“And then I’ll no longer have an excuse to come over and hang out with you every evening.”
“You don’t need an excuse.”
It’s getting worse. The struggle to overcome these feelings is growing harder and harder.
We walk on in silence for a minute, the sound of the river rushing beneath us as we cross the bridge. On the other side, we come out to the fields falling away before us and a sky full of stars rolling back over our heads.
“I hope Jonas is okay,” I say. “Heather really gets to him, doesn’t she?”
“Like no one I’ve ever known.”
“What does he see in her?” I’m mystified.
“I have no idea,” he replies. “Treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen. She’s always had some sort of hold over him.”
“He seemed on edge even before she turned up.”
“He’s stressing about Pa and the farm.”
“What do you think your dad will do when he finds out what you’re up to?”
He shrugs. “Who knows? He’s always been unpredictable. Hopefully, Ma will talk some sense into him. She seems to be the only person who can.”
“Will your mum be supportive, do you think?”
“Oh, she’ll be all for it. Anything to make Jonas happy. It was her idea to go away. She wanted to give him some time without Pa around, allow him a chance to imagine a future on the farm and being in charge.” He releases a long breath before saying, “When Pa came home from the hospital, she actually brought up the idea of selling.”
“What? Thefarm?” I ask with surprise. I thought they never would.
“She said enough was enough, our family had broken their backs over it for too long and there was no shame in letting someone else take it over.”
“What did your dad say?”
“He one hundred percent disagreed with her.”
We smile at each other.
“But I don’t know, I think the fact that Ma even considered letting the farm go freed something up in Jonas. I think it somehow took some pressure off. He’s been so upbeat these last couple of weeks. You and Bailey—”
“Mostly Bailey.”
“There you go again,” he mutters. “He adores you, Wren. And he loved your vision for the cabins around the lake. He keeps looking at your sketches on his phone.”
Jonas asked if he could take photos after Anders went and showed them to him.
“You and Bailey have both been godsends.”
“Aw.” I lean in and affectionately bump his arm. I feel him stiffen and I’m momentarily disheartened because I’d give anything for us to be more tactile with each other. But then he closes the gap between us, his arm brushing against mine as we walk. It’s almost frightening how blissful it feels to be this close to him.
“How old is your dad?” I ask, trying to keep our casual conversation going so he doesn’t feel the need to distance himself from me again.
“Eighty-two in December.”
“And your mum?”
“Seventy-six.”
“So she was almost forty when she had Jonas?”
