Chapter 32 – Luke
LUKE
“The seating would go here,” Eden says, gesturing to the five folding chairs standing in a row on the barn floor.
“These match the size of rental chairs Brinley picked, so with rows on each side of the barn and a five-foot aisle, we’d have to knock down those old stable walls to accommodate the number of guests. ”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Rose says. “They're practically falling down as it is.”
Rose and I follow Eden through the barn, listening as she points out how she plans to transform the space.
She called this tour a “rough rehearsal” for the virtual tour she’ll do later with Brinley, even though calling any part of this “rough” would be a complete lie.
I’ve sat through plenty of presentations for Twisted Devil events, and none of them were as polished and professional as Eden’s practice run.
It’s a treat, watching her be so casually excellent.
“The walls need to be treated, too,” Eden says. “They need new lacquer and a few holes patched up. I’d rather not pass that cost on to Brinley, since it’ll need to get done anyway. I’m not sure whether it’s in the ranch budget for the year, though.”
“Fortunately, I happened to give birth to three free laborers,” Rose says. “You pick out the varnish, and I’ll have the boys find a weekend to do it. As for the stable walls, you can have Reed knock them down tomorrow, if he’s not too busy.”
“He’ll definitely be too busy, getting up to some nonsense I don’t even want to know about.” Eden sighs. “Better ask Jasper instead.”
“I can help,” I offer. “I don’t have any technical expertise, but I can sling a sledgehammer if you need me to.”
“I don't think we're quite in sledgehammer territory, but I'm sure Jasper would be happy to hand you a pry bar,” Eden says, smiling.
She turns back to her mom. “I was thinking of gathering wildflower bouquets to tie at the end of all the aisles.
That way, when people walk outside and see the prairies in the background, it'll be like a continuation of the interior decor.
We'd also hang the same large twinkle lights we use outside in here along the rafters.”
Eden walks us through her vision, a marriage of the rustic barn interior and the wild rolling fields outside. Even in the old dusty barn, her descriptions are so vivid it's easy to imagine them coming to life. I'm in awe watching her work.
Sometimes, when I'm deep in a project at Twisted Devil, I think to myself, this is exactly what I was meant to do with my life. That no matter what other mistakes I've made, I'm exactly where it was meant to be. I have a feeling that when she works, Eden often feels the same thing.
Other people would probably say that makes us workaholics. The truth is, we both built lives that we’re in love with.
I don't realize I've wandered off in thought until Rose asks, “Don't you think so, Luke?”
Quickly, I jerk back to reality. “Oh, yeah. Definitely.”
“So you think Brinley should come in on horseback?” Eden says dryly.
“Well, I can't think of a better ring bearer than Rainbow Sprinkles.”
“What you've planned is lovely, dear,” Rose says. “I'm sure Brinley will love it.”
“I hope so.” For the first time all night, Eden looks unsure. “She's been waiting a long time for a wedding. I'm sure she has a lot of expectations for me to live up to.”
“Hey. If she gives you shit, I’ll give her a noogie and make her smell my sweaty armpit,” I say. “That's what I used to do when she copped an attitude with me.”
“Oh, you are too much,” Rose says, laughing. “I’d better get back up to the house. If I don’t finish my mystery novel tonight, Jasper’s going to steal it before I find out who did it.”
Eden bends to kiss her mom on the cheek. “Good night, Mom.”
Rose starts turning around, but halfway through, her wheelchair jerks. “Damn it,” she mutters, shaking the left wheel slightly. “This damn wheel has been giving me trouble.”
“You should have said something, Mom.” Eden’s voice sounds alarmed, but as usual, Rose waves it off.
“I’ll have Reed take a look at it tomorrow,” she says.
“But this isn’t the first time something broke on it. We should—”
“You should let me handle it,” Rose says. There’s an implicit command in her voice, the kind only a mother can convey. Eden ducks her head in reluctant acceptance, then turns to me.
“Do you have a minute, Luke?”
“Yes.” It comes out so fast, it’s almost embarrassing. Of course I have a minute for her. I have all night. I have the whole fucking week if she needs it. My meetings can wait.
“Good.” She tilts her head toward the back barn door. “I want to show you the field behind the barn. I thought we might mow it and put a tent out here for dancing.”
“Maybe I should walk Rose back to the house first?” I glance over at Eden’s mom, my eyes landing on her tricky left wheel.
Rose scoffs. “Go! I can travel twenty yards by myself, thank you very much.”
As if to prove it, she throws her weight into the turn and wheels quickly out the front entrance.
“I’m going to sneak over and make sure she makes it to the house,” Eden says, following her mom’s path. She peers through a window for a few minutes before nodding. “Okay. We can go.”
It’s late in the evening when we stroll out the back. The sky is a long stretch of pale yellow, fading at the edge into a periwinkle blue. It’ll be almost an hour before the sun fully sinks beyond the horizon, but the field in front of me is still coated in a golden sunset haze.
“Wow,” I murmur.
“Yeah,” Eden says. “It gets a little less majestic once you think about hay fever, but—”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Exactly.”
I graze a tall piece of grass with my fingers. “You have to cut it all to make room for the tent? Shame. It’s pretty.”
“We don’t have to cut all of it. There will still be the view.” She points to the rolling hills in the distance. Outside the industrial barn, the horses are small black dots, enjoying the end of their free time in the pasture.
“I can see why Brinley wanted to get married here,” I say.
Eden nods, and for a moment, we stare silently out at the golden hills, taking it all in.
“Dinner’s soon,” she says finally. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really. Are you?”
“No. Do you want to watch the sun go down? We can go in if it gets too cold.”
“Yeah. That sounds nice.”
She opens her tote bag and pulls out a blanket, which she lays across the tall grass. It’s not large—my feet will definitely hang off over the edge if we lie down, but it flattens down the plants enough for us to sit down comfortably.
As I settle onto the blanket, the grass rises around Eden and I like a small, protective fence. The air smells crisp and fresh. Overhead, the dark blue evening sky has started pushing harder against the daylight.
“Do you see that?” Eden points to a small, bright star overhead. “That’s Leo.”
“Wow. I’ve never been able to see stars this early at night.”
“There’s light pollution where you come from. Out here, it’s just us for miles.”
I know she’s talking about the ranch, but it feels true for me and Eden here. It’s like we’re all alone, with just us and the prairie. I lean back on my hands and look up at the sky. A few more stars have blinked into sight.
“It must have been nice, growing up seeing all these stars.”
“It’s all I knew. When I visited Brinley as a kid, that’s probably the first time I saw anything different.”
In the distance, a cricket chirps. A few more join in.
Eventually, I lie down on the blanket, and a moment later, Eden lies down next to me.
We watch as the sun sinks and the crescent moon glows brighter.
Without worrying what she’ll think, I thread my fingers through hers, and she lets me, even though there’s no one to perform for out here. No brothers, no friends, no executives.
“I can see why you wanted to come back here,” I murmur.
“No,” Eden corrects me quietly. “I don’t want to come back.”
Unexpected relief fills me. Seeing how comfortable Eden seems here, I think part of me worried it would change her mind about Toronto.
I know that for some people, the call of home can win out over their ambition.
I should have known better, though. Eden’s like me—we might carry our families in our hearts, but our dreams are our North Star.
I was going to tell her about the email I got later, but I might as well do it now. She may be the only person who understands what it means to me.
“Air Canada contacted me,” I say.
“They did?” Her words are carefully neutral. I know she remembers that Twisted Devil had an exclusive deal in the works with the airline, one which got blown up when the Peppermint article went viral.
“Yeah. They emailed me while I was hauling boxes. They want to add our whiskey to their lounge menus.”
Eden sits up. “You're kidding. Luke, that's incredible!”
I grin. “Yeah. Now, it's not as big as the deal I missed out on. It's not like they want us to be their exclusive providers, but just having us on the menu is a step in the right direction.”
“Still. Do you know how many people go through those lounges? This could open up your customer market in a huge way. Your name would be in front of international fliers, and if they like it, you’ve got global fans.”
“Yeah. I don't want to get too excited yet, since we haven't closed the deal. But there's a lot of potential upside.”
She squeezes my hand. “You're going to get it. Obviously, the decision makers are fans of your product. All we need to do is research any executives who had their doubts about your bad PR and charm the hell out of them. I’m not worried.”
I’m not sure if she realized that she used the word “we,” but it sets off butterflies in my stomach. I’m not a man who feels butterflies. I’m far too hard for that, but then again, Eden has drawn out plenty of feelings that I didn’t know I was capable of entertaining.
More stars twinkle into existence above us as the remaining sunlight is swallowed up by the darkness. Eden releases my hand and gets to her feet.
“We should probably get back to the house.”