“When you get to be our age, you’ve earned the right to take your time,” he says. “Andto make the young guys do the heavy lifting.”
“Hey.”
We all turn as Dad enters the garage. His eyes flick from me to the workbench, then back to me, like he’s seeing if I’ve finished my work. Seriously, what’s with these guys…
“Hey, Scottie,” Rob says with a smile. “Got the new hire all sorted?”
Dad nods as he stops next to me. “Starting in a couple days.”
“Perfect,” Al calls from the far end of the garage. He closes a binder and shoves it onto a shelf with other books and binders. “We need to finalize planting yesterday.”
“I know,” Dad says with another nod.
He looks… off. I didn’t think he was this stressed about it. He said the new person would start in time to advise on planting, even if it’s tight.
“So,” Peter leans back against the truck with his arms crossed, “where’s this hotshot coming from?”
Dad glances around the garage. “I’ll explain everything in a bit.” Then he looks at me and tilts his head towards the door. “Silas, come with me.”
He turns towards the door and heads outside, and I follow, watching the way his shoulders sit a little higher than usual and how he keeps his focus straight ahead without saying a word.
We cross the lot towards the office, and as we enter through the green door, my pulse picks up.
Fuck. Did I screw something up? Am I about to get in shit over something I missed or did wrong?
As we move down the hallway towards his office, I run through everything I did today. I checked moisture levels in the east field, swapped out the damaged hose near the pump, flagged the uneven section along the fence line…
The second Dad closes the office door behind us, I turn to face him. “Just tell me what I did wrong.”
He pauses with his hand still on the knob as his eyebrows lift. Then his features soften, and he shakes his head. “No, no. You didn’t do anything.”
I release a heavy breath as relief flows through me. I drop into the chair across from his desk and lift my hat, drag my fingers through my hair, and settle it back into place. “Well, fuck. Then what’s this for?”
Dad lowers himself into the chair next to me, looking very… serious.
“The Operations Support Specialist we hired…” he says, eyeing me carefully, “is Levi Campbell.”
I freeze as I just stare at Dad, unable to move or speak.
Levi… my ex-best friend, Levi… coming to work here… on my farm…
Sights and sounds turn fuzzy and grey as I try to latch onto any kind of thought or feeling, but everything seems to be just out of reach. My hands tingle and my heart thumps, but it feels like it doesn’t even belong to me.
My farm…mine.
Pressure on my arm pulls me out of the haze, and I blink as I realize the pressure is coming from Dad’s hand on me, and he’s saying my name. I shift my eyes to meet his, and he tilts his head to catch my gaze.
“You hear me?” he asks.
All I can do is nod and just keep looking into his blue eyes as I try to stay here.
“I didn’t know,” he says. “Farm Services handled the posting and hiring, and they don’t release client details until contracts are signed. So he didn’t know either.”
My heart thumps harder as I drop my eyes to my lap, and the tingles in my hands spread through my body as I try to fight the fuzziness in my head. It’s like I’m frozen, just staring at my knees, unable to form a single fucking thought, action, or word.
Dad shifts to the edge of his seat. “Silas… I spoke to him today.”
My eyes snap back to his, and he gives me a sad smile.
