4. Mae: The Decision

Mae – The Decision

Chapter four

It's the weekend after Grandpa Bob officially moved to his farm, and Mina and I decide to pay him a visit. I'm still not convinced about the move, and the memories of that chicken flying in my face and that buff, grumpy stranger aren't helping.

"How are things going here, Grandpa?" I ask, when he emerges from the house.

"So far so good! I haven't felt this at home since I was a little kid."

I see that he has two full pails in his hands. I have to admit, he looks good. His skin has a healthy glow, and his smile is so bright it could rival the sun.

"Mina, come help Grandpa," I request, grabbing one of the pails. After my ‘mom look' she grabs the other.

"That's the chicken feed," he explains. I can't help but wince at the word "chicken." "Here, follow me."

I spend most of my days sitting at my desk, but I'm relatively fit and still young, and just one bucket is hard for me to carry. I don't understand how Grandpa's ‘weakened bones and muscle tone' could handle them. I knew he was faking the other day when he struggled to get out of his chair!

However, by the time we finally reach the barn, Grandpa Bob has to take a break to catch his breath. The sight strikes a chord with me. When my parents died in a car accident, I was a kid. It was Grandpa Bob who took me in, and it was Grandpa Bob who helped me raise Mina, looking after her while I went to school and got my degree. For Mina's entire life, it's just been us three: Mina, Grandpa Bob, and me.

Suddenly, my mind is made up. Grandpa Bob has been there for Mina and me whenever we need him. Now, it's our turn to be there for him. I can always build my career back up, but who knows how much longer I'll have time to spend with my grandpa. How much longer will our family be able to spend time together?

"We have to do this," I tell my daughter, when we get into the car to leave.

"Really?" I see a surprising light in her hazel eyes. She's not mad, which is a good sign.

"Yeah. You saw him. He could hardly handle the short walk out to the animals."

"Mhm. And the thought of him carrying that heavy chicken feed…" she muses.

I reach over to hug her. He's been a father figure to her as much as he's been one to me, and I know that she loves him as much as I do.

"So, you're okay with it? If we move here?"

"I mean, it'll definitely be an adjustment, but also a fun new adventure." There's a slight hesitation in her voice and a small smile on her face.

"And we won't be far from your friends in San Francisco. You'll get your license soon, too, and then you can visit them whenever you want."

"True. But I'm excited to make new ones, too." The next part she says so quietly, she almost whispers it. "And to start at a new school."

I reach over and give her another hug. Sometimes, I wish I could wrap her back up in her baby blanket and hide her away from all the hurt and pain in the world. But I know that's impossible. "That's an awesome attitude to have, Mina."

"Well, people in San Fran can be so superficial sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love fashion, but I don't think it needs to be your entire personality." She pauses. "Or your sense of worth."

"I totally agree." Underneath all of her teenage sass, I often forget how similar she is to me. "Some of the other female attorneys at the firm are always going on and on about the latest Gucci or Balenciaga line."

Mina laughs. "Whereas you and I are both like, ‘What about our Teddy Fresh shirts?'"

I take the ends of a chunk of her hair and tickle her nose with them.

"Exactly." We both prefer the unconventional and quirky designs done by the talented artists on that site over the manufactured and cookie-cutter ‘high fashion' brands.

"Wait," she says, as I'm about to back up.

"What is it?"

"Your job. What are you going to do about that?"

"Oh…well, I guess I'll just have to quit." It surprises me how easy it is for me to say those words. Just a couple of weeks ago, quitting the firm had seemed impossible.

"Wow. I never thought I'd hear you say that."

I shrug. "Well, if I'm being honest, I haven't felt like it's something that's brought me joy for a while. Sure, it provides the money to fill our bellies, but I don't feel fulfilled, creatively. It's like I'm not living my passion. I think I was afraid to admit that for so many years because I went to law school and worked so hard for my degree," I admit to her.

"You don't have to be a lawyer to make a difference with your degree."

"You are very, very right." When did my daughter grow into such a beautiful, smart young woman?

"Are you going to wait until after the Lil' Scrap trial?"

"No. Between you and me, he's guiltier than sin. The only arguments we found to focus on are weak at best."

She giggles, and we chat the entire journey home, planning the different things we want to do on the farm, as well as the different things, or more specifically animals, I plan to stay away from. We're both excited to tell Grandpa and, as we expected, he just huffs and tells us it took us long enough. But when he turns away, I could swear I saw a tear on his cheek, the old goat!

***

We return to Grandpa's farm bright and early the following day. And this time, we're actually dressed to help. Mina and I both went for denim overalls and baseball caps.

She truly looks like my little twin with our matching outfits and dark hair in low ponytails. The only difference between us is the gold hoops hanging from her ears. They've never really been my style, and I opt for plain studs instead.

"Good morning, Grandpa Bob!" Mina exclaims, before hugging him.

"Oh, it's so wonderful to see my beautiful girls this early. The rising sun practically bounces off of your raven hair."

We both smile. It's barely been ten minutes, and this farm is already starting to feel like home.

"So, what's first?" I ask.

"Well, I need to get that hay picked up." He points to the side of the barn.

"And put where?" I ask.

"In the bed of my truck."

"Okay—"

Grandpa Bob cuts me off. "Then it's going to a nearby farm to be baled for the goats."

"Why can't we just do that?"

"We don't have the right equipment. We don't have a lot of modern stuff, actually," Grandpa says, with a wide, proud smile.

"Oh. Well, we can make do, right?" Hopefully, I think to myself. It's not like any of us have that much experience managing a farm.

"Yep. There should be some pitchforks in the barn."

I walk over to the barn, skirting around the chickens that have long since forgotten who I am, and guess what a ‘pitchfork' even looks like. My only point of reference is from Beauty and the Beast when the villagers are coming to break down the castle door with them.

"Is this right?" I ask, while holding an instrument over my head.

With his nod I go to find another one for Mina so she can help.

"Here ya go, Elvira Duck," I say, handing it to her.

"Who?" she asks with her head cocked.

"Elvira—Grandma Duck? Donald Duck's grandmother."

"Donald Duck? Seriously?" Mina rolls her eyes. "Okay, boomer."

"Hey! Don't blame me. I was raised by that one." I jerk my head over to Grandpa. "His idea of entertaining me was showing me old clips of vintage comics. Anyway, Elvira Duck was a farmer."

She laughs at me a little. "I suppose I can't blame you too much for that."

"You should feel lucky that you were raised by such a young, cool, hip mom like me."

I expect her to continue giggling, but she just gets quiet and starts maneuvering the hay from the pile and into the truck bed.

"Hey, what's up?" I inquire.

"It's nothing," Mina says in her, ‘I'm a teenager, don't bother me' voice.

"Hey, kid. Talk to me." She still says nothing, so I poke her in her ribs.

"Come on, Mina, I'm just going to keep annoying you until you tell me what's up. You might as well tell me now and save yourself the pain."

"Ugh," Mina says, slumping down until she's sitting on the truck bed. I don't like her looking like this, so sad and small. "What you said just reminded me of the time Madison and Chelsea relentlessly picked on me because my mom was the same age as one of their older sisters."

"What, really?" She's never mentioned that she got picked on at school because of me.

"Yeah. And they were saying really mean things about you," Mina says quietly.

I roll my eyes and lean on my pitchfork. "I can imagine. I heard them all back in the day."

"It didn't bother you? When people say that stuff, I mean?"

I sigh, straighten up, and get to work myself. It's a long-healed wound, but I still find myself needing to do something with my hands. "At first, sure," I tell her. "But then I got used to it. Plus, if anything, I'm proud to have been a teenage mom. Raising a kid when you're barely an adult yourself takes a lot of strength and guts."

We're both quiet while we tackle the task at hand.

"But!" I shout after a second, and she jumps. "That absolutely does not mean that you should ever follow in my footsteps…not in that way, at least. I'm too young to be a grandma."

"Motherrrrrr!" Mina whines. "We've had this talk so many times."

"I know. I just want to ensure that you don't make the same mistakes that I did—not that I think you were a mistake."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I was just a ‘happy accident.'"

"Exactly." I fork up a huge chunk of hay before saying, "Oh, no! It looks like my little happy accident has a little something—" I pour it all over her.

"Hey!" She shouts. But even as she says it, she's grabbing her own bundle of hay to dump on me.

We continue fighting like this until Grandpa Bob walks in and stops us.

He clears his throat loudly, and we both freeze.

"Ladies, I'm glad you're both having fun, but let's focus on being more productive."

"Sorry, Grandpa," we say in unison.

He walks away. We're both completely caked with the stuff, and when we look at each other, we both burst out laughing.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something," a familiar deep voice says from behind me.

When I turn around, I see the man from the other day, the one who got angry because he was supposed to buy the farm. Now that he's no longer hiding in his car, I notice how tall he is and how nicely his shirt fits his muscular chest and arms.

"Oh!" I remove a piece of hay from my hair and brush off the front of my overalls. "What can I do for you…?" This close, I can see his striking silver-gray eyes. They make my knees feel weak, which doesn't help the fact that I'm totally blanking on his name. "Sorry, I…" my gaze flickers to his lips, and suddenly my mind is very, very far away. And it's in a very stimulating place, I must say.

"Dean Cornel. Like the sausage and the college," he fills in my memory gap.

"Huh?" I ask. I am an intelligent woman, an attorney, for goodness' sake. I should not be acting this dumb.

He chuckles, and his deep dimples make themselves visible. "Sorry, stupid joke. Sausage—like Jimmy Dean? And Cornel like…"

"Cornell University. I got it," I interrupt him. "You know, your Uncle Ted actually went there," I turn my head to tell Mina. "Remember? Uncle Ted is Grandpa's cousin, so not exactly an uncle, but close." I add in explanation.

"Oh, got it." she answers, with a mischievous smile on her face that makes me narrow my eyes.

"Yeah. He's super smart…anyway." I turn back to look at Dean. Yep, he's still just as annoyingly handsome as he was seconds ago.

"Right, apologies. I just wanted to come and re-introduce myself. I feel like we may have gotten off on the wrong foot the first time we met," he explains, with a huge smile. And there go his dimples again…. and his bright white teeth, and…. good grief!

"It's okay. I have strangers yell at me all the time," I say.

He laughs again, apparently mistaking my sincerity as sarcasm.

"No, I'm serious," I say. "I'm a lawyer."

He suddenly turns serious again. "Oh. I, uh. Yeah, that makes sense."

"But that doesn't mean I'm not game for a second impression. So, hello, Dean. I'm Mae, and this is my daughter, Mina."

"Mina? As in Wilhelmina?

"Uh-huh," I agree.

"Like Wilhelmina Harker from Bram Stoker's Dracula?" Dean asks me.

"Oh my gosh. You're one of the only people who has ever made that connection. Yes! I've always been a huge horror and Winona Ryder fan. So, it seemed like the perfect choice to name her that," I almost shout. A man who's handsome and smart. Lord, help me.

"It's a beautiful name," he says, turning to Mina and tipping his head like some sort of cowboy.

Now that he's made that connection, I can't get over how much he looks like Keanu Reeves did in that film, even though he's older and has those unique, almost silver-colored eyes.

"What brings you over here? Trying to steal the place from us?" I joke.

"No, no." He's denying it, but there's something nefarious about his demeanor. Maybe that's harsh, and I'm just projecting. Perhaps the thought of Dracula in the back of my mind is making me paranoid.

He continues, "but if all goes as planned, I'll be your next-door neighbor soon."

"Really?" I ask, my suspicions rising.

"Yep. The adjacent property is also for sale."

"Wow, you must really like this area."

"What's not to like? Plenty of peace and quiet." He pauses and grins at me. "When there aren't two young women having a hay fight."

Mina and I look at each other and stifle laughter.

"Plus, there are plenty of wineries right down the road. You can't go wrong."

"I see." There's something there, some clue he's trying to hide, but I can't quite put my finger on it yet.

"Hey, Dad!" a squeaky male voice rings out.

Soon, the boy who was with him in the car the other day appears. He's shorter than Dean and lankier, but they have the same color hair and the same light silver eyes.

"Look what I found! Mr. Dunning said I could keep it." He shows his dad something in his hand.

"Wow. That's awesome, bud. What is it? An arrowhead?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Mina is now the one who is chaotically trying to remove the hay from her person.

"Oh, sorry. Where are my manners?" Dean turns his attention back to us. And suddenly, I'm unsure if this move was the right choice for us Dale girls after all, not with these guys so close by. "This is my son, Dylan."

"Nice to meet you, Dylan. This is my daughter, Mina."

I can tell by her reddened cheeks and the way she avoids looking me in the eye that she thinks he's cute.

"Well, if you do move in next door, the two of you will go to Petaluma High School together. Go, Trojans!" I say.

"Mom!" Mina says under her breath.

"What?"

"Actually, Dylan's more of a private-school kid. But in any event, we should really get going," Dean says.

"Oh, okay. It was nice talking to you." I wave my hand as they turn to leave.

Dean shoots me a smile that makes my heart flutter. "You as well."

And if I watch Dean for a little longer than is polite as he walks back down the hill, who's to know?

***

"What did he want?" Grandpa Bob asks after bringing us out some of his famous lemonade. "This property's ours. He can whine about it all he wants."

"No, Grandpa. It sounds like he's trying to get the lot right over there." I point to a home about a thousand feet away from ours. Like ours, it's a two-story wood house with a gabled roof. But where ours is an eggshell white with a red door, their home is baby blue with a white door.

"Wow," Grandpa says. "He sure must like this neighborhood."

"That's what I think. But I also think that it's kind of suspicious." I can't put my finger on it, but he's got a suspicious air to him. Too nice. Too hot. But that hot is what's melting me like a fire.

Maybe I'm just projecting. As an attorney, I've always had to be suspicious of people. I find the secrets they don't want other people to know.

"Oh, I don't mind him." Grandpa waves off my concerns. "Sure, he's kind of a jerk, but he knows what he wants. That's admirable."

"I suppose." But that's the question that's been plaguing my mind. What does Dean, like the sausage, Cornel, like the university, actually want? And why is he so eager to get his hands on this land?

And how am I going to focus on anything here on the farm other than those biceps, that hair and his saunter…. Not that I was watching him leave.