Chapter 8 #2
This wasn’t my first day working on a farm—just my first day at this farm.
I was well aware of the expectations an operation like this had of its employees, even if I hadn’t already been told by Granger earlier.
But instead of reminding him of that, I nodded slowly.
Tucker looked like the one who needed the sleep, anyway.
I watched the tired slump to his shoulders as I followed him through the door into the kitchen, and I sent up a small prayer that Tallie wouldn’t hold him long as I brought my plates to the sink where some of the other hands were already efficiently cleaning up.
“How can I help?” I asked, unsure of where or if I should insert myself.
Mack smacked a dish towel against my chest with a wide grin. “Trade with me. You dry, I’ll put the dishes away since you don’t know where everything goes yet.”
It took hardly any time with everyone working together to clean and put everything away. Halfway through, I glanced over my shoulder to check if Tucker was still speaking with Tallie, but he must have already left for the evening. I hoped he got a decent night’s rest.
Just as all the hands started shuffling from the kitchen to make their way back to the bunkhouse, Weston gripped my shoulder with another blindingly bright grin that I was starting to associate with him.
His pale skin was flushed again, but this close, I could finally see how blue his eyes were.
“You’re my new roomie, right? I’m Weston Turner.
People call me West, Weston, whatever. Call me what you want, I’ll respond to just about anything. ”
He offered me his hand to shake, and my own grin started to split my face as I nodded. “Jackson Arness. My old job called me Action Jackson, but I’m not picky about nicknames.”
“Action Jackson, huh? That’s a superhero name. Might be hard to top.”
We both chuckled before Weston motioned in the direction of the front door. “Did you catch a ride with someone up here? I can take you back to the bunkhouse, if so. I’m headed that way now.”
I shook my head. “I drove myself but thank you. I’ll be going that direction soon. Just wanted to thank Tallie for the meal before leaving.”
He gave me a two-finger salute. “’Course. I’ll see you back in the room, roomie.”
My smile was still plastered to my face as I watched Weston walk away.
He seemed like a genuine guy, and while we hadn’t interacted a ton yet, just the little we had gave me a good feeling that we’d be fast friends.
I sucked in a slow breath, running a hand along the back of my neck as I scanned the kitchen for the one person I thought would give me a straight answer around here.
The no-nonsense cook was nowhere to be found inside her clean domain, but I found her wiping down the table when I passed through the doors back into the dining room.
“Tallie,” I greeted. “Thank you for the fine meal you made tonight. Everything was delicious.”
She straightened up, popping her hip slightly. “Thank ya. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Even the greens.” She had a twinkle in her eye and a quirked lip.
“You noticed that, huh?” I let out a small chuckle at her teasing.
“I notice lots.”
Her voice shifted. More serious, and the look in her eye told me she meant more than what I’d put and consumed from my plate.
The pit of my stomach soured for a moment, but I took a small breath, reminding myself that nothing happened.
Sure, I may have had some admittedly inappropriate thoughts from his hand on my leg, but Tallie wasn’t a mind reader…
I didn’t think. And there was no way she could have seen Tucker’s hand on my thigh under the table.
I dropped my eyes to the intricate carving along the top of the chair I stood by, running a finger over the edges and dips in the wood.
I was still somehow unsettled by her words.
“Well, it was hard not to notice the fuss made tonight over my sitting at the table. Mind telling me what all that was about?”
Tallie sucked in a slow breath and released it in a long exhale, making me look up at her again. “That ain’t my story to tell,” she said after a moment.
“Whose is it, then? Because if it's Tucker’s, I kind of got the sense he won’t share it.”
“As is his right.”
“I know. I know that. It’s just…” I sucked on my teeth, trying to find the words to explain why I needed to know this without sounding like a weirdo obsessed with their new boss. “If it has to do with Raleigh, then I just want to be mindful,” I finally supplied.
Her head shot up to me, the graying coils in her hair springing as she did. “How do you know that name?”
“Tucker,” I said, taken a little aback. “He told me.”
She blinked a few times before her shoulders dropped. “Tucker told you?” she repeated as though she wasn’t sure she’d heard me right.
I nodded, not wanting to share the only reason being that I’d been wearing Raleigh’s cologne. Logically, I knew no one would blame me since I had no way of knowing, but the anguished look on Tucker’s face as he’d told me his husband’s story had been enough punishment.
Tallie brought the tips of her fingers up to her lips, and to my horror, her eyes began to shimmer with the formation of tears. It must have been evident on my face, because she flapped a hand.
“I’m fine. I hadn’t expected it, ’s all.
” Tallie cleared her throat and continued.
“We’ve always kept a chair open for Raleigh at the table.
At first, none o’ us could bear filling it.
But Tuck really couldn’t. The heads of the table are always meant for the hosts, you see, ’cept Conrad and Millie preferred sitting together.
So no one has ever taken the foot. We tried encouragin’ Tuck to, but he shot the idea down.
Said he wasn’t the owner of the farm yet.
But with you here, there were only two options for you to sit, and if you’d been raised with any manners, we knew you weren’t going to be takin’ the end of the table. ”
“So no one has sat there for three years?”
Tallie’s lower lip quivered before she pulled it into her mouth, and she shook her head. “Tuck’s struggled with Raleigh’s passin’ hard,” she said, voice shaky. “But if he’s tellin’ you about Raleigh, and lettin’ you sit there, then I hav’ta believe he’s finally ready to heal.”
I walked away from the conversation feeling more out of sorts than I had before I’d spoken to Tallie.
The sensation haunted me all through my nighttime routine, and even as I laid in bed trying to drift off to sleep.
It kept poking and prodding, making something sick swirl in my gut, because I couldn’t get a nagging thought out of my head. It was stupid though.
An enterprise like Juniper Grove could definitely make do with eight hands to maintain the horses and grounds, but it wouldn’t be easy work.
I was fine with that—it wasn’t like I enjoyed being idle anyway.
It was how I’d earned my nickname. Always wanting to be in the action, always in motion.
But after walking the property and seeing everything, it was clear that eight men was the bare minimum needed.
So it was stupid to think I was Raleigh’s replacement. Because a place like this wouldn’t run the risk of being short on hands… right?