Chapter 12 Ryder
RYDER
Ifollow Eve out of the barn, every single one of my muscles aching to touch her again.
When she popped up in my car window like a little sprite ready to introduce me to her land, I worried I had gotten myself in too deep.
But her energy and excitement all clicked into place when she showed me the studio above the barn.
And it made my heart thump a little harder when I realized just how much she wanted to show me this thing she put so much work into.
I get the feeling that Eve keeps her cards close to the chest, and I guess now that she feels a little more secure about the future of the farm, she’s willing to let me in a little more than before.
And fuck, it’s exhilarating.
I could have sat in that bathtub with her all night. Water, no water. Clothes, no clothes.
There’s something so special about Eve sharing that moment with me.
There wasn’t much as far as lighting went once the sunset faded, but I could see the brightness in her eyes. The pleasure at having shown someone this beautiful thing that she dreamed up all on her own.
And the water wheel phone charger.
She’s fucking adorable.
So while I wondered, sitting in my car with a racing heart thanks to her jump scare, if I’d gotten myself in too deep to begin with, I know for sure now that I did.
The first floor of the barn is open, the second floor supported by a thick wall along one side and two half walls along the adjacent ones. She heads straight through the middle, fishing her phone out of her pocket and flicking on the light as she walks.
“Watch your step, the floor is uneven. And there are mice and spiders so just keep a lookout.”
I crinkle my nose, doing as she says and putting my phone flashlight on so I can see. There’s nothing but dirt underneath my feet, and as I flash the beam up toward the rafters, I see nothing but cobwebs in a variety of sizes.
“I tell renters not to come through the middle like this, but it takes you right out to the water wheel. We don’t really use this space other than to store old farm equipment that one of the guys will eventually either fix or sell off one day.”
As I move the flashlight back down to the ground, I catch sight of something hidden within the cobwebs above us.
“It’s on my to-do list to clear out this space and eventually use it for something good. Maybe an extension of the gift shop or a craft area. There are a ton of people who have requested flower arrangement classes so I thought I could do that.”
I pause, focusing my light at the discolored white rubber above me.
“But honestly, I’m not so great at the whole arrangement thing. That’s kind of Rory’s thing. My friend Rory owns the local flower shop. I grow the stuff, she sells it. Maybe she can run the class or something.”
She stops, turning when she realizes she lost me.
“You okay?” she asks, doubling back.
She aims her light toward the rafters near mine, and it quickly becomes clear what I’m looking at.
“Eve, you’ve got knob and tube wiring up there.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “Knob and tube?”
I lower the phone so I can see her face and inadvertently blind her. She scrunches her eyes shut, taking an automatic step back as I take one toward her and grab her so she can’t trip over the old piece of nondescript equipment behind her.
She’s pressed against my chest, her hands fisting in my shirt as she steadies herself.
And then she takes a step away from me, redirecting her light back to the rafters.
She clears her throat. “What is knob and tube wiring?”
I raise my phone and move the light until I find it again.
“That whitish rubbery looking thing up there. A relic of early electricity that's not up to code anymore.” I pause, lowering the light and squinting at her in an effort to judge her facial expression. I don’t want to upset her, but she really needs to get that fixed if she has renters staying right above it.
“It’s not really considered safe anymore.
You should get that updated soon, if you can. ”
She nods. “Is that expensive?”
I bite my lip. “Probably.”
She sighs, turning on her heel and refocusing her light on the dirt floor in front of her. “Well, the shots just keep on coming, huh?”
I take a few quick steps to catch up with her, narrowly avoiding an upturned rake that seems to have fallen from its resting place. “It’ll be worth it, I think. Better to know you have a problem and fix it than to wonder why your barn burnt down.”
She turns suddenly and I careen right into her, grabbing her upper arms to steady both of us before we topple undoubtedly to our deaths.
“It’s a fire hazard?” she asks.
I shrug. “Well, yeah.”
“Fuck.”
I purse my lips, wondering if she’ll accept my help.
“You know, Steve has a guy for just about everything. If I had to bet, I’d say he could have somebody out to give you a quote by the end of the week. No commitment, you know? But that’ll give you an idea of what it might cost.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, that would be great if I could get a quote.”
I nod. “Done.”
She sighs as she starts walking again. “I guess I’ll be starting those craft classes sooner than I thought.”
I laugh. “Is that what you do? You get a big bill and figure out what needs to be done to pay it?”
In the dim light from the open side of the barn, I see her shrug.
“I guess. This whole farm is a matter of catching one problem and figuring out where to throw it. Big bill? Well, good thing I already had some ideas brewing. Mayor’s being a dick?
Give him a smidge of what he wants. It’s all a give and take, a delicate balance of figuring out who wants what and determining the best way to make that come true so they can help me.
” She snorts. “That’s why I squander my monopoly, as you might say.
” She shoots me a pointed look over her shoulder.
“I do a hell of a lot of trade around here to keep costs low. Keep the community on my side. Make sure this place stays afloat.”
I nod, something in her words tickling a problem in the back of my mind. “Something tells me that’s how this town works in general. You scratch my itch, I’ll scratch yours.”
She steps out onto the grass on the other side of the barn and switches her phone light off.
“Oh, a hundred percent. You were probably too young to notice the corruption here but the best way to get anything you want or need is to find somebody who wants or needs the same thing but has more clout than you. Stupid, corrupt small town politics. I would bet good money Reed is trying to get something from you by not approving your development plans. I don’t know what it is, but figure out the way he wants to be greased and you’re golden. ”
I nod, turning my attention to the water wheel Eve is now facing. She holds her hands out as if presenting it to me. “The prized water wheel.”
I nod, watching as it slowly turns in the stream.
It creaks as it moves, and one of the boards must be hitting the barn because it clicks at an even pace.
A good four feet of it sits beneath the water line, the bank of the stream sloping steeply from where it meets the barn behind the water wheel until it gets to the stream in front of it.
In the narrow space between the wheel and the barn, a few old rakes lean against the wall.
“It doesn’t look like much, but it’s pretty damn cool, isn’t it?”
This side of the barn faces my currently vacant property. Two Adirondack chairs sit next to the stream, angled toward each other like the people who last sat there were riveted by each other.
And I wouldn’t expect anything else, here. Thanks to its positioning on the far side of the barn, the water wheel exists in a somewhat secluded alcove. The stream putters by, the white noise of the water twinkling like music.
It’s calm. Romantic. The perfect place for a first kiss.
I swallow that thought.
“It’s really freaking cool,” I agree, giving the water wheel my full attention so I don’t think about the way her hair blows in the breeze.
After a few moments, she gestures for me to follow her.
“Come on, we’ve still got plenty to see before we’re out of light completely.
” She gives me a big grin as I fall into step next to her.
“And don’t worry, if you want to look at it again before you leave, I don’t chase anybody away from the sunflower farm until they’re ready to go.
You’re welcome to sit and watch it all night. ”
Goddamn she's cute when she’s making fun of me.
“If you lose me on this tour, at least you’ll know where to find me.”
“Is that going to be our family meeting point?”
I nod. “You bet. Just let me grab my cream sweater from my car so we’re wearing the same colors.”
“And what’s our family code word?”
“Rooster,” I say, because that’s what happens to be on my mind right now.
She snorts. “You’re such a boy. Seriously, rooster? Just say ‘cock’ if that’s what you’re thinking about.”
“I don’t think ‘cock’ is appropriate for the children.”
“In our household, I’m sure they’ve heard much worse.”
I let out a long breath. “Evie, I keep telling you not to beg for it in front of the kids.”
She turns to me, whacking my elbow. “Ryder!”
“What? They’re fake kids.”
She rolls her eyes, her pace quickening as she heads for the dirt road that runs by the barn. “Our fake children are ashamed of the things that come out of your mouth.”
“I think that’s just you getting bashful.”
She turns to shoot me a glare and I swear, even in the dim light of dusk, I see the pink in her cheeks.
I grin as I follow her along the dirt path, aching to throw an arm around her shoulders when she shivers against the cool breeze.
She leads me up beyond the sunflower fields, where a garage houses three delivery trucks that take fresh flowers to the shops in neighboring towns.
An empty chicken coop that in the distant past held many chicken friends whose eggs Eve would eat for breakfast almost daily.
Across the stream, her hand in mine as we steady each other, she shows me the wreckage of what was once a foot bridge that connected our properties and now lies in a pile on one side of the stream.
And an hour later, when we’ve stumbled over enough fallen branches on my side of the stream and decided to putter back to her dirt road, I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve just been on a first date.
Maybe the best I’ve ever had.