Chapter 3 – Mabel
Chapter Three
MABEL
Outside of occasionally visiting Elle’s office, I mostly kept to myself when it came to the running of the farm.
I’d grown up knowing that working for the family was the plan but I’d never held any interest in the day to day running of things. Being the eldest, it had kind of ruined my dad’s plan of passing everything down.
Well, that, and being a girl.
My dad wasn’t a bad guy but he was stubborn as hell and struggled with changing his mind once it was made up.
Luckily, when Lola and Paul were born, he finally got a son and a child that wanted to step up to running the farm like him and his father before him, and his father before him. It just so happened that they were two separate children.
It took me a long time to find my place within our not-so-little family business but eventually I became comfortable with running the booths at various farmer’s markets across the state.
The markets were never going to be our biggest revenue stream but Mama and Lola always said as long as we were doing something we loved on the farm, that was all that mattered.
I was happy enough.
I liked getting to meet new people and introduce them to something that my family had worked hard to share with the world. Making honey sticks and various honey soaps was usually fun. I didn’t have to worry about a uniform or asshole bosses.
Most importantly, days when I didn’t have a market scheduled, I got to be around my family.
If something unexpected came up for Paul, I was always available to help out with his son Henry.
I could help Mama cook for the employees, I could bother Elle or try to talk her into letting me help with wedding plans.
If the weather was right, I occasionally got to plan hikes to Timpanogas with my siblings and any interested employees.
Yeah, I was good.
Walking to Lola’s office felt weird since I’ve never visited her here before. She’s such a hands-on type of worker that if I needed her for something, she’d appear. Plus, Jude also used the small space as an office which was enough to keep me away.
It’s still pretty early in the day but I still knock before entering, unsure if she has multiple meetings scheduled for the day.
“Come in.”
Lola walks out into the main area as I let myself in.
A quick scan gives me no hint as to why she wants to meet.
She’s classic Lola, blonde hair in a braid and any loose strands held back by a bandana.
All of us Warren girls are plus sized but Lola’s got muscle from working out on the farm whenever needed.
Typically, a bandana signals she plans on getting her hands dirty.
The loose jeans and an old Warren Farm t-shirt only reinforce that she’s getting out today .
That must be good, she won’t want to stay locked in her office going over who knows what with me for long.
The band of anxiety across my lungs loosens slightly.
“Hey Mabes, let’s sit.”
And, the band tightens.
Lola launches into how things have been going so well with the expansion of tours lately, how many more eyes have been on the Farm and how she wants to do everything she can to make each department as successful as possible.
She then talks about how she wants to look into more business partnerships, just like the sponsorship she did for the new hockey team last year, and how that’s going to take up a lot of her focus.
I’m starting to zone out when a knock on her office door snaps me back to attention. “Yeah, come in.” Lola calls out and I turn my head watching the last person I want to see walking into the enclosed space join us.
“Perfect timing, Jude.” Lola smiles, Jude barely registers I’m here, he offers Lola a quick nod and sits down in the only other chair in the office, right next to me.
He must have been working in the field, the warmth is rolling off his skin. I feel like he’s burning me with his nearness. The attraction I do my best to ignore flares to life in my lower stomach.
“Jude is going to head up this project while I work on expanding partnerships.” I nod along, barely listening as I do my best to act like I’m fine, “and as a sign of good faith to the rest of the employees, I want him to start with shadowing you. He’ll work with you for about a month, he’ll make his observations and then we’ll meet and determine if any changes need to be made and how to best implement them, I’m not saying there are changes but we want to make sure every part of our business is operating to its fullest potential. ”
Wait, what?
“What, what do you mean?” I can’t keep the panic out of my voice. I absolutely could not spend a month with Jude watching my every move, working with me. I was barely keeping my pants on with random every day interactions, there was no way in hell I would be able to survive this.
I would need to invest in extra absorbent panties.
“Why not Elle or Patrick? If you want to use family as an example?”
Lola tries to hide her cringe but I catch it.
“Patrick’s so new, we’ve been building things up with this in mind so it’s not really applicable for him.”
“And Elle?”
She can’t hide her cringe this time. I’ve known Lola her whole life, she doesn’t do anything without thinking about it, rethinking about it, then using our mom or Jude as a sounding board to confirm her ideas.
“Her department isn’t as employee facing as others.
” I couldn’t really dispute that, damnit.
”I don’t know, LJ. You know how I feel.” I hedge, she has no idea how I feel.
Not really.
She’s aware of what she assumed was my dislike because of everything with Paul but the guilt that came along with this uncontrollable attraction was destroying me. The storm of conflicting feelings was killing me with no contact.
“I know, Mabes, but I don’t want it to look like we think our work is infallible just because of our last names.” Lola’s tone was pleading. On some level, I knew she wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t what she truly thought was best.
Family first, always.
I take in a deep breath, trying to fill them as much as possible. I push all the air out of my lungs before I look at my baby sister’s face. I let the pride and respect I have for her push down all the negative emotions.
“Okay, when do we start?” I keep my attention focused on Lola as she and Jude go over the proposed schedule. I can’t acknowledge Jude or I’ll back out, refuse to follow through with this plan, get someone else to shadow me.
One week.
I get one week before I’m forced to show my work and spend all my time with the one person I’ve vowed to never be friendly with, the one person I’ve felt anything like attraction to in months, the one person who’s integrated themselves into my family and our business and making him impossible to avoid.
One freaking week.