Chapter 8 #3
“This is Tibb’s domain,” Luke said. “He has a real knack for creating bouquets. Jack does too, but he doesn’t get around to it much these days. It was weird, though. He did make one the other day, but he didn’t say who it was for.”
I grinned to myself and kept walking.
The final stop on our tour was a small barn where several tractors and other farm equipment were kept. As we stepped back outside, Luke swung his arms wide, gesturing toward the entire farm. “And that’s the Flower Farm.”
“It’s a lot more than I thought,” I said, absorbing the scope of what I had seen.
“You think this is a lot. See that area over there?” He pointed to cleared land in the distance. “We’re expanding the farm out that way. Adding at least five more acres. Maybe more, if the town hall convinced people to buy into the co-op.”
“How many acres is the Flower Farm now?”
“Four.”
“He wants to double the size?”
“Nope.”
“Nope?”
“More than double.”
“That is ambitious.”
“Yeah…but Jack was made for this.”
As I continued to look off into the distance, my eyes caught sight of piles of chopped wood. “Is that firewood for us if we need it?” I was thinking of the woodstove in my cabin and spending cozy nights there as the winter came on.
Luke looked as though that was a new idea, then said, “Yeah, but we also use the firewood at the bonfires. But more than that, it’s the Outlet. If there’s a problem you can’t fix, the Outlet can.” His voice carried a note of intrigue.
I raised my eyebrows. “Does a fairy godmother live in the Outlet or something?”
“Nope, we chop wood there.”
“And chopping wood fixes problems?”
“Surprisingly, yes.”
“Have you fixed any problems out there?”
“Some. Still working on others,” Luke said, his gaze suddenly distant.
I wondered what he could possibly be working through at such a young age. All I’d heard was a mention of a sister, and I pondered the whereabouts of his family and the story behind his own journey to the Flower Farm.
After a pause that stretched on, Luke finally said, “We better get going.”
We started in the field opposite the one we were in a few days ago.
The sky, now draped in a shroud of gray, cast a somber pallor over the fields.
The vibrant light of my first visit seemed to have retreated.
We worked for a few hours, simple work but good.
We stopped for lunch, sloppy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Luke made and brought down from the main house.
“How long have you worked here?” I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich.
Luke devoured his in three large bites. “Since I was twelve,” he said with his mouth full.
A few crumbs dusted his shirt. “I started working for Jack’s uncle, Ed, in the summers.
I met Jackson when he was sixteen right after he came to live here.
For about four years, I worked just the summers; then I moved here. ”
“You moved in when you were only sixteen?”
A heavy sigh escaped him, and for a moment, I thought he might not say more, but then he spoke, his voice laced with vulnerability.
“One day, I showed up with a black eye that my bullshit stepfather gave me. I still didn’t leave home, because I wanted to be there for my mom and my sister, Heather.
Then one day my sister told me he tried to touch her, and I lost it and almost killed him.
Probably would have if Jack hadn’t stopped me.
Uncle Ed came and got me, and I’ve been living here ever since.
Not that Bruce would have let me walk back through the front door. ”
I stiffened at Luke’s story, a shiver running through me.
In his words lay a certain kind of wisdom.
Here was someone who had not only lived through his pain but could also articulate it with a disarming calm.
His bond with his sister was evident, a sense of duty to protect, one that had clearly shaped his life.
I marveled at how he could speak of such things without visible anguish.
How long had it taken for him to reach that place?
“Where’s Heather now?” I asked.
“In Camden,” he said, his tone laced with a bitter edge.
“She’s practically living with her boyfriend, who is just as much of a piece of shit as my stepfather was.
She works part-time at a boutique there.
I see her about once a week.” Luke inhaled another sandwich. “And you? Do you have any family?”
“No,” I said, almost hearing the echo of the word. Not wanting to elaborate, I shifted the conversation. “You said ‘when’ Jackson came to live here. Where did he come from?”
“New Orleans… But I’ll let him tell you that story.” He stood and stretched out his long body. I would get nothing more out of him on that subject.
In the distance, the crunch of tires on gravel pulled both of our eyes to the road.
I joined Luke in standing as a petite woman emerged from a car.
Jackson, who had been working in the field, made his way toward her.
A young boy with curly black hair and glasses darted out from the car, colliding with Jackson and sending the air around them buzzing with laughter.
Jackson lifted the boy high in the air, spinning him around a few times before pulling the woman into a hug.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s Benny. Great kid. Reminds me of myself when I was younger.”
I shot him a look. “No, the woman.”
“Oh, that’s Benny’s mom,” Luke said jokingly, then grunted. “Carly Sutterfield.”
“Sutterfield?” The name struck a chord. “The land Jackson is clearing?”
“Yeah, that land used to belong to her family. Her and Jack have…history.”
“What kind of history?” I asked, surprising myself with my curiosity and sensing a deeper narrative lurking beneath his words.
“The kind that ended with Jackson getting his heart broken,” Luke said with a bitterness that pulled his features downward.
“Her family’s land is right next to Jack’s, and her father and Uncle Ed were close friends.
Jackson and Carly were practically promised to each other, but Carly didn’t quite understand the meaning of loyalty.
” He drew out the word. “But here she is, supporting this expansion.”
“If she broke his heart, then why the big family reunion?”
“They’ve been gone for a few weeks. And her and Jack have been off and on.”
A feeling stirred within me, a blend of surprise and confusion.
I found myself grappling with the realization that Jackson, whom I had thought of as single, was in fact attached to someone.
But why should I? I hadn’t really known otherwise.
And I didn’t know why it mattered, why this revelation affected me so deeply.
I continued watching this seemingly happy family reunion until Luke’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
“Now that she’s back, maybe he’ll be in a better mood,” Luke said. “Let’s get this finished up before he notices we’re not working.”
That afternoon, I worked without thought, chopping and moving through the rows with a heat I hadn’t realized I had.
I couldn’t put my finger on what had triggered my anger.
If it was Luke asking about my family or telling me about his, or Jackson’s reunion with his sometime-girlfriend, but I moved faster than Luke, my pile climbing higher with every cut.
“Geez, Leigh, they are already dead. You don’t have to kill them again,” Luke said, noticing my overzealous chopping.
I stopped, my hand trembling with the force of my movements. I glanced down at my wrist, which pulsed with a dull, persistent ache.
“What’s wrong?” Luke said, stepping closer, his face pinched with concern. “Did you hurt yourself? Let me see.”
I winced as I held out my wrist; a sharp pain flared at the sudden movement.
“Please tell me you did not hurt yourself on your first day. Jack will kill me.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head with a small pained smile. “I hurt it a few weeks ago.”
“Hey, Luke!” a high-pitched voice called, and the little boy popped out of one of the flower rows.
“Benny!” Luke said. “How are you doin’, little man?”
“Why do you call me that? I’m not little,” Benny said with a frown.
“You’re smaller than me.”
I looked over at Benny, who stood before us wearing a golden glove with multiple-colored stones. His eyes were sharp behind his glasses, his expression intense.
“Don’t make me use this, Luke,” Benny said, pointing the glove at Luke.
“Okay, okay,” Luke said, hands in the air in playful surrender. “I give up, Young Thanos.”
Benny’s gaze shifted to me, and he moved closer to Luke and, in a conspiratorial whisper, asked, “Who is that?”
“Young Thanos, this is Miss Leigh.”
Benny raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you like my infinity stones?”
“Yeah, what do they do?” I asked, genuinely curious.
Benny’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You don’t know about the infinity stones?” He turned to Luke and added, “She doesn’t know about Thanos?” With a dramatic flourish, he raised his wrist and pointed the glove at Luke.
“Don’t snap us away; she just got here.” Luke said, retreating with a playful expression of mock fear. Then, with a final grin, he turned and ran off, Benny on his heels.
I stood there for a moment, the sudden quiet settling around me, until I heard a soft shuffle of footsteps. I turned to see Carly.