CHAPTER 2 Time At The Orchard
Time At The Orchard
“Jakaylaaaa!”
I jump at the sound of my name being called and quickly turn from the apple tree I was tending. My younger sister, Morgan, stood about two feet away, waving her arms to get my attention. I pointed to my ear, and she nodded, understanding instantly.
Usually, when I was busy harvesting apples, I played lo-fi or jazz music through a small portable speaker that clipped to one of my belt loops.
It wasn’t loud or anything, but the orchard was always pretty quiet, especially this far back, so any sounds echoed a bit, making it hard to hear anything past it.
I’d also been having trouble with the hearing device I’d been wearing for the last year, and was due to get an upgrade in a few days.
I’d stopped wearing it for the time being, so sometimes I didn’t quite hear when people called me from further away.
“Hey, sis,” I smile, lifting a hand. She strolled over, ready to annoy the hell out of me, but when Serenity peeked from around the tree, her attention shifted, and a smile graced her face.
“Oh, I didn’t know the princess was out here helping.” She smiles at her, squatting to her level. Sera lights up, throwing her tiny arms around Morgan. “Hey, Auntie’s baby. How have you been?”
“You’re so fake.” I laugh, and she waves me off. I glance over at Sera. “Don’t fall for it, Princess. Auntie is a meanie.”
“No, Auntie is nice!” She replies before holding out her left hand, palm-side up. We watch as she swipes the palm of her right hand across it, signing the word ‘nice’ perfectly. “Right, Mama Kayla?”
“Yes, that’s right.” I smiled a proud smile before ruffling her hair. “You’re so smart, Princess. I mean, your Auntie is still not a nice person, but you are, and that’s all that matters.”
Morgan flips me off, and Serenity gasps before falling into a fit of giggles in Morgan’s arms. I swear, this was the silliest little girl ever.
She brought me so much joy, and I was grateful to be part of her life.
I never admitted it, but I was honored that the woman who was supposed to be her other mom wasn’t in the picture anymore.
Now, I get to help my best friend raise this amazing bundle of sunshine.
I may technically only be her godmother, but to me, Zee, and everyone else in our lives, Sera was just as much mine as she was Zee’s.
That was my baby girl, and I would always be there for her.
And for Zee.
The love of my life, except she doesn’t know it.
Even though I’ve never admitted my feelings to her, they’ve been present since that first day she walked her fine ass up in that house all those years ago.
Back then, I was still dating someone, but it didn’t last much longer once Zee and I started hanging out.
No, I didn’t cheat or anything. Our relationship had been on the rocks for a while, and even though it took me a minute, I finally realized that it was time to give that up.
But, because the universe likes a good joke, by the time I was single again, Zee had met Sasha, and they fell in love fast. I’ve never liked her, and I could tell that she didn’t like me either, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was that she treated my best friend right.
And she did.
She treated her so well that I put my beef aside while they were together, but once she did what she did to Zseyah, she lost all respect from me once again.
I wish I could’ve been more shocked than I was to find out that she’d been cheating the whole time they were together, but I wasn’t. My gut feelings are never wrong.
But then, when she ultimately chose some other woman over Zee and their child, leaving Zee devastated when she found the real truth of why she left, my hatred for Sasha only grew.
Fuck her for real. She didn’t deserve Zseyah, and I’m glad that I was right there to tell her that she was gonna be okay.
I was always there, and I always would be.
Zee meant the world to me. Serenity meant the world to me.
They were my little family, and I would do everything in my power to make sure they were taken care of.
“The harvest is looking really good this year.”
My head turns away from Morgan and Sera, and I instantly smile as Zseyah appears at my right.
She admired the fully bloomed apple trees, as I admired the way those shorts were glued to her.
My best friend has always been fine as fuck, but after having Sera, her hips spread a bit more, her thighs got a bit thicker, her boobs got a bit bigger, and her ass was a bit fatter.
Everything she wore now seemed to be painted on her, but I wasn’t complaining in the slightest. She loved showing off her curves, and I loved getting to see them.
Zseyah has always been confident in her looks and figure, and it was one of the things that drew me to her in the first place.
She was naturally an extrovert, exuding light and positivity every time she entered a room.
Even around campus, everyone knew her because she had that type of personality that attracted everyone.
She was fun, sweet as hell, and always ready to lend a hand whenever needed.
She was sunshine in human form, which is why it always angers me whenever I think about all she’d gone through with her ex. I shook the thought away because I was tired of giving the memory my energy. I had to learn how to leave the past in the past and focus on the here and now.
“Mommy, look! Auntie Mo!” Princess squeals, snapping me out of my Zee-induced trance.
“Hey, Morgan.” She smiles as she finally makes it over to us. She greeted her with a hug before taking Sera from her.
“Hey, Zee. Oooh wee, look at you,” Morgan smiles, snapping her fingers in approval. “Got all them thighs out, mama! I see you!”
“Stop it. Stop it,” Zee laughs, waving her off playfully. “You are always hyping me up.”
“That’s because you deserve it, beautiful,” she replies, licking her lips. I roll my eyes, stepping between them slightly to block her view. Morgan just smiles and winks at me.
I have to stop myself from cussin’ her ass out, because she loved to get on my damn nerves, especially when it came to Zee.
She knew how I felt about her, but that didn’t stop her from flirting, because she knew it’d get a rise out of me.
Ever since she came out as a masc-presenting lesbian a couple of years ago, it’s like her confidence has tripled, so she has no problem getting attention from beautiful women.
However, she knew that Zseyah was off-limits.
“Y’all are always fussing,” Zee giggles, balancing Sera on her hip. “Oh, Mama Liz told me to come get you and tell you that lunch was ready. Also, she’s been looking for you for the last hour, Morgan, so you better come see what she wants.”
“Fuck,” Morgan says, freezing in place. She looks at me. “I forgot to deliver that order to Edison’s Grocery. Damn, I knew I was forgetting something.”
She runs off in the opposite direction, causing me to shake my head.
Morgan and time management did not mix. Growing up, our parents always said that she would be late to her own funeral if that were possible.
I agreed, but it wasn’t entirely her fault.
She was the youngest and spoiled out of this world.
By the time she turned 14 (the age when the kids in our family start helping in the orchard), it was like our parents had gone soft.
They didn’t force her to work if she didn’t want to, and of course, she didn’t want to.
While I was busy learning the ins and outs of the family business, she was running around the town with her friends, getting into trouble and being a menace.
I was glad she’d grown out of that, though.
I mean, she still barely had any work ethic, but at least she wasn’t a troublemaker anymore.
I followed Zee back up to the main house, where wonderful smells wafted from the open kitchen window down the dirt road as we got closer.
It was like a scene out of one of those old cartoons.
You know, when the lady leaves the pie on the windowsill, the scent travels all the way over to the unsuspecting animal who eventually snatches it.
Yeah, that's how I felt. Like there was this irresistible pull, and I was ready to let it consume me.
“And just where is that youngest daughter of mine?” Mama Liz asks once we enter the kitchen, and she sees that Morgan isn’t with us.
I chuckle, shaking my head, because I didn’t even have to tell her anything.
She knew how her youngest child was. “All I know is that she better deliver every last item before she brings her narrow tail back to my house. I’m not playing with that girl. ”
“Ma, you and your wife made her like that.” I chuckle some more as I help Sera onto the step stool near the sink.
I squirt a small bit of soap into her hands, and she rubs them together before washing them under the warm water.
“You had me up at the crack of dawn as soon as I turned 14, yet you let her have a choice in whether or not she helped around here. Now, her ass acts like she’s allergic to working. You and Mama Giselle spoiled herrr.”
“Whatever, whatever.” She rolls her eyes, but smiles because she knows I’m right. She and her wife were way more lenient with her.
Now, neither of them was mean or abusive or anything like that towards me, nor Morgan, but they didn’t take any shit or back talk.
Morgan had her rebellious years, but our parents never let up, and eventually she straightened out after they finally made her work and help with the business.
Even though she complained constantly, I had to hand it to Morgan for trying.
It’s just that it was gonna take a while for her to fully mature since all of this was still so new to her. I knew she’d get there, though.
“Speaking of your lovely wife, where is she? I haven’t seen her all day,” I point out.