As Far as Far Enough by Claire Rooney

Author:Claire Rooney [Rooney, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Lesbian, Fiction, General, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781594931406
Google: krM3LgAACAAJ
Amazon: 1594931402
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2008-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five: PLANS

The first gusts of autumn blew down from the mountains, the chilly breezes ruffling through fading leaves, wilting the summer greens into dull yellows and reds. My chores became more pleasant now that the hot, sticky part was over and also more onerous because there were a lot more of them. There was always the usual mucking to do, Sergeant being so full of himself, and pastures to mow, hay to bale and bring in. But now there were fi elds to fertilize, earth to turn and what seemed like a thousand apples trees to pick, each with a million apples to sort and pack accord-ing to type. In spite of the early spring frost, or maybe because of it, it had been a good year for apples.

An odd assortment of Meri’s cousins came over to help with the harvest. I got to help this time too, climbing one tree and then moving on to the next, baking apples in one color box, cider apples in another. The eating apples we kept for ourselves and for Sergeant, too. The broken ones we threw into a barrel for 100

Taylor’s promise of apple wine. Meri refused, at first, to have anything to do with Taylor, plan or no plan, but the hint of the rewards proved to be greater than her hate. I knew it would.

Meri’s hatred was a reasonable one, and by the end of the summer, it had faded to an intense dislike. So we threw the broken apples into a barrel, laughed and sang, ate and drank, fought and made up. It was the best October I’d ever known and Meri just kept smiling in a bone-tired but satisfied kind of way.

Taylor had been right when he said that running a farm was almost impossible for one person to do alone. It was hard enough for two and some temporary cousin power. I don’t know how Meri did it all and still found the time to run a B&B before I arrived. I thought it was too much, and to my surprise, Meri agreed. She took down the sign, wrapped it carefully in an old blanket and stored it in the tack room in the barn. Even so, it still seemed like there was always something else that needed doing.

We were always sweating or stinking or covered in muck. My pale skin acquired a deepening tan and my arms the suggestion of biceps. Calluses blossomed across my palms.

I absolutely loved it.

Today, though, I was still lying in bed, sick to my stomach and excused from chores. I was glad of it too, because the day had dawned wet and cold. Rain pattered against the windowpanes while Meri puttered softly around the room. I huddled under the sheets, trying to get my mind off the queasiness that fl uttered in my stomach by reciting multiplication tables in my head. I was working on the elevens when I got bored.

I peeked out from under the sheets. “Are my gills still green?” I asked Meri in a shaky voice.

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