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Gerty grinned. “Now you’re starting to sound like Daddy.” She gave a light laugh. “Come on. Let’s get going or all the good jobs will be gone.”
They got out of the truck and Walter asked, “Are there good jobs with this? Because last year, I had to stand next to the lemonade dispenser, and it was terrible.”
Gerty laughed fully then, slung her arm around her brother, and said, “Yeah, bud, there are good jobs. Stick with me, and I’ll make sure you aren’t handing out cups of lemonade for the next three hours.”
As they rounded the corner, a couple of cowboys were already setting up folding tables, and Gerty smiled and said hello to Mission and Cord, as well as Keith.
Jane came out of the barn next, and she said, “Gerty, praise the heavens.” She reached for her hand. “I’ve got to show you something.”
“What is it?” Gerty stumbled after the other woman, one of Gray’s kids that she’d been friends with growing up. Jane was a couple of years younger than Gerty, but they’d gotten along just fine.
Inside, the air conditioning blew, and Jane didn’t seem to have a job yet. She towed Gerty down the hall and into a nearly empty room. “What is going on, Jane?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Jane said, somewhat out of breath. “I just didn’t want to be outside with Mission and Cord.”
Gerty cocked her head. “A statement like that has a story behind it. Probably more than one.”
Jane tossed her fine-as-silk hair over her shoulder. “Yeah, it does.”
“Gerty?” Walter called.
She poked her head out into the hallway. “Right here, bud. Give me two seconds.” She looked at Jane again. “You and Cord?”
Jane didn’t duck her head or hide it. “I can’t help liking him,” she said. “We’re adults now, Gerty. Do you think it would be weird?”
“How much older than you is he?”
“Eleven years,” she said with a monstrous sigh. “He won’t even look at me. He scampers away every time I’m within a half-mile of him.”
Gerty grinned. “A half-mile, Jane?” She’d always been an exaggerator. “You were within five yards of him, just now.”
“Yeah, and if I hadn’t dragged you in here, he’d have made some excuse and ran for the farmhouse.” Jane cocked her hip and folded her arms. “What do you think I should do?”
“Do?” Gerty asked with a laugh. “I have no idea what you should do. I just called off my wedding, so I’m in no position to tell you how to deal with a man.”
Jane watched her for a moment. “I’m sorry about the wedding.”
Gerty swallowed, because she was tired of talking about James and her relationship with him. “Don’t be,” she said. “There’s a reason I called it off.”
“Yeah, and there’s a reason I came home,” Jane said. “It doesn’t mean it was what you necessarily wanted to do.”
Gerty nodded, wishing this room had something for her to pick and fiddle with. “You didn’t want to come home?”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to,” Jane said, another sigh following the words. “It’s complicated.”
“I understand complicated,” Gerty said. “Now, I promised Walter I’d get him a good job, so I better go see where Molly needs us.”
“Yeah, all right,” Jane said. “But we need to go to lunch.”
An idea popped into Gerty’s head. “Do you think your dad would let me cook in the generational house?”
“Yeah, maybe,” Jane said. “I’ll ask him.”
“Then we can eat there,” Gerty said.
“I’m starting at HMC on Monday,” Jane said. “Who’s ‘we’?”
Gerty turned to leave the room. “You’re starting at HMC? Since when?” She’d rather get Jane talking than tell her that if she didn’t come eat lunch in the generational house, then Gerty and Mike could dine alone.
