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“I know.”
His phone pinged again. “You have a hammer? I think I know a way to stop that annoying sound.”
She giggled as he grabbed his phone once more.
This text was from Josh, who’d obviously gotten the same message from their mother. His brother and sister had elected to remain on the farm today, and they needed Leo to head out there after their dad’s tests to pack up a few orders and run a couple deliveries. Then Josh told him to bring Vince along, that they needed an extra pair of hands to help bring in some crops.
Leo bristled at the suggestion. While he saw nothing wrong with Vince helping out and learning the ways of farming, he refused to make his twelve-year-old son a workhorse the same way his father had Leo and his siblings. He’d promised himself that Vince would have a real childhood, complete with friends, after-school activities and hands that weren’t perpetually calloused.
The problem was, it had always been an issue of pride for his dad that the family farm had been maintained strictly by Watsons since they’d bought the land four generations earlier. They hired hands to help during the busy season, but the bulk of the work had always been done by them.
While his mom and sister ran the farm stand, he, Josh, and Dad planted the crops, then tended and harvested them. When Denise died, Leo wasn’t able to do as much of the actual farm work, losing too much time commuting to the city, so he took the deliveries over from his grandfather, who had passed away the previous year from cancer.
When he was younger, Leo had discovered ways they could do more with the land that had been passed down through the generations in the Watson family. In the last decade, they’d bought chickens so they could sell eggs, planted apple trees and added a pumpkin patch. During the fall, they did hayrides. They were ideally located just forty-five minutes outside the city, so they were a pretty popular field trip location for the city elementary schools.
Leo had insisted on more than one occasion that it was time to hire more full-time help for the actual farm work, so they could expand those other aspects of the family business. Unfortunately, neither Josh nor his dad would entertain the notion, which meant they all pulled longer hours in the field.
“Everything okay?” Yvonne asked, when he’d stared at his phone in silence too long.
“Yeah. Just thinking about how…” He started to feel groggy, the lack of sleep catching up with him.
“I know you’re tired, so I’ll give you a bye. Please refer back to that first piece of advice.”
He looked at her for a second before a light went on.
Ask for help.
He grimaced. “Yvonne, I can’t keep—”
“Holy shit,” she said, sitting up. “If you finish that sentence, I swear to God I’ll punch you in the nose.”
He chuckled. “You spend too much time with those wild cousins of yours. It’s made you violent.”
Yvonne wasn’t distracted or dissuaded. “What do you need me to do?”
She hadn’t gotten any sleep either. And none of these problems were hers.
“Do you have work today?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, but I can—”
“I’ve learned my lesson, Vonnie. But you aren’t the one I’m asking for help. Not this time.” He texted Josh and said he’d get to the farm as soon as he could. Then he called Ryder. It was early, but fuck it.
“Hello.” Ryder cleared his throat. It was obvious Leo had woken him. “Leo?”
“Sorry to call you so early, man.”
“No, no.” He could tell Ryder was trying to shake himself awake. “That’s no problem. How’s your dad?”
“They’re doing some more tests at nine and then I need to run out to the farm to take care of stuff there. I’m going to be home in a little while to shower and change, but I was wondering if—”
“You don’t even have to ask. I’ll take the day off and man the fort. Shit, it’s the least I can do. You’ve been covering for me for weeks. You take care of your dad and I’ll handle things here.”
“Thanks, Ryder.”
“I’ll see you when you get here.”
They hung up and Leo felt the tension in his shoulders relax.
