FYI: If you are following my NaNoWriMo word count, I hit the 25K word mark today - that's half way! I'me still a few days behind, but I'm gaining ground.
Jay finished cleaning up and then sat down next to her at
the counter.
“Aren’t you going to have some?” Karin asked.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Jay said, grabbing a fork from
the drawer on the side of the counter and take a bite from her plate.
“That’s not quite what I had in mind,” she said, pretending
to shield her plate with her hands.
“Oh, okay, I’ll make a note of that,” Jay said and then
pretended to write in the air “Does not like to share.”
“This isn’t preschool.” Karin said, feigning offense.
“No it’s not, and that’s good, because if this were
preschool, I would get in a lot of trouble for doing this…” and then he leaned
in and kissed her. Karin’s mouth was full of food and she tried to chew quickly
and swallow, but she had to pull away from him and cover her mouth so she didn’t
end up choking. Jay just leaned back and laughed a loud, hearty belly laugh.
“Do you think that’s funny?”
“I think it’s very funny.” He laughed and then as soon as
she’d swallowed and taken a drink of water, he leaned into to kiss her again.
This time, she didn’t pull away. She kissed him back.
“Alright, clean your plate so we can get going.”
“Where are we going?”
“A trip down memory lane that you requested,” Jay said with
a mischievous smile on his face. Karin ate the last few bites and finished her
coffee. Jay took her dishes to the sink and then motioned for her to follow
him. Back outside the sun was lighting the entire sky and it had gone from a
rainbow of colors to a pale blue sparsely dotted with white clouds. The air was
warm against her skin. Karin followed Jay across the grassy yard behind the
house and up a worn path to the barn. He opened up the doors to reveal his old
pick up truck.
“Is that the same truck?” Karin asked.
“One and the same,” Jay said.
“Wow, I have a lot of memories that belong with this truck.”
Karin said and touched the hood. She walked around to the passenger side,
lightly rubbing her hand along the paint as she walked. The old farm truck was
painted the same deep red as the barn it was parked in. The bottom side was
rusted through and the bed was filled with holes.
“Does it still run?”
“No,” Jay answered and popped open the hood. “My dad and I
rebuilt the engine and put it in a different truck. This one is just an old
shell now.”
“So, why have you kept it?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I could probably take it in to be
recycled, but I just haven’t had the time. Besides, it holds a lot of memories
for me too.” Jay said. Karin pulled the handle and opened the passenger side
door.
She climbed up into the cab as Jay closed the hood. She shut the door and
looked out the front window at the groves of trees and imagined herself back in
time. She pulled the seatbelt and buckled it.
“Are you coming?” she hollered to Jay. He smiled and climbed
into the driver seat beside her. He buckled his seat belt and pretended to
drive through the field and then to park the truck.
“Do you remember this spot?” he asked.
“Yes, it has my favorite view.”
“This was where we were the first time I kissed you.” Jay
said.
“I remember.”
“I wished that we could stay there forever.”
“So did I.” She said and he reached out to take her hand.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid across the seat so that she was right
beside him.
“We could stay here now,” Jay said.
“And never go home.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah,” Karin let out a deep breath as she leaned against
him. She closed her eyes and let herself be eighteen again and let herself
pretend that she didn’t know he would ever leave her. Together they just sat in
silence for a few minutes.
“We could drive out there for real if you wanted to,” Jay
said softly after awhile.
“No, this is perfect.” Karin said keeping her eyes closed.
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly.
“You are what makes it perfect,” he said and he pressed his
lips against the top of her head. “It’s too bad you can’t do your job from a
skyscraper in Chicago.”
Karin opened her eyes. Back to reality.
“No, Dunewood is my home. I’ve worked hard to build my
business here and I have contracts with my customers that I won’t break.”
“I know, it’s just too bad, that’s all.”
“So, what’s stopping you from doing your job from Dunewood,
MI instead of a skyscraper in Chicago? Didn’t you say that you grandfather ran
the company from this farm?” Karin asked.
“Yes.” Jay said. “Yes, he did. He had a way of getting
people to do things his way even when he wasn’t around. But, I can be here
every weekend.”
“Oooh, we could be weekend lovers,” Karin said in a snarky
tone, more so than she intended. Jay loosened his grip on her shoulders and pulled
his arms back.
“Look Karin, I don’t want to offer you something that I can’t
give you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Let’s just enjoy the time we have
together now.”
“Do you like horses?” Jay asked.
“Sure,” Karin answered.
“Come on.” Jay opened the door and jumped down from the cab
of the truck and held out his arms to catch her as she jumped out behind him.
He closed the barn doors and they walked down the hill from the barn toward the
pasture. As they reached the fence, Karin could see at least a dozen horses.
“These aren’t yours, are they?”
“No, we rent out the pasture to the neighbors, but the
horses frequently make their way across the fields and hang out near this fence
line. I’m not sure why, but they seem to always be here.” Jay said.
One of the horses came right up to the fence where Karin was
standing and stood there eating the grass. She reached out and petted it. She
ran her hand down the side of the animal.
“It’s so pretty out here.” Karin said. “I think I could get
used to a place like this, of course, I don’t know anything about farming or
animals, I’ve never even had a pet. But, I could get used to this part.” Jay
laughed.
“You’ve really never had a pet?”
“I’ve really never had a pet.”
“Well, I guess I’ve never had a pet either. Our animals were
all for food or for work.” Jay said.
“That’s very practical.”
“Yes, I suppose it was.” Jay put his arm around her
shoulders and turned her back toward the house.
“Come on. I’ve got something
else to show you.” They walked back up the hill to the barn and then across the
yard to the house. Jay opened the garage door and invited Karin to get into his
truck.
“This is different from that car you were driving the other
day.” She said.
“Yeah, well, you said you liked the truck better.” Jay said.
“I did say that, didn’t I? Well, the car is very nice, but
it’s true, I do prefer the truck. I just think it suits you better, but that’s
probably because I always think of you as a big, strong, truck driving, hay
throwing farm boy, not a Ferrari driving yuppie.”
“What do you have against young urban professionals?” he
asked.
“Not a thing,” she said. “But, I think farm boys are sexy.”
She hopped into the passenger side of the truck. He quickly followed her lead
and jumped into the front seat.
“Well, then, let’s go for a ride.”
“Where to?” she asked, sliding into the middle seat without waiting
for him to suggest it. He had to reach between her knees to shift the truck
into reverse.
“Well, I was thinking that when you used to come out to the
farm, we would take the truck out and check my traps, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” Karin said. She’d always enjoyed sitting
up high in the cab of his pickup truck, but she hadn’t been real fond of
wearing the rubber waders and trudging through swamps checking traps to see if
a raccoon or fox or beaver had been caught.
“I don’t have any traps out anymore. I haven’t done that in
several years, but I thought we could drive the route that we used to take, just
for old time’s sake.”
“Alright, I did say I liked riding along on those bumpy
gravel roads by your side in the truck.” Karin said. As they pulled out of the
driveway and onto the paved road. “You know, I don’t think I ever told you
this, but during those drives, I used to pretend we were a poor, married couple
and that we had to do trap animals to survive. But, I didn’t mind it because it
was something that we got to do together.”
“You’re right. I don’t think you ever told me that.” Jay
said.
“At nineteen, it probably would have scared you half to
death to have some girl say that she was imagining being married to you.”
“Maybe a little.” Jay said and made a sharp right turn onto
a gravel road.
“Did you ever wonder what might have happened between us if
your parents hadn’t sent you off to Chicago? Or maybe if your ancestors had
never started the approved marriage clause in their wills?”
“I don’t wonder about it,” Jay said. “It doesn’t matter what
might have been. It wasn’t. It couldn’t be. I can’t change that no matter how
badly I might have wanted to. All I can do is love you now.”
“But, what has changed, Jay?” Karin said softly. There was
no anger or sarcasm in her voice. It was a sincere question. “What makes today
any different than the day we met ten years ago?”
“I don’t know Karin. I don’t have the answers that you’re
looking for. My grandfather died last year and I’m hoping that my parents will
reconsider their position. I know that you want an honest relationship and that
you want to be married.”
“Maybe marriage isn’t as important as I once thought,” Karin
said sadly.
“Don’t say that.” Jay said. “I know that you don’t believe
that. I listened to you then and I listen to you now. I know what you’re
looking for and believe me, I want more than anything to give you everything
that you want.”
“If only wanting it was enough.”
“Karin, if you can be patient with me, I promise you, I will
find a way for us to be together, even if it means giving up my inheritance.”
“No, Jay, you can’t do that for me.” Karin said. “Then, I
would always feel guilty and it would always hang over our relationship.”
“Then, I’ll find another way,” Jay said. “But, I need to
know that you trust me and that you will wait for me to figure it out.”
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