Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
DEVIN
The first person I see when I step off the bus from Sacramento late on Friday afternoon is Evelyn.
“Hi, Devin. How’s it going?” she asks as she walks with me towards the grocery store.
“Hello, Evelyn. I wanted to thank you for telling me about the job at Dawson’s farm.”
I tell her a little about it as we walk into the store.
“I heard you were staying there as well. Are you settling in well?”
“Yes, I’m enjoying it.” I think it’s going well.
The work is fine and it’s busy. The customers are mostly nice.
Zane, on the other hand, since the incident on Sunday, has barely spoken two words to me that haven’t been about work.
Even though I’ve tried to talk to him several times.
He just works on his machinery and watches me.
Or at least it feels like he does, as he’s always looking my way when I glance over at him.
Which I try not to do, but can’t help it.
Of course Nova and Arlene are great, so I can put up with Zane’s coldness for a few weeks.
“That’s good. Tell Arlene I’ll be up on Monday,” Evelyn says before her attention alights onto someone else and I’m left to shop in peace.
I’m truly thankful for Arlene. Her bringing me some bits last week turned out to be an electric kettle, a toaster, a microwave, as well as a small fridge.
So I’m pretty much self-sufficient in my new lodgings.
It’s quieter than being at the Foggy Inn, and I’m enjoying it.
My brothers tease me about living in a barn, though, and I had to put my mum’s mind at ease that I do have access to sanitation.
It’s better and cleaner than some of the truck stops I’ve stayed at, but I didn’t offer her that information.
I choose what I need for the week. A supply of bread for toast, and of course some butter, along with some fresh fruit and vegetables. I grab a few of the ready meals the store is offering and take them to be rung up.
“So, you’re staying up at Dawson’s farm, are you?” the guy behind the counter asks.
“News travels fast around here.”
“It’s a small town. News like that is a commodity,” he laughs.
“Not sure I like being one of those.” I grin back at him.
“Why I’m actually asking is because Arlene’s tea has come in today and would you take it up for her?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thank you.” He hands it over and I stow it in my backpack. Evelyn’s outside the store when I leave, still talking, but I refuse her offer of a ride up to the farm. After two long bus journeys and a couple of hours in a classroom for my program, I’m glad of the chance to stretch my legs.
I notice Zane’s truck isn’t in the yard when I reach the farm, so I go straight over to the farmhouse and knock on the kitchen door.
“Hi,” Arlene says and invites me in. Nova is sitting at the table, his laptop open in front of him.
“Hi, Devin, we missed you today. A customer told us that some of Mikey’s alpacas had escaped. Zane’s over there now, helping them.”
“That sounds fun,” I say. I give Arlene her tea.
“Thank you, we need more now we have another tea drinker.”
“I can switch to coffee,” I offer.
“Don’t be daft.” She grins. “I was just joking. You can have as much tea as you want. I’m just making a pot now, so sit yourself down.”
I take a seat and Nova turns his laptop screen towards me.
“Look at these,” he says excitedly. I scan the page. There’s a lot of information, but I can see the headline—The Best Beauty Colleges in Sacramento.
“Are you going to college?”
“Zane says that with the feed store doing so well we can afford for me to go and learn to be a nail technician.”
“That’s great.” I can see how excited he is at the prospect, but Zane’s decision surprises me.
“Isn’t it. He said it’s the reason he took over the feed store when the old one closed down. Isn’t he the best brother ever?”
“He certainly is,” I agree, and for the next half an hour, Nova tells me about his plans for the future. I rise when I hear a truck in the yard, making my exit before Zane appears. I’m not exactly avoiding him, but I’m not going out of my way to be in his company.
The next morning, as I’m making myself a cup of tea before work, I remember what Arlene said and have an idea.
“Hello, Dev love.” My mum answers on the second ring.
“Hi, Mum,” I reply, and after putting her at ease that the call is not an emergency, and having my ear bent for a few more minutes, I get to the point.
“Can you send over some tea?”
“Tea? Don’t they have tea in the States?”
“Of course. But Arlene likes English tea and has it brought in especially for her. She lets me drink it too, so I thought it’d be nice to get her some direct.”
“Of course I can, love. Does she have a favorite brand?”
“She likes Burton’s.”
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“How?” I ask. It’s a brand that’s been around for like a hundred and fifty years or something.
“One of the Burtons split from the family company and has set up his own tea shop here in Stonehaven. He’s taken over the old apothecary. Calling it Apothecatea, making his own blends. How about I send her some of those as well?”
“Thanks, Mum, that sounds perfect.” We talk for a few minutes before I end the call as I need to get to work.
As I walk across the yard, I ignore the faint sting of homesickness talking to my mum has brought up.
I don’t feel it often, and I know if I went home, I’d soon feel hemmed in again.
As much as I love my family, I always do.
I’m on my own as I open up the store and serve the first few customers.
Each one of them wants to talk and tell me their version of the escaped alpacas, which I learn is a fairly regular occurrence but always big news in Foggy Basin.
It sounds like it was hilarious, and I’m almost sorry I missed it.
I’m in a good mood and just tidying away some chicken feeders when Zane walks into the feed store.
“I hear you had fun chasing round some wayward alpacas yesterday,” I say.
“Why do you always have to talk?” he snaps.
“I’m just being friendly. You should try it sometime,” I snap back, my good mood quickly dissipating. He glares at me for a full twenty seconds, his jaw so tight I think he might burst a blood vessel. Then he turns on his heel and stalks off towards the machine barns.
“Well, that was dumb,” I mutter to myself. I should know better than to snap at my boss just because he riles me up.
“What was?” Nova asks, sauntering in while munching on an apple.
“I think I annoyed your brother.”
“Oh, I doubt that. He’s already pissed at me this morning.” He perches on a pile of sacks.
“Why’s that?” I can’t imagine being pissed at Nova.
“I asked if I could go to college in San Francisco instead of Sac.” Okay, yes, that might do it.
“What did he say?” Though I can already imagine. Sacramento is a ninety minute drive away. San Francisco’s more like four hours.
Nova pushes off from the sacks and stands taller, squaring his shoulders and puffing out his chest in a fairly accurate imitation of his brother.
“Over my dead body,” he says in a deep voice and then dissolves in a fit of giggles.
“And do you want to go to San Francisco?”
“Probably not.” He shrugs. “But I’ve never been there, so I don’t know, do I?
“Sacramento is probably best,” I say. San Francisco would swallow up a sweet small-town boy like Nova.
After a few hours, Zane returns, and whilst he still doesn’t say much, he’s lost his earlier black look, which I can now understand.
Not that it excuses how he spoke to me, but we can at least talk about work.
We’re closing up for the day when Arlene comes out to ask Zane if he’ll go into town for her.
I leave them to it and make my way over to my room.
“Oh, Devin,” Arlene calls and I turn back around.
“Would you like to join us tomorrow for family dinner?”
“Oh, yes, please come.” Nova claps his hands together with glee. I ignore Zane’s frown. I’m getting used to it by now, and it could mean anything.
“Yes, please, I’d like that. Thank you.” I resume walking across the yard, a small bloom of gratitude in my chest that Arlene included me. As I pull open the barn door, I can hear Zane talking but only his last words reach me.
“But he’s not family.”