Page 24 of Tell Them Emily Sent You
“His stamina isn’t an issue—” Kathie made a face when both Mom and Amy giggled.We were on our third bottle of champagne by then, and everyone was feeling pretty relaxed and happy.“Yes, in that way, too, but walking the fields itself isn’t the problem.It’s all of it dumped on him.We could survive without the income the farm brings in, but I honestly don’t think Iain could survive without the farm.”
Everyone was listening now.
“Is something wrong with your uncle?”Holly asked softly.
“Bad leg, evidently,” I answered.“He fell off a mountain.”
“Ouch,” she said in sympathy.
“I say sell the farm to Iain’s son—the good one, what’s his name?”Mom asked, getting caught in a couple of hiccups.
“David,” Kathie said, sitting up now, and holding out her glass when Amy waggled the bottle at everyone.
“That’s the one.Sell to him, move to a smaller spot where you can have a wee little house on a wee little farm with those adorable wee little animals.”Mom nodded a couple of times, and set down her glass.“Hoo.I think I am now well and fully lubricated, so I’ll stop.”
“A small farm might work,” Kathie said, her normally sunny expression fading.“But Iain loves our farm.He didn’t mind hacking off a piece of it to go to David because one of his boys is already saying he wants to take over one day, but I don’t know if I could get Iain to part with the remainder of the farm.I worry it would break his heart.”
“The answer is simple, then,” I said, pouring the last bit of champagne into my glass.I had kept my drinking to a minimum, since I wanted to enjoy my time with my friends and family.
“If it is, then I’d love to hear it,” Kathie said.“Iain and I have been discussing options for several months, and we’re no closer to finding a working solution than when he was laid up with his broken knee.”
I set down my glass, and donned my best explainer voice.“I can tell you the answer in one word: tourists.”
“How on earth would tourists help us?”Kathie asked.
“Oh,” Mom said, looking thoughtful.“That might work.Good idea, Em.”
“Remember when you got married?”I asked Kathie.“And we all came over to watch, and then Iain and his sons showed up in kilts, and all the women in our family went gaga?That’s what you do.”
“Get married for tourists?”Kathie asked, her face scrunched up.
“Provide men-in-kilts experiences for tourists.Americans, mostly, cause we’re the craziest for that sort of thing.Make Iain’s farm a Highland Sheep Glamping Experience.The tourists can stay in yurts that you set up in the fields, watch Clara make goat’s milk soap, interact with the couple of pet sheep you guys keep, and go riding.You still have horses, right?”
“Yes,” Kathie said, now looking at the wall of the sauna with an intensity that far outmatched her Kegel face.“Trail rides through the pastures, up onto the ridge.Picnic lunches.Maybe even a petting-zoo type situation for the kids.”She suddenly stood up and pulled me into a bear hug.“Emily!That was a brilliant suggestion.I can’t wait to tell Iain.Clara could have a little shop—she’d be thrilled by that.”
“People could learn how to milk goats,” Holly suggested.
“Maybe your daughter could teach them how to make soap, and they could make a bar of their own.I’d pay for that sort of a class,” Marla said.
“Oh, me too!”I said at the same time that Mom, a lifelong learner, murmured something about needing such a class in her life.
“I have to get my phone,” Kathie said, pulling open the sauna door, allowing cold air to swirl around us as she dashed out.“I have to make some notes so I can present them to Iain later on.He’s going to be thrilled with the idea of staying on the farm, but making it far more reasonable as we get older.Brilliant!Absolutely brilliant!”
“Doesn’t your step-daughter-in-law do catering?”I called after her, gathering up my towels as I slowly headed out of the sauna.“She could charge tourists for meals.”
“Ack!She could!”Kathie screamed, diving into the curtained cubicle she’d been given to change.“Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!”
“Well, at least we offered some good advice, even if it wasn’t to you,” Holly said as we all entered our respective changing spaces.
“We’ve definitely used our superpowers for good,” I agreed, and went to shower before the massages.
––––––––
CORBIN MONROE: Reception/Lounge
“Any word on Brother?”
Corbin, who was reading some email on his phone, glanced up when two men entered the small seating area in the reception.He recognized the speaker as a man named Devon, while the other was the oddly named groom.
