Leah had just picked up her cane from where she’d rested it against a wall. She almost dropped it as she looked at Emerson with wide eyes.
“He told you about his book?”
Emerson shifted on his feet, feeling confusingly guilty.
“Not any specifics, no. Just that he’d been working on one for a long time. A fantasy novel.”
Leah stared at him a moment more before she looked away, blinking rapidly. A small smile curved a corner of her lips, more private than the smiles she’d shown him before. This one, too, reflected Luca.
“Well. I was just going to say that, even though he hasn’t been here long, when I last saw him—he seemed a lot lighter.So. Thank you for that.” She moved toward the door. Emerson followed, feeling a sudden, acute desire to reach out and cup a hand around her elbow, to steady her as she went. “I can find my way back,” she said as she stepped down to the path. “You keep on working. But hey.” She rummaged in her bag and brought out a phone. “What’s your number?”
Still feeling somewhat stunned by the entire course of the day, Emerson rattled it off. Leah composed a new text message, mostly of emojis. Emerson watched the screen over her shoulder as she sent it to him.
“That’s me. Let me know if you need anything at all as you prepare for the wedding, all right? Help keep an old lady entertained.”
“You don’t seem that old to me,” Emerson said, honestly.
“My mind agrees, but my bones don’t,” she answered. “Nice to meet you, Mr. King.”
Emerson watched her walk away. That complicated feeling filled his chest again.
Yaegers kept showing up in his life unsolicited, offering help and kindness.
He didn’t know how to process it.
He turned to face the barn.
It almost looked like more of a disaster than it had before, the way any project looked in the middle.
Most of it just needs some TLC, love.
And wasn’t that what farming was? All you could give was TLC.
Emerson walked inside the barn and picked up a broom.
thirteen
Later that night,Emerson leaned against the doorframe that separated his kitchen from the living room.
A baseball game was on the TV. San Francisco Giants versus the Toronto Blue Jays.
Luca Yaeger sat on Emerson’s couch.
It was the first time Emerson had seen him there alone. While they’d shared dinner each night the week prior, Emerson was involved with Daisy’s nighttime routine pretty much as soon as the dishes were cleaned. By the time he’d returned to the living room each night, Luca had already retreated downstairs to the guest room.
But Daisy wasn’t here this week.
Emerson had heard the game playing when he’d finally entered the kitchen through the sliding glass door a half hour before. He’d lost track of time earlier in the old barn after Leah had left. He’d needed to go into town for some supplies and groceries after, and by the time he’d gotten home, Jansel’s truck was gone and Emerson was behind on taking care of the animals.
He wasn’t sure what Luca had made himself for dinner,but when Emerson had walked over to the sink to wash his hands after saying goodnight to Sally, a new plate was sitting clean in the drying rack.
Emerson had cobbled together a quick dinner for himself, listening to the baseball game in the other room. All the while aware that Luca was on the other side of the wall.
He had no more excuses. Emerson needed to face him. And he finally, maybe, felt ready.
He lingered at the doorframe anyway, staring at the back of Luca’s neck.
“You can sit down, you know,” Luca eventually said without turning his head. “I don’t bite.” And then, with a hint of a tease in his voice: “Unless you want me to.”
