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“Pigs?” Jake had never thought of owning land, much less animals. “Don’t they smell?”
“Not if raised properly.” Victor would get lost in his dreams. “Imagine waking up on your own time, nobody telling you what to do. Living off your own hard work. Not working hard for someone else.”
“Sounds like heaven.” Jake thought of the farms and ranches back in Prairie Valley, not ever imagining he’d someday live on one.
But after Victor’s death, and his medical discharge from the service, he somehow found himself driving by the Wilson farm. Then he saw the sign. He drove right up to the house and took on a gentleman’s agreement lease between Mr. Wilson and himself. Of course, he’d quickly found out that the idea of waking up on your own time and making your own hours was far from reality.
“Earth to Jake.” Allison waved her hand in front of his face. “We’re going to head to the Freight House, you coming?”
He had opened his mouth to beg off when he saw Troy and his cronies coming in the back door. They moved up to the bar, loud and obnoxious, acting like overaged teenagers.
“Jake?” Allison stood up. “We’re going.”
He looked over to see that his brother and girlfriend had already paid and were leaving the table.
“Okay.” He threw down his money, checking Troy out one last time before following.
On Monday, when he arrived at the Gunderson ranch, Sam met him and the crew. “Morning.” Sam held out his hand and he and Jake shook. “It was nice to see you at dinner the other night,” he shouted over the noise of the excavators working on the foundation.
“Olivia invited me when she swung through here, the other day.” He realized that this was a golden opportunity to dig for information, and he blurted out a question before he could think better of it. “I was wondering, is Hannah a part of the family, or is she a neighbor?” He felt his face grow hot, realizing how abrupt his question had been. Would Sam think he was being creepy?
Sam took a sip of his coffee. “She was Georgie’s student, and they took her in when she had Emma.”
“That’s really nice.” He didn’t know how to segue naturally, so he just came out and said it. “So, what’s the deal with Troy?”
“Do you mean, are they still married?”
Jake shrugged.
“I think all she has to do is sign the papers, but for some reason she hasn’t. But he hasn’t been in the picture for years.”
“Years?” Jake might be crossing a line, butting into her business, but he suspected that what happened at the grocery store wasn’t the first time in years. “I saw him at the grocery store, bugging her.”
Sam’s face immediately turned concerned. “Recently?”
He nodded. “He was pretty aggressive.”
Sam slowly shook his head, processing the information. “How aggressive?”
Jake told Sam the whole story. And for the rest of the day, he worried. Maybe he shouldn’t have gotten involved with her business. She was a grown woman, after all. But he didn’t trust what a man like Troy might do. He wasn’t going to apologize for watching out for her, but he did need to make things right. Hehadbutted into her life, and could’ve escalated things by confronting Troy.
The next day, Jake went down to the grocery store to talk with Tim Hooley.
It was the last place he expected to run into Hannah, but he saw her right away when he walked in the door. She stood at the customer service desk with Tim, holding her maroon smock in white-knuckled hands.
When he got close enough, he could hear Tim’s pompous voice. “I wish things could’ve worked out,” he said, shaking his head. “But we just can’t have these kinds of disturbances.”
“Tim, please,” she begged. “I promise he won’t come around anymore.”
“That’s what you said the last time.” He looked at a clipboard as if whatever he was doing was more important than her frantic pleas.
Jake could feel his anger rising.
“Why don’t you give her a second chance.” He made his voice as commanding as he could, using what his mother called his “soldier voice”.
Tim’s head jerked up, momentarily rattled by this challenge to his authority.
But Hannah swung around, eyes narrowing the moment she heard his voice. “I don’t need your help.”
