The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson

Author:Jen Ferguson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

July 30

INDIGO: This might be obvious, but sometimes you gotta state the obvious. Indigo stains. Badly. Avoid wearing white T-shirts while consuming.

When we make it back to our work site, my hands are steady. There’s a lunch on. Maurice is at the barbecue and a CBC reporter is taking photos. I didn’t see Peter England, didn’t confirm it’s his farm, his SUV. Not for certain. But I don’t need proof beyond what my body says is true.

Tyler offers me an awkward side hug. For her, this is a lot of physical contact. “Cami’s going to be so pissed when I tell her about the drugstore. I can tell her, right?”

“Of course.”

She’s glancing at the house—or over the house, toward the England farm. “And I’m serious. You know where I lay down at night. Come get me anytime.”

One thing I miss about Tyler. She’s ride or die for the ones she loves.

I press two fingers to my heart. I’m off balance. I’m falling back into old habits—and they feel exactly right.

Tyler offers me a slight chin-up before heading off.

“Hey, hey,” Maurice says when he sees me. He waves, getting the photographer’s attention. “Taking the day to help out here was my niece’s idea.”

“Great,” the reporter says, extending his hand. He’s white, in his midfifties, maybe. Wears a polo shirt and tan shorts. “I’m with the CBC in Edmonton. We’d love to get a picture of all of you who work out at the Michif Creamery, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine,” I say. “I’ll gather them.”

With a thing to focus on, I push away the stress of returning to Tyler, and of my father’s coming home. For now.

Across the yard, King and Florence are eating BBQ and picnic salads, laughing together, leaning against someone’s car. She catches my eye and mouths, “What’s wrong?”

I notice Elise standing in a tee and cargo shorts next to the old oil heater tank, off by herself. She spots me. But her characteristic smile has vanished. Suddenly I like her a lot more. And it has nothing to do with Wyatt’s tongue not being down her throat. She’s not only rainbows and sunshine. She’s human, it turns out.

I fake a crooked smile for Florence’s benefit. It’s a mixed message, but it’s enough for now. “Both of you, meet me over by my truck in five?”

They agree.

I cross the lawn in Elise’s direction.

“Sorry about the drama yesterday,” she says, screwing up her button nose.

She showed up. She said she’d show and she did. That’s responsibility and it’s kindness, what she’s doing out here.

“When I broke up with him, it was pretty dramarific too.” I don’t know I’m going to tell her until suddenly, I’m telling her about it. “He made me jump out of his moving vehicle. Onto the shoulder of the highway.”

Elise is halfway through shoving a potato chip in her mouth. She starts to choke. When she recovers, her voice gets low. “No way?”

I nod. “I wish I’d told you.”

“I wish I’d known.”

She offers me a chip from the bag.

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