the wedding, so I’m not sure I’ll be here all that much.”
He looked a little sad.
“But I’m definitely going to try to come to Harrogate more often. I want to do more horseback riding.”
“Just so you know,” he told me, “since everyone’s talking about the wedding between the mayor and her beau, I have some money saved up for you for your wedding.”
“Oh, Granddad!” I said. “Spend that on yourself! You said you wanted a new truck.”
“Truck runs just fine.”
“You have to use a screwdriver to open the door,” I reminded him.
“Still works,” he said stubbornly. “Besides, I want you to have a nice wedding, if that’s what you want.”
“I’m too busy to try to find a boyfriend, let alone someone marriageable,” I said lightly. I scraped the sausage into the skillet and put the pierogi in the water to simmer.
“There are some decent men in Harrogate.”
“Yes, but after this kickoff meeting, I’m not sure how much I can be here, and when I am, I want to spend all my free time with you!”
6
Sebastian
“You’re covered in dirt,” I told my brother when we got home.
The Svensson brothers were half-feral. They had all grown up out in a compound in the desert, left by their parents to fend and fight for themselves. Whenever I saw my brother play roughly with them, I always had to bite my tongue and not beg him to be careful.
It had been years since Alfie had recovered from childhood leukemia. He wanted to be a normal kid. I knew that, and I had moved us out to Harrogate so that he could have that classic childhood experience after years of hospitals, needles, and tubes. Still.
“Is that chili sauce or mud?” I scrubbed at his face.
“Probably both,” Alfie said happily. “We were playing Nerf war!”
I shooed him into the bathroom and threw his clothes into the washer. Out of habit, while Alfie was upstairs, I started to clean.
When his immune system had been shot because of the chemo, everything had to be sanitary. My company had invented a new industrial-strength cleaner just so that I could feel better about Alfie’s environment. Even with all the best soap, the reality was that if you wanted something clean, you needed to douse it in alcohol and set it on fire.
“You don’t have to keep cleaning,” Alfie said, exasperated, as he came into the living room, where I was meticulously dusting the TV. He flopped down onto the couch. “You need to get out more. Find a girlfriend.”
“You’re only ten. What do you know about dating?”
“The Svenssons all have girlfriends. You’re a billionaire too, and you’re a CEO,” my brother said, stretching out on the sofa. “You could totally get any girl you want.”
“I can’t just bring a random woman here to live.” I frowned, shooing him into the kitchen.
“You’re not finding a wife,” Alfie countered. “Just go on a date for fun.”
