Page 89 of There's Pumpkin About You
I turn to see Bash and Sam walking towards me from across the field. I roll my eyes, but continue working.
“Ooo, he’s feeling sociable,” Sam jests.
“What do you want?” I ask, not bothering to stop what I’m doing.
“We’re here to lend you a hand.”
“I can chop wood by myself, thanks.”
“Oh, no, not with that.” Bash smirks. “With getting your goddamn life back on track.”
That makes me pause. “Excuse me?”
“We’re going to help you see reason, little brother, something which you seem to have lost sight of a little bit over the past week.”
I scoff bitterly. “Last time I checked, I wasn’t the one with the problem.”
“Up for debate,” Sam mumbles, for which I throw him a death glare.
“Gus, I feel like I put some thoughts into your head the night of the party,” Bash says.
“How so?”
He looks guilty as he says, “Well, I’m the one who asked you where you and Wren go from here and stuff. I think it made you paranoid, worried.”
“You failed to mention that,” Sam whispers to our brother.
Bash shrugs. “I didn’t want all you guys yelling at me.”
“All you guys? Who is all you guys?”
“Us, Jamie, Finn and Oakleigh. What, did you think we were all just going to let both of you throw away the best thing to happen to either of you?”
“I don’t need a relationship babysitter,” I snap.
“Then stop acting like you do.”
“Gus, you are scared that Wren is going to leave, and that’s fine. Dad didn’t stay, and he definitely never accepted you. But—and it’s wild that I need to tell you this—Gus, Wren isn’t Dad.”
“She was going to leave just like he did.” I angrily chop another plank of wood, this one cutting in a wonky line. I growl in frustration.
“Did she actually say that she was going to leave?”
Okay, so maybe she didn’t say those exact words… but it was heavily implied… I think.
I let my axe swing instead of answering.
“That’s what I thought.” Bash chuckles.
“It doesn’t matter. She might feel one way now, but she’d change her mind when her business picked up.”
“How do you know that?” Sam asks.
“Because who the fuck wouldn’t? Not even you guys want to stay in this hick town, so why would she?”
Sam and Bash exchange a glance, one filled with a conversation to which I’m not invited. When they turn back to face me, there’s something in their eyes that tells me that I’m misreading something.
“Gus, neither of us would ever leave here,” Sam says softly. “This farm is our home. It may not have meant much to Dad, but it meant the world to Mom. To you. And when it comes to Wren, okay, yeah, maybe she would have traveled a bit for work given the chance. Maybe she would say yes to an event in San Francisco or some shit, but do you know what she would always do that Dad never did?”
