Chapter 36
B randon didn’t even slam the door when he entered his cabin. He stepped inside, set Dumpling gently on the floor, and turned back to close the door with a quiet, deliberate click.
The silence that greeted him was oppressive, pressing in on him from every corner of the room. It wrapped around his chest, tight and unyielding, crushing his ribs into his lungs.
Dumpling yowled once and padded to his empty food bowl, his tail flicking like even he knew something had gone terribly wrong.
Brandon moved slowly, like a man twice his age, and sank onto the couch. His breath leaked out of his body even as he heard the drill truck roar to life. His heartbeat jumped, and then Dumpling howled his displeasure at the noise in his usually-quiet environment.
Or maybe that was because Brandon hadn’t fed him yet this morning.
Yawning, he got up to do that, because the cat wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.
“Must be a theme in your family,” he grumbled to himself, wishing the surprise of the drill-truck had gone better.
You and Zona are always doing what you want, even when it’s not what I want.
Did he and Zona always do what they wanted?
After feeding Dumpling, and with the feline chowing down, he braced both hands on the edge of the kitchen sink, his head bowing low, shoulders sagging.
“Dear Lord, bless them to find water.”
Maybe if the well came to fruition, Lenny wouldn’t be too mad for too long.
Brandon raised his head, knowing he couldn’t hide out in here today. He’d made his choice to keep the drill-truck a surprise, and if he’d been only five minutes earlier getting back to the homestead, things might have gone differently.
An ache had started in his chest, and it throbbed sharply, getting dangerously close to his heart.
This is my land, Brandon, and I get to decide.
He squeezed his eyes shut, but that only made the words echo louder. Her tone hadn’t just been angry. It had been final, a closed door, locked from the inside.
Brandon straightened slowly and moved to the coat rack by the door.
He tugged his work jacket down and held it in his hands for a moment.
It still smelled like pine sap and wind—and faintly of Lenny’s shampoo.
That wildflower-and-honey scent that clung to his shirts because he spent his evenings in her cabin with her, often lying with her on the couch while they brainstormed and dreamed of all the homestead could be.
“ Her homestead,” he said bitterly. That much had been made clear.
What he didn’t understand was why what he told her hadn’t been made clear. He was not trying to take the land from her, and he’d told her that over and over.
Before he could stop himself, he lifted the jacket to his nose and took a breath of it. Then he shrugged into it, ignoring the pinch in his heart, and left his cabin to go see how he could help install a well on Lenore’s homestead.
Outside, the mechanical growl of the drill continued to churn through the earth. They’d chosen a spot near the front of her established garden area, and Lenny stood there alone, one hand at her mouth as she chewed on one of her fingernails.
Brandon stopped at the top of the steps, crossing his arms as he watched the hulking machine bite deeper and deeper into the land. He couldn’t stand here forever, and he eventually found the strength to head toward Lenny.
The noise only increased, as did the tension riding in the air. He sidled up beside her and asked, “How far down are they?” without looking at her.
“Sixty feet,” she said. “And they’re only charging us twenty-five dollars per foot.”
“Us?” The word burst out of his mouth before Brandon could contain it. He was tired of doing that anyway. He wanted to say what he thought, what lingered in his heart, without censoring anything.
He turned toward her, a new fire burning inside him. “I don’t think it’s fair for you to use pronouns like that when you really mean you .”
Lenny glared at him and cinched her arms over her jacket.
“So they’re charging you twenty-five dollars per foot,” he said. “Which, by the way, is less than half the going rate.” She could thank Zona for that one.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t know what you don’t know, Lenore,” he said.
“You act like water will just come to you, because you want it. You make all these grand plans for months and years from now, but you don’t seem to realize that you can’t achieve any of those things we’ve—yes, we —dreamed about and talked about without water. ”
Brandon changed his mind; speaking up was far worse than just letting Lenore think what she wanted. He disliked the angry tone in his voice and the way his adrenaline kept pumping harder and harder.
He shook his head. “This doesn’t matter. You’ve made yourself clear. This is your homestead, and I’m just the hired help.” He took a deep breath, not able to maintain the volume in his voice he needed to be heard above the drill.
“So, boss, would it be okay if I get back to setting the posts for your goat enclosure?”
“Brandon.”
“Great, thanks for that direction.” He nodded over to the drill truck.
“They should have Zona’s credit card, and if you need me to come over and get the pump set up and the water connected to the house, let me know.
I did watch a bunch of YouTube videos while my niece and nephew took their naps over the past few days, and I’m pretty sure I know how to do it. ”
He nodded at her and walked away.
She was delusional and had a heart of stone if she didn’t realize how much of himself he’d poured into her land. How he’d thrown every spare moment into researching for her . How he’d shown up to work every single day, even when he wasn’t physically here.
All for her.
It wasn’t like Lenore didn’t work too. He found all the posts he needed, stripped of bark, sealed, and cut to the right length when he arrived at the goat enclosure. She’d also moved the rocks into the corner, according to his sketch.
He took stock of where he was and how far he had to go, mentally calculating when this would be finished. “Probably no later than tomorrow night,” he said. “Even if they find water.”
He could get that hooked up and the goat enclosure done by tomorrow night. Then, he’d pour himself into the smokehouse, because that was a simple building with hooks in the ceiling, and a connected firepit to force the smoke into the house.
He’d built structures in a day or less, if he had the lumber. So, before he started, he pulled out his phone and called Calvin. “Hey, brother,” he said when his friend answered. “I know you love me….”
“I can bring the planer,” Cal said with a chuckle. “But I want a load of lumber out of it.”
Brandon immediately looked over to the logs Lenny had felled and hadn’t done anything with yet. “How much is a load?”
“I need enough to build a deck.”
“Ouch,” Brandon said. “You’re talking, what? Sixty, seventy boards?”
“It’s a twelve-by-twelve.”
“With stairs and a railing?”
“Yes, sir.”
Brandon could do some math in his head, and he’d built decks before. “So probably forty boards, for the deck, railing, and stairs.”
“I can get the joists and posts,” Cal said.
“I’ll get you your forty boards,” Brandon said, because he needed the planer if he wanted to build the smokehouse. He’d get up early to cut trees if he had to.
“I can bring it on Thursday,” Cal said.
“Perfect,” Brandon said. “Thanks so much, Cal.”
The call ended, and Brandon bent to pick up the next post he’d set. He’d barely lowered it into the hole he’d created last week when a yell rose into the air. He spun toward the drill truck and found both operators with their hands up in the air—and water spouting up into the air.
Lenny turned toward him, pure wonder and joy on her face, and Brandon’s first thought was to run to her, lift her up off her feet, and celebrate.
They’d found water only a handful of steps from the cabin!
Instead, he schooled his expression into one he hoped spoke of neutrality, and he picked up the post-setter. Fitted it over the top of the post. Started hammering it into place.
Of course he could run the pipe from the well to Lenny’s cabin. He could install the pump that would bring the water up from the well. He could get the water to the chicken palace, this goat enclosure, and to the barn.
After all, he was a man who finished what he started, even if it hurt.
“Brandon.”
He looked over to Lenny, getting punched right in the gut with her beauty. Even as nervous as she seemed, she called to him. He wanted to erase everything bad from her life—and he’d worked for the past ten weeks to do exactly that.
She didn’t even seem to notice the things he’d done for her.
You’re not being fair , he told himself, and he brought the metal post-setter down on the pole one more time. “They hit water,” he said.
“One hundred and one feet,” Lenny said.
Twenty-five hundred dollars , Brandon thought. Plus the pump, the hosing, and the other equipment, and Lenore had just gotten a well for about thirty-five hundred dollars. She’d earned that much since Brandon had been here on the homestead.
With the chickens Zona and the girls had brought.
With the lumber he’d taught her how to cut, with a planer he’d borrowed from his friend.
“Good news,” he said, lifting the heavy metal setter and slamming it down again. He strongly disliked the bitterness threading through him, infecting his mind, but he didn’t know how to stop it.
Lenny took a couple of steps closer. “Will you please leave this and come help me with the well?”
Brandon pulled the setter off the pole and tossed it to the ground. “Sure.” The wind blew across his face as he walked back to the road and then across it. He hunkered down into his coat as Kenneth grinned at him.
“It’s a great aquifer,” he said. “Should last for a long time.”
“Thank you so much.” Brandon managed a smile and shook Kenneth’s hand. “Really. My sister-in-law and I really appreciate it. Lenore too.”
Kenneth maintained eye contact with him, though Lenny joined them near the well. “We’ve got all your auxiliary equipment too, and me and Dale can stay and help you get it all plumbed.”
“That would be amazing,” Brandon said. “I’m new to the well-thing, so I’d love to watch you and learn. I’ll do whatever you need me to as well, of course.”
“Me too,” Lenny said. “I’d love to see it all and maybe take some videos, so if something goes wrong, I can fix it.”
Kenneth did look between the two of them now, and Brandon wondered what he saw. “We won’t have to dig deep to run the line to the house,” he said. “Because it doesn’t freeze very often here.”
“How far down?” Brandon asked. “The videos I watched said eighteen inches.”
Kenneth grinned. “Eighteen inches, and we’re using PEX, not PVC, which is more flexible and much more freeze resistant.”
“Great,” Brandon said. “I think the house is plumbed for water already.”
“Dale’s checking it right now,” Kenneth said. “Now, let me show you this pump.” He gestured for both Lenny and Brandon to follow him, and Brandon stayed back and let Lenny go first.
She pulled out her phone and recorded as Kenneth showed her how to run the submersible pump, how to reset it, and what it would do. “We’re putting a steel casing on the well,” he said. “And the pump is installed down below the water line, and it pushes the water up so you can use it.”
“Mm hm.” Lenore shifted to get a better view with her phone.
“Dale’s going to look for a place for your pressure tank inside the house, but if you don’t have somewhere, we can build a well house right here.”
“What’s a well house?” Lenny asked.
“It’s a small building that holds the pressure tank,” Brandon said automatically.
“The pump fills the tank with water, and when you turn on a faucet or take a shower, the water comes from the tank. When it gets below a certain pressure level, the pump turns on and pushes up more water from the well.”
He looked over to Kenneth. “Right?”
“He’s got it.” He smiled, as if he couldn’t feel the tension between Brandon and Lenny.
He had to, but he seemed to be trying to make the best of it.
“And we have a filtration system right before the water enters the house. The soil here is a bit loose, so we’ll be sure to put a sediment filter on it, as well as our standard chlorinator. ”
“Okay,” Lenny said. “I don’t think I have anywhere in my house for a pump.”
“Could we put it under the front porch?” Brandon asked.
Kenneth looked in that direction. “I wouldn’t. We want to protect it from freezing, and she’ll need access to it to check the pressure switch if it fails, to drain it if necessary, stuff like that.”
“So perhaps a well house is the right decision.” That meant more lumber, and another project, and the weight on Brandon’s shoulders increased. He looked over to Lenny. “Something else for you to decide.”
She opened her mouth like she might ask him what he thought, something she’d done many times in the past couple of months. This time, though, she clamped her mouth closed and nodded.
“I think a well house is probably the best thing,” she said. “Tell me what we need for that.” She swiped and tapped on her phone, then looked up at Kenneth with wide eyes. Brandon had seen her like this before, and this was Learning-Lenny.
She’d tap everything he said into her phone, and then she’d understand how it all worked. He took a couple of steps away, unable to stay in this situation without being able to hold Lenny’s hand, grin at her in celebration, or exchange meaningful glances with her for much longer.
“Well, if you don’t need me, I’m going to get back to the fence.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for Lenore’s permission. She blinked at him a couple of times, then nodded.
Brandon walked away as Kenneth started to explain what went into the well house—something Brandon had looked up and learned about over the weekend.
“Now for no reason,” he muttered to himself, the awful bitterness returning. With every step he took, every pound of the post-setter, and every log he put in place, he mourned the loss of his evenings in Lenny’s cabin.
The warmth. The electricity. The access to her refrigerator.
But most of all, a horrible devastation moved through him that he wouldn’t be able to finally settle onto Lenny’s couch, open his arms, and have her lay down with him so they could talk through all the amazing things that had happened that day, and plan for what still needed to be done.
He’d loved talking with her, brainstorming ideas, coming up with solutions.
He’d been so close to being in love with her, and as he set his last post before lunch, he tipped his head back and looked up into the gray, wintery sky. “Thank you, Lord, for stopping this before I lost my heart completely.”
But Brandon wondered if he should’ve prayed for relief instead…because he had already completely fallen for Lenny.