Page 24 of Keepsake
Zach locked the truck, and we walked down Main Street, past little shops selling books and Dartmouth T-shirts. “We’ll be here again on Wednesday afternoon,” he offered. “The Hanover market is almost as big as Norwich.”
I looked around at all the college students passing us in their flip-flops, with their cups of coffee in hand. “I love college towns.”
“Yeah? What do you like to eat in them? Because two quarters bought us only forty minutes on the meter.”
“That’s a burrito joint.” I nudged his arm and pointed. “We could get take-out. How does that sound?”
“Perfect.”
The place was crowded and rather loud, which I did not appreciate. Whatever good vibes had allowed me to feel cheery during market hours were starting to wear thin.
But Zach stood right behind me in line, and I could sense him there, a big wall of calm at my back. The line inched forward, and my hunger outweighed my edginess.
Working the farmers’ market had actually been fun. Having a job to do had helped me focus. I’d told Zach that it was the table which kept me calm, but that wasn’t really true. It washim. He was always there at my elbow, always ready to pitch in, always watching.
I’d never thought of myself as the damsel-in-distress type. But apparently, getting kidnapped turns you into a needy little bitch. “What’s your order?” I asked, tipping my head back against Zach’s chest. “It’s my treat.”
He made a grumpy little noise. “I got it.”
I spun around and looked up into his blue-green eyes. “Zach, I want to treat. You bought donuts this morning. But more importantly—” I put a finger against his very hard chest. “—I’m not in this for the money. You’re saving up for your own farm or whatever, and I’m just May’s half-crazy friend who needed to get out of Boston. We’re going to be working together for three months. If I buy you an overpriced burrito every once in a while, it’s because I want to. And you’re just going to have to get over it.”
He looked down at me, his eyes softening. “I guess I can get the next one.”
“Thank you.” I turned back around to discover we were next in line. Zach probably thought I was a head case.
Then again, I was.
On the way home, as the Green Mountains rolled by out the driver’s side window, I broke down and asked him, “So what’s your story?”
He chuckled. “I told you already. Grew up with some crazy people. Got thrown out. Moved to Vermont. There isn’t more to tell.”
I fiddled with my playlist. I chose a Pearl Jam song and turned the volume down a bit. “So…” I pressed, because his answer hadn’t been very satisfying. “Did people get thrown out often? Was it hard to play by all their rules?”
He was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn’t answer. “People get thrown out all the time. Polygamy creates all this stress on a community.”
“Because the numbers don’t work out?” I guessed. “There aren’t enough women to go around.”
“That’s right. And they can’t increase the number of women, so they have to pare down the number of men. But then there aren’t enough hands to do all the labor. So the first way they make it work is by age. Girls get married at seventeen, and men don’t get to marry until their late twenties. The compound receives the benefit of their labor for those years, while the bachelors hope they’ll be the next one who’s allowed to marry.”
“But not everyone gets a set of wives,” I guessed.
“Exactly. So they need to evict some guys, and people aren’t exactly volunteering. Except for Isaac and Leah. They ran away together when she was seventeen. They wanted to be together and they knew it wouldn’t be allowed.”
“Wow, seventeen? And now they’re married with a child.”
“And a farm,” Zach added.
“That’s a hell of a story.” And really romantic.
“They’re pretty great. They took me in when I got tossed out, no questions asked.”
“Ouch.” Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to talk about it. “Are you ever sorry you left?”
“Never,” he said quickly. “Getting tossed wasn’t fun. Hitchhiking eastward took me more than two weeks. I hadn’t eaten for three days when I finally made it to Isaac and Leah. Even so, I wish I’d done it sooner.”
“How’d you find them?”
“Started hitchhiking east. I knew I needed to get to Vermont. I was only nine when they ran away together. But Isaac was always nice to me, and I missed him when he was gone. Then, when I was seventeen, he and Leah tried to phone home. They wanted their parents to know that they were safe and settled, you know? But nobody would take the call.”
