Page 33 of Seeing Harper

“See you in a little while,” she said, waving as she backed up a few steps, reluctant to break eye contact with him first, before she finally turned and disappeared through the open doorway behind her.

Chapter 7

“Like this?” Easton asked, holding the large shears in both hands as he struggled to angle them just the right way and nipped away the newly sprouted branch.

“Exactly like that,” Travis said, taking off one of his gloves and ruffling the boy’s hair before tiredly turning away and glancing in the distance at his other two nephews about to beat each other to death in the distance. He shook his head as he turned his head toward Scotty. “Can’t you do something with them?”

“Hey, what do you want from me? At least one of them is interested,” Scotty said.

“Do the other side the same way?” Easton asked.

“That’s right. Everything below the limb line we marked, you nip off so it doesn’t take nutrients from the rest of the tree and it keeps growing the limbs it already has fuller,” Scotty said.

“Okay. I understand,” Easton said, looking up from where he knelt beside the Scotch Pine tree looking for new limb sprouts that needed to be removed from its trunk. “I’ll do this row, then I’ll start on the next!” he said excitedly.

“It takes longer than you think. Let’s just see how many you can get done and then we’ll make a plan for the rest,” Travis said.

“But I can do it! I’ll do them all!” Easton said.

“I know you can. But we’re really just learning here today,” Travis said.

“Okay,” Easton said, his voice a little deflated.

“You know what, Easton? I’m proud of you. You’re over here wanting to learn about the family business, eager to do it right and putting in the time. That means a lot to me,” Travis said.

Easton nodded as he snipped another errant branch. “Yep. Because without the family business, how would they ever eat?” he asked, his voice sarcastic and dismissive as he cast a glance toward his brothers, one younger and one older.

Travis laughed.

Scotty couldn’t help it and chuckled a little himself. “They’re just being kids. There’s nothing wrong with them running around and jumping on each other.”

“How are they going to know how to do this when the time comes? They won’t! They’ll say, Easton will do it. Let’s go wrestle and see who wins. Whoever loses will help him,” Easton said. “I’ll be done by then.”

Travis raised an eyebrow and looked over at Scotty again. “This is the smart one. The other two? Good luck, brother.”

“Uncle Travis, what are we doing next?”

“I thought maybe we’d go in the greenhouse and I’ll show you how to start a seedling.”

“Okay, give me a few minutes and I’ll get this one finished. Or maybe two or three finished just to make sure I know how to do it.”

“You got it, bud. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“Where’s Harper? Doesn’t she want to be here with us? I mean, it’s her business, too,” Easton said, not looking up at either male watching him work. But his question said more than most would notice. He was aware that they were four of them, and four of them would benefit, not just Harper, not just himself.

Travis’s face tightened as he pressed his lips into a tight line. “She’s playing with the horses down the road,” he said coldly.

“Travis…” Scotty said, his voice a little subdued, but still with a gentle warning.

“What? She is. Your boy is here, wanting to learn, wanting to work and proud of it, and where’s mine? Playing with the damn horses that aren’t even ours and have no bearing on our family’s future.”

“It’s important to her,” Scotty said with a shrug.

“Yeah, well so is this, whether she acknowledges it or not. What was it Easton just said? Without the family business how would they eat? It feeds her, it feeds us all,” Travis said.

“She knows that. She’s just got other interests for her future. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about this place, too,” Scotty said.

“And what would you do if your kid didn’t give a damn about the place that’s sustained us since our grandparents’ time?” Travis demanded.