Summer looked at Cary. His eyes were focused completely on Jessie. She turned back to the window, hearing more of the conversation drifting through the glass.
“Daddy, please.”
“Obviously, I’ve been too easy on you. Given you too much freedom. Maybe I tried to make up for the fact that your mother was gone. I let you get away with too much. I’m done with that, Jessie. Do you understand? Done!”
They watched Jessie nod and stare at the ground.
“Look at me!”
She looked up at her father.
He pointed at her car. “You drive to school and back. That’s it. Other than that you’re on this land.” He pointed to the ground at his feet. “You don’t leave Garrett land unless one of us takes you.”
“Daddy, you can’t take my car, please-”
“I just did.”
“Daddy, I said I was sorry-”
“To school and home, Jess. That’s it. You hear me?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
He pointed toward the road. “Get to school.”
Jessie ran to her car and pulled out.
Summer looked up at Cary. “My God, what did she do?”
Cary looked down at her, and then the back door opened and slammed shut. They both turned as Steve walked in. He moved to the table, picked up his coffee mug, and downed a swallow. Then he carried it to the sink and dumped the rest. “Let’s get to work, Cary.”
Cary looked at Summer, and then walked toward the door. “Sure, boss.”
Summer touched Steve on the arm. “Steve, is everything okay?”
“Jessie is grounded. That’s all you need to know for now, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
His hand slid to the back of her neck, his fingers gliding into her hair at the nape. He pulled her forward, and his mouth pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Then Summer watched him walk out the door.
*****
That afternoon, Cary walked out of the barn with Pop. His eyes fell on Jessie, sitting on the back steps, her arms folded on her knees, her chin propped on her forearm, staring at the ground. He paused to pull his work gloves off and stuff them in his back pocket. “Hey, Pop?”
Pop stopped and looked back at him. “Yeah?”
“Think you and Steve can handle the milking tonight?” he asked, his eyes on Jessie.
Pop followed the direction of his eyes, and looked over at Jessie, then back at Cary. “Sure, son. You go on.”
Pop walked back into the barn.
Cary walked over to Jessie. She didn’t look up, until there was a boot resting on the bottom step. Her eyes followed the length of his leg and looked up at him. “Home from school?”
“Obviously.”
“I’m proud of you, Jess,” he stated.
“For what?”
“For coming clean.”
She huffed out a breath. “Guess you’re happy. I’m grounded.”
The corner of his mouth pulled up. “You’ll survive.”
“I can’t leave Garrett land, except to go to school,” she whined. “My life might as well be over.”
Cary laughed, shaking his head. “What a little drama queen you are. Your life is not over. He didn’t exactly confine you to your room, which I would have done, by the way.”
She glared up at him. “Garrett land, big whoop.”
“Let’s take a ride.”
“I can’t leave the property. I just told you.”
“Who said anything about leaving the property? Come on.” She got up and followed him. He led her inside the big shed and walked over to the ATV. He threw his leg over and turned the key. “Climb on.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Just take a ride on the four-wheeler. We’ll have some fun, and you won’t leave Garrett property.” He grinned.
She grinned back and climbed on.
He pulled out, headed down the trail across the field, into the woods, and up to the ridge, finally stopping at the overlook. He switched the engine off, but made no move to dismount. They both sat there, looking at the view. The sun was starting to make its descent and hung low on the horizon turning the valley a golden hue.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He reached back, running his hand down her thigh.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her chin over his shoulder, staring at the view. “Um hmm.”
His other palm slid up over one of her forearms, stroking it. “You okay, Jess?”
She nodded. “I guess so.”
“Everybody makes mistakes, sweetheart. The key is not to repeat them.”
“I know.”
“So, next year…you’ll be going off to college, huh?”
“Um hmm. University of Georgia.”
“That’s not so far away. I may even come visit you. You could be my inside connection for some Georgia Bulldogs tickets,” Cary teased, looking out at the view.
“Sure, but you’d have to sit in the student section,” Jessie smiled.
“So, college, then what? What do you want to do with your life, Jess?”
“Keri and I are going to be roommates. She wants to move to New York after school. Said she can’t wait to shake the dust of this small town off.”
Cary swallowed, the thought of her moving away permanently twisting his insides in a knot. “Is that what you want? To move to a big city?”
“Um, no. It doesn’t really fit with my career goals.”
“Career goal? You have a career goal?” This was news to him.
“Well, yeah.”
“What is it?” He twisted on the seat to look back at her over his shoulder.
“Veterinary medicine.”
He’d had no idea she was interested in that. “They don’t need vets in the city?”
“Not large animal vets.”
His eyebrows rose. She was talking horses and cows, not dogs and cats. “Really? That’s what you want to do?”
“Surprised?”
The corners of his mouth pulled up. “Pleased.”
“Why?”
“Cause, baby-doll, you can do that right here.”
She smiled.
He turned to look back at the view. “I’m glad.”
She hugged him. “Me, too.”
He took her hand in his and kissed it.
*****
Jessie came straight home from school the next day. She parked her car and went in the backdoor.
Summer was in the mudroom doing laundry. She poured in the detergent and slammed the lid down with a bang. Turning, she spotted Jessie coming through the door. “Oh, hey, Jessie. How was your day?”
“Fine,” Jessie answered, not elaborating.
Summer cocked her head to one side. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Okay,” Jessie replied quietly, sure she knew what was coming. Summer was going to ask her about why she was grounded. They went into the kitchen and sat at the table.
Summer folded her hands, wanting to say this the right way. “Jessie, I know something happened-”
Jessie immediately straightened defensively.
Summer put her hand up. “And it’s none of my business. I know that. That’s between you and your father. I just want you to know that from my point of view,” she put her hand to her chest and continued, “And I know I’ve only been here a short time, but it’s obvious to me that your father loves you. I’m sure whatever it is that happened that made him feel the need to punish you, it hasn’t changed the way he feels about you, sweetheart. I just hope you know that.”
Jessie looked down at the table and admitted quietly, “I know that, Summer.”
“If you do ever want to talk about it, or well, anything, I hope you know you can talk to me.”
Jessie smiled. “Alright.”
Summer leaned forward on her elbows, crossing her arms, and grinned. “Um, and about dinner the other night…”
Jessie groaned and put her head down on the table. “God, don’t remind me.”
Summer giggled, looking down at the top of Jessie’s head. “Baby, it
was
pretty awful. But that doesn’t mean you should give up.”
“You think I want to go through that embarrassment again? Forget it,” Jessie said to the tabletop.
“Jessie, I could teach you,” Summer offered.
Jessie straightened up. “Summer, Cary actually spit it out. Did you hear me? He spit it out. You saw him. You were there. He thinks I’m an awful cook. You think I want more of that humiliation?”
Summer grinned. “Oh, but honey, wouldn’t you love to make him eat his words?”
That had Jessie pulling her head back an inch as she considered Summer’s words. God, wouldn’t she love that? She’d love that more than anything. “You really think it’s possible? You could really teach me?”
“Sure, Jessie. Cooking isn’t that hard. You just have to find a good recipe and follow it. We’ll pick a few recipes and practice them until you feel comfortable in the kitchen. Soon you’ll be a pro,” Summer guaranteed.
Jessie grinned, thinking of how she’d love to see the look on Cary’s face when she got good enough to impress him. “Okay. You’re on.”
Chapter Eleven
Steve stood at the edge of the cornfield, within sight of the house. He pulled an ear of corn off the stalk, peeled back the husk, and examined it. Then he studied the late afternoon clear blue sky, wondering how long he could hold off harvesting this year.
It was early September. In this part of the country, harvesting could start as early as late July with most farmers bringing in their crop between mid-August and early September. Some held off harvesting until as late as mid-October, which was exactly what he hoped to do.
It was a risk. He knew that. But it was a risk he had to take.
He needed a good harvest this year, and even then, he was probably only going to break even. Steve tossed the ear to the ground, frustration running through him. It was a tough pill to swallow, knowing the amount of work it took to plant and harvest a crop, only to end up just barely scrapping by year after year.
The sound of tires crunching on gravel carried to him, and he turned to see Jessie’s car pull around the side of the house and park. He glanced down at the watch on his wrist. Four o’clock. She’d come straight home from school every day since he’d laid down the law. He was glad to see she was complying, and she wasn’t giving him any grief about it, either. He hoped to God, she’d learned her lesson and wouldn’t be pulling any more stunts like the last one.
He studied her as she got out of her car, spotted him, and began walking toward him. She took after her mother more every day he noted, with her long legs and long dark hair.
God, he missed Rita. Would there ever come a day when he wouldn’t, he wondered. He missed having her to talk to about his day, especially how they used to cuddle late at night in bed and talk things over in soft voices in the dark. He missed having her help in raising Jessie. She would have done such a better job with her than he did, he berated himself.
Jessie reached her father and stopped. Reaching up to brush a strand of hair back off her face as the wind gusted around them, she smiled up at her father. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Hey, baby-girl. How was school?”
“Good. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Steve’s eyes drifted over her face, trying to read her. “Okay.”
Jessie looked back at her car, stalling, trying to think of the best way to bring it up. When she couldn’t come up with anything better, she just came right out with it. “I was asked to the Homecoming dance, Daddy.”
Steve felt himself straightening. Jessie was a pretty girl, and she’d attracted the attention of boys all through high school, but she’d never had a long term, steady boyfriend. She’d never really taken an interest in any one boy. And she’d never accepted any of the invitations to past dances that he knew she’d had to receive. There was just no way a girl as pretty as Jessie wouldn’t have been asked.
This was the first time she’d ever talked about going to one of the school dances. He knew it was her senior year, knew every girl ought to experience that type of thing, but the thought of some guy coming around to pick her up, and her being all decked out in a fancy dress had his heart in his throat. He swallowed. “Yeah?” was all he could manage to get out.
She nodded, looking down at the ground. “Yeah. And I know I’m grounded, but I’d really like to go.” Her eyes found his then, and she whispered. “Please, Daddy.”
Steve looked off at the horizon. “When is it?”
“Weekend after next.”
He looked back at her, thinking how much he wished her mother were here and how much Rita was missing out on. She wouldn’t get to take her daughter shopping for a homecoming dress, or in the spring, a prom dress. She wouldn’t get to help her fix her hair, or take cheesy pictures of her and her date when he picked her up. “Sure, honey. You can go.”
He watched as her face broke into a huge smile, and she threw herself in his arms. “Thank you, Daddy.”
He held her tight, knowing his little girl was growing up. Soon she’d be gone, with a life of her own, and one day a family of her own. God, he was going to miss her when she went off to college. “You’re still grounded until then, remember.”
She pulled back out of his arms and nodded. “Yes, Daddy. I remember. I have to go call Keri and tell her.” Excitement written all over her face, she turned and dashed back toward the house.
A smile pulled at the corners of Steve’s mouth, and he dipped his head, closing his eyes.
Can you believe it, Rita? Our little girl is eighteen, all grown up, and going to her first dance.
*****
It was late afternoon a few days later, and Summer was in the kitchen, talking on the phone that hung on the wall next to the back door. Steve walked in the back door and stopped by the kitchen table, picking up the pile of mail, and shuffling through it. Summer watched as he flipped one envelope after another from the top of the stack in his hands to the bottom. She saw the bill from the power company with the big red stamp on the envelope that read Disconnect Notice. The next one up was the bill from John Deere, also marked in red Past Due. She returned her attention to the caller speaking in her ear. “Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am, I’ll be sure to have him call you,” she replied into the receiver.
Steve’s eyes flicked up to her.
She hung up the phone and turned to him. “Um, that was the veterinarian’s office. They were calling about your bill.”
Steve just looked back down and continued flipping through the bills in his hand, with no reply.