Chapter 26 Ryder
RYDER
When Izzy arrives, everyone knows it. She tears into the house, tugging Eve out of bed and pulling a number of outfits out of her wardrobe while directing me to clean up the sickness, as she refers to it, gesturing with a flourish at the medicine bottles and tissues and extraneous blankets.
I do my best to get out of their way, opting to do as I’m told rather than try to slow the whirlwind that is Izzy.
I pull on jeans and a T-shirt and surrender the second floor to the girls, opting to clean up our used dishes and throw Eve’s sick clothes in the wash for her rather than daring to go upstairs while I can hear Izzy’s voice in the background saying things like, “That looks good. Wear that,” or “Seriously, you haven’t fucked him yet? ”
And half an hour later, Eve stumbles down the stairs with her hair lightly curled, a cream sweater dress revealing just the hint of smooth thigh before tall socks and boots cover up the rest of her legs.
She holds her hands up in the most appeasing ta-da she can possibly give me, as Izzy storms down the stairs behind her, a wide grin on her face.
“She looks great, doesn’t she?” Izzy asks as I lean against the kitchen counter, drying my hands on a dish towel.
I nod. “Downright beautiful. You’d never know you spent the past three days snoring like a freight train and snotting my shoulder.”
Izzy’s nose crinkles.
“You said I sounded like a baby lawn mower.”
“That was before you said I sounded like a tractor trailer.”
Izzy holds her hand over her heart. “I can truly feel the love.” Izzy grabs Eve’s elbow, directing her to the front door, and turns to me before dragging her outside. “This is an all-hands-on-deck situation or she’s going to end up back in bed, so ditch the dish towel, dude!”
I do as I’m told, flinging it over my shoulder as I follow the girls outside.
And they weren’t kidding about a party.
There are two kegs with a number of chairs surrounding them, a couple of guys I recognize from the farm sitting in a circle smoking weed with a few girls I don’t recognize—presumably friends or girlfriends.
A number of picnic tables have been dragged out of the fields and set along the dirt road, and a fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs crackles as we walk by.
Someone has set up a stereo system that plugs into an outlet on Eve’s front porch, which I see now has been stacked with bags of picked sunflower seeds and petals prepped for drying.
It seems like everyone showed up for Evie while she was sick in bed.
And now she walks through the party, greeting people as they meander by.
Izzy plops a red solo cup in her hand and pushes her toward where Aiden, Tabby, and Rory laugh easily over their drinks.
As I glance down the dirt road to see just how many cars we’ve packed in, I see someone familiar ambling toward us on Vic’s arm.
“Gam,” I mumble, redirecting for her. I called to check in on her over the past few days and she didn’t mention being with Vic, but now I wonder if they didn’t do the same thing we did, hunker down together for the storm and emerge into the sunset once it’s all over.
“Nora! Vic!” Evie shouts, zipping by me to embrace them both.
I jog to keep up with her, giving my grandmother a hug after Evie and shaking Vic’s hand.
“I’m so happy you came!” Eve says, more to my grandmother than Vic.
“And you too, of course, Vic, but you’re always here.
Nora is a new addition,” she says, smiling at Gam and gesturing for them to join the party while Gam keeps one arm around her shoulders.
“We have beer of course but also water and iced tea and whatever else you might like in the house. Feel free to take anything from the fridge.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” Gam says easily, leaving a kiss on Eve’s head. “We’re just going to hang out for a little and then head back. Mostly just wanted to say hello and make sure Ryder did his job taking care of you.”
She nods, glancing back at me. “He did a great job.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” Gam says as Vic grabs her hand. “Well, you kids enjoy yourselves. I think I might have half a beer!”
Eve snickers, gesturing for them to continue into the party.
“They’re so cute,” she comments as she watches them go, nudging me with her elbow.
“They are, aren’t they?” I wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, and gesture toward the keg when I notice her cup is near empty. “How about we get you a refill?”
She nods as I grab her hand, but just as we get there, one of the guys flags her down. The same one she sent over to clear up the land next door.
“Yo Eve!” he shouts, and her attention turns to him. “It looks like a log got stuck in the water wheel during the storm. It’s not moving,” he says.
I can feel the disappointment radiating from her as her shoulders slump. “What?”
He shakes his head. “I tried to pull it out but I can’t get the right angle without wading into the stream. Want me to grab one of the machines?”
She eyes him, surely stuck on the beer in his hand and the joint tucked behind his ear. “No,” she says. “That sounds like tomorrow’s problem.”
He nods, raising his cup to her. “Let me know if you need help.”
“Thanks Gus,” she says, but he’s already turned his attention elsewhere.
And Eve, apparently abandoning both me and the drink, takes off toward the barn in the distance.
“Eve!” I shout, grabbing her half full cup and running after her. “You’re not seriously about to try to move a log that a grown man can’t, are you?”
“I can at least get an idea of what’s going on,” she says, grabbing the cup and taking a quick sip.
“Don’t you think it would be fun to forget about working and enjoy the party for the night?” I ask, taking a few quick steps to catch up with the woman who only a few hours ago didn’t even want to get out of bed.
She gives me a look. “Ryder, I promise I will enjoy the party. I just want to know what I have to deal with tomorrow so the unknown doesn’t take me out of the party.”
The noise dies down the further we walk, and soon it feels like just the two of us again. Despite my apprehension about Eve jumping into the stream fully dressed to rid the water wheel of a log that’s probably twice the size of her, I like that we get another few moments like this, just us.
And when we round the barn to the peace and quiet of the secluded water wheel, I’m relieved that the log is definitely too large for Eve to remove herself, but a little worried whether it can be moved at all.
It’s not directly in the stream, but angled off of it so the other end rests on solid ground.
The top of it is shoved right into one of the spokes of the water wheel, holding it in place.
“Fuck me,” Eve mumbles, and I resist the urge to make a dirty joke about something that must be anxiety-inducing for her.
She takes a few steps forward, kicking at one end with her foot. The log shifts but not easily.
“It actually seems a little lighter than I thought it would,” she says, toeing it again and watching how the other end interacts with the water wheel.
“You are not getting in that stream,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes, taking a step away from the water and removing her shoes.
“Eve,” I scold. “You literally just got over a bad cold because you ran yourself down playing outside wet and cold. I’m not about to let you do the same thing all over again.”
“Moving one log isn't going to wear me down enough to get re-sick,” she says, pulling her socks down over her legs and depositing them on top of her boots.
She takes a few steps toward the stream, dipping her toes in the water, and shivers. “Oh, that’s cold.”
I shake my head, accepting the fact that I apparently don’t get to hang out with Eve Harper without—for some reason or another—ending up in the goddamn stream.
“Jesus Christ, Eve,” I swear, kicking my own shoes off next to hers. “Put your damn shoes on. I’ll do it.”
She raises her eyebrows, watching as I take my own shoes off and then add my pants to the pile.
She blinks, her eyes dipping for only a moment before I start wading in.
“Every time I see you, I end up in this stupid stream,” I mumble, taking one careful step after another into the stream gunk. “At least you’ve graduated from pushing me in and are now using some more strategic tactics to get me in here.”
She snorts. “I don’t know. I’m starting to think maybe you have a stream kink.”
I pause, turning back to face her. “I can tell you with complete certainty that I do not have a stream kink. My balls are the size of walnuts right now thanks to the fucking temperature of this water.”
“I tried going in there first,” she says, throwing her arms out to either side of her as I reach the log.
“And why do I get the idea that of course you tried going in there first because you knew that after the past few days there’s no way I’d let you, so I’d undoubtedly be the one wading in to remove the goddamn log?”
When she doesn’t say anything, I turn to her, worried I goaded her too hard.
But she only smiles, giving me a quick shrug that tells me I called it.
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” I tell her, as I lean down to wrap an arm around the log.
The water isn’t deep here by any means, but I can see from the water lines along the stone that it was much higher over the past few days. Where it really only comes up to my knees now, I would have been at least waist-deep during the storm, if not deeper.
And if I can just pull this end of the log one foot closer to myself, the water wheel will be free to move again.
With a sharp tug, I get it loose and drop it as gracefully as I can into the water, making sure it settles before I try to move around it and out of the stream.
And a moment later, the water wheel creaks to life.
When I turn to Evie, the grin on her face makes the whole thing worth it.
I wade toward her, taking careful, shuffling steps through the water.