He sags back in his seat and I get a glimpse of Scott. He does the same thing when meetings run long. “Fine. Sorry, goahead.”
“We don’t have to be friends. We barely know each other. All of this is weird, but you’re gonna be fucking nice to me, okay?” I say, tacking on a silent reminder that this is not the time for me to start crying. “I just watched you be sweet as hell toeveryonein that cafe. You were even sweet as hell tome. I don’t know what kind of sociopath you are that you can turn it on and off, with such intense extremes, but it’s really fucking strange and I’m not feelingit.
“I’m guessing that you’re nice to your employees and guests all the time and not just when you feel like it. So. How about you just add me to the list of people that you are consistently cordial to. If that’s too much to ask, just let me know. I don’t know if I can catch a Lyft out here, but I’m sure I can convince Mason or someone to get me to the nearest bus station. I don’t need this shit from you. Notnow.”
He lets out a deep breath and something tells me he’s not done giving me shit. He knows I’m not playing with him, but this is Scott’s twin. Even though I love Scott, I know he loves pushing my buttons when he doesn’t understand the weight of a situation. This is clearly something they have in common. I get it. Brook and I have similarities that drives our friends up the wall, but we have enough home training to know when to chill the fuckout.
I swallow, hating the way shit is starting to stir up in my chest again and then I feel my eyes burning. I’m not fast enough to catch the first tear, but I keep a straight face as I wipe it away. I scrub my eyes, making sure no other tears leakout.
Silas lets out another breath. “You’re right.” He laughs suddenly, shaking his head. “All this time and he still gets under myskin.”
“I’m not yourbrother.”
“I know. I know you’re not. Listen. I—” A horn blares and we both look up. He’s not blocking the road. Silas laughs again. This time it feels real. He rolls down his window and waves up a shiny black pick-up. It pulls up beside us. I tilt my head and see an elderly black couple sitting in thecab.
“Reverend. Lucy,” Silas says. His back is to me and I can hear the smile in his voice. A realsmile.
“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t broken down,” the woman, Lucy,says.
“No, no. I was just giving my girl here a proper tour. This is my girlfriend,Ebie.”
I wave and offer a warm hello. I hope my eyes aren’tred.
“Told you, James. Payup.”
“My love life has you two gambling now?” Silasasks.
“It was that bad, huh?” I manage to say with my own smile even though my eyes are stillburning.
“Honey, don’t let this scare you away. He’s just longoverdue.”
“I’ve heard,” Ireply.
“We’ll see you in there?” Lucyasks.
“I’m gonna drop her off when we’re finished, but I’ll see you two later.” Silasreplies.
“Will do. Nice to meet you, Ebie,” Lucy says. Her husband offers me a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes and then he pulls into thefarm.
“Fuck,” Silas groans once they are a distance down theroad.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He sighs, then turns back to me. “Where werewe?”
“You were going to tell me my emotions aren’t your problem and I should be grateful for a free lunch and a place to sleep.” I shove my hair behind my ear and look out the window at the thick forest lining the side of the road just beyond another white fence. “We can pretend, but I am too fucking tired to do this on andoff.”
“I was going to say that you’re right. I am being a dick.” My tears ducts have managed to pull it together so I turn around and give him my full attention. “I hate my brother. We’re not just ‘beefing’,” he says with air quotes. “It took me years to reach this point with him. We have an understanding and last night he violated that by contacting me. I’m on two hours of sleep and I’m pissed at Scott. There’s no reason I should take that out on you. You sleep like a maniac, but you actually seem pretty cool and you deserve respect and civility, not my shitty attitude. Can we start over?” He holds out his hand to shake mine. I look at it for a long moment, twisting the corner of my lip, considering if I’m willing to let him off thehook.
“Seriously, snap at me one more time and I’m leaving, right after I smack the shit out of you. I’ll figure this shit out on my own,” I say and then I shake hishand.
“Deal. What do you want to do right now? We don’t have to do a tour. You can remain mysterious until you run into my guys or not. However you want to playit.”
“I actually would like a tour. Scott never mentioned this place and I’ve never been to an apple—sorry, a farm that offers a wide variety of produce before. I would like to see it. Plus I’m avoiding work emails for as long as Ican.”
“Well by all means, allow me to waste yourtime.”
* * *
