One of their friends sitting crisscross-applesauce on the trailer bed nodded. “His narration is quite good,” another guy offered in a dry Australian accent. “He does all the voices.”
“Oh man, voices?” Connor chuckled. “I’m in!”
“Me too!” My voice cracked. I was still in shock, but calmed down long enough to climb on board with everyone. Then my heart started its now familiar hammering again. Here I was, about to see the Farm the way Annie had once seen it. Time seemed to slow and the Farm began to take on this glow. Nostalgia right in front of me.
It looked like it was going to be a gorgeous sunset.
“We should’ve brought sweatshirts,” Connor whispered once we were settled on the flatbed. The temperature was already dipping and the breeze whipping up. He hugged me close. “You warm enough?”
“Yes.” I smiled at him, because it impossible to shiver with his arms around me.
Maybe I was definitely in too deep with him, but I knew I could swim for a while longer.
Twenty-two
You would think a tractor ride was only fun for little kids, but whenever Wit pulled up outside a house, people couldn’t wait to join us.
“And, as most of you know, this is the Big House,” Wit explained, steering the tractor up the sandy rock road toward a Victorian farmhouse. “It’s the oldest house on the Farm.” He turned back and winked at us. “And it just got a much-needed renovation!”
The Big House looked like it had been entirely re-sided in cedar shingles, since they weren’t weathered brown like the Annex. Instead, they were a light maple color. My guess was they darkened with time.A job well done, I thought to myself, admiring the fresh green shutters and porch that wrapped around the house like a hug.
“Evening!” Andrew Fox called from the porch. “Do you have room for two more?”
“Onemore, darling,” his wife corrected him. She was relaxing on the porch’s daybed but waved her book around, determined.“Book club meets tomorrow, and I’m only halfway through.” She blew a kiss to everyone. “Next time!”
Someone moved to help Andrew Fox onto the Oystercatcher, but he was capable of hoisting himself up without assistance. Seemingly a spring chicken.
Meanwhile, my heart threatened to pound its way out of my chest.
Did you date Annette Lupo?I was desperate to ask once he had settled near various generations of family and friends.Or did you know Annette Lupo, once upon a time? Did she come here?
But I swallowed the words, realizing he wouldn’t. “Lupo” was Annie’s married name, and before I could internally rephrase the question with her maiden name, Andrew cupped his hands around his mouth and called, “Onward, Wit!”
I can ask his brother, I thought, knowing Christian’s house was the next stop. I knew him better, anyway. The Jaws Bridge disaster had been quite the icebreaker.
The sun was low on the horizon when the tractor reached the Pond House, the site of the Fourth of July party. It truly had an incredible view of Oyster Pond. The water glimmered in the waning light, and I spotted a couple peaceful evening kayakers.
Jay and Allison, I recognized the green and yellow kayaks. After discovering Nick and Sage’s love for kayaking under the stars, I’d learned his parents preferred paddling at sunset.
I turned to the Pond House at the sound of pounding feet. Two children charged across the back deck, with blankets wiselythrown over their shoulders, and while other Foxes followed, none of them were Christian. Andrew stuck two fingers in his mouth to sharply whistle. “He’s not here,” a middle-aged woman told him. “He went straight to the barn after dinner.”
Straight to the barn?I wondered.
The tractor resumed its journey.
“Am I not comfortable enough?” Connor asked when I shifted against his chest.
“Comfortable?” I felt my face melt into a smile. “Trycozy.” I glanced around; we had left the houses in the dust, now rolling along a meadow trail. “Where do you think this leads?”
He kissed the top of my head, murmuring, “I have a hunch…”
Wit slowed the tractor several minutes later, after impressively winding to a grassy oasis overlooking a small, placid pond. The sun had officially started making its descent, the blue sky bursting into shades of orange and pink, but you couldn’t miss the house several yards away. Or, the bones of a house. It was mostly framework, but you could tell a sweet Cape would someday stand here.
Wit and Meredith’s house, I surmised. This was where they were putting down roots.
“Everyone, everyone!” Meredith stood on the flatbed after Wit made a bird call to get the group’s attention. “We’ve brought you all here tonight to make an announcement!”
“You’re having a baby?” Claire asked.
