23
Maggie
I walk into the Harvest Festival being held in Battery Park with trepidation. Not because this is the first year the city has held this festival and I don’t know what to expect but because I don’t know what to expect from Tate or the Adler family or even my own family at this point. We swung by our own farm after we dropped off Tate at his, and no one was there except my mom. She said my dad and my uncles had a big blowout with Clyde over the news Daisy had shared and they’d all disappeared.
I reposition the bag that’s on my shoulder filled with our products, like Tate asked, and wander through the park. Daisy stays close to my side. Most of the town seems to be here enjoying the event, browsing the artisan booths, ordering from the food trucks, hanging out in the little beer garden, or riding some of the rides and playing some of the games. With the fairy lights in the trees it’s like a mini-carnival, really. I glance over at the tiny stage where a band is tuning up. Next to the stage is a small beer garden and that’s when I see my uncles and my dad sitting at one of the picnic benches there. I grab Daisy’s hand. “Look. Five o’clock.”
She turns her head and squeezes my hand. “They look…sad? Maybe angry? I can’t tell.”
“Let’s go find out.” I tug her with me as I cross the grass.
Uncle Bobby sees us first and gives us a small wave and a smile. “Hey girls.”
My dad looks up, shocked. “Did Mom send you out looking for us?”
“She worried we killed the old man?” Ben asks as he lifts a half-empty pint to his lips.
“No we’re here…just for us and happened to see you,” I say, not willing to throw Tate’s name out there right now. It feels like it would be throwing gasoline on a fire.
“Did you? Kill Grandpa?” Daisy asks timidly and I’m shocked she called him grandpa. We haven’t done that since we were about seven.
Dad smiles up at her. “No honey. He’s still alive. Still gonna sell the farm out from under us. Still an asshole who has no remorse about tearing up years of letters and cards and making his kids think their mother abandoned them.”
Ouch.
“Are you guys mad at me?” Daisy wants to know. “For finding her?”
The three of them shake their heads in unison.
“Nah, Daze,” Bobby says. “I’m not sure I want to meet her yet…but I'm not mad at you for finding her.”
“You did the right thing telling us the truth, Daisy Mae,” Dad says and smiles at her softly before turning to look at me. “You meet her too?”
I nod. “I think I like her. And her wife.”
“They aren’t legally married,” Daisy interjects. “Marty and Betsy. In fact Betsy is still legally married to Clyde.”
“What?” Bobby gasps and Ben and my dad look equally stunned.
Daisy nods. “I’ll stop talking now. I feel like there’s been enough plot twists.”
Daisy’s words mean nothing because when it comes to plot twists, apparently the universe isn’t done.
“Hey. You came.” Tate’s voice hits my ears and I spin to find him standing just a little behind me in a pair of jeans and his hockey jersey. He’s smiling at me. It’s big and warm and makes me smile back without even thinking about it.
“I got the stuff you asked for,” I say and hold out the bag.
He takes it, glances inside it and nods.
“What’s going on?” My dad asks and he stands up without his cane. He wobbles and Tate instantly reaches out to grab his elbow to steady him. Dad pulls his arm away and leans on the picnic table for support. “I’m fine. Why are you here, Tate?”
Dad doesn’t sound overly aggressive, but I don’t like where this might be heading. Please, may he not make some big stink about me talking to an Adler. This has got to end.
Tate steps closer to me and by doing so is now closer to my dad. Ugh. He looks my dad straight in the eye. “Mr. Todd, sir, what’s happening is I asked your lovely daughters to bring some of your farm’s products here so I could add them into the basket the city is raffling off. The one that was supposed to be from the farmer’s market vendors. I didn’t think it was fair my brother cut you guys out of that, so I’m making it a co-branded basket.”
“Oh.” Dad seems confused by Tate’s words. And to be honest his tone is kind of throwing me off too. It’s mild mannered and polite. No Adler has ever used that tone with a Todd. Not in my lifetime.
“Well as long as that’s all you want from his lovely daughters,” Uncle Ben quips tersely and gives Tate a bit of a glare.
