Page 33 of More Than Anything

Avery said nothing, just stood leaning against the door frame, his arms folded across his chest and his ankles crossed. He watched as the deputy got out and stomped across the front yard toward the porch. Two steps up and he stopped. “Mr.Holcomb, is there a problem here?”

“No problem, officer!” Lydia yelled. “He’s just an asshole!”

“Yes, sir, there is,” Avery answered calmly. “My property is plainly posted and this woman has been here on my porch for five minutes, banging on my doors and screaming obscenities at me.”

“MY porch!” Lydia yelled. “It’s MY porch! MY farm! Why can’t you just let go, Avery? Why can’t you just give me back what’s mine?”

“Miss, you need to come with me,” the officer said, but when he took Lydia’s arm, she screamed and pulled away from him. At that point, things started happening too fast for Avery to stop them, and before he knew it, Lydia was face down on the porch, the deputy’s knee in the center of her back and her arms behind her as she screamed in pain.

“Stop! Stop, sir! Please! Don’t!” Avery belted out and shot through the door. The deputy looked up at him like he’d lost his mind. “She dislocated her shoulder not too long ago! She can’t take that. Let her go,” he begged, “please?”

The deputy cocked an eyebrow. “I should arrest her for resisting.”

“I know, I know. But don’t hurt her, okay? I don’t want to hurt her. I just want her taken away so she’ll leave me alone,” Avery told the burly cop. Lydia was wailing in pain, and that wasn’t what Avery wanted at all.

“Well, then,” the deputy said, glancing down at Lydia. She’d dissolved into a sobbing mess, and he turned loose. “You learned your lesson, missy?” Lydia didn’t speak and just nodded, still sobbing. “Okay, I’m going to let you up. But don’t do anything like that again, okay? An officer of the law directs you to do something, you do it, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered through her muffled, choking sobs.

“Let’s get you up,” Avery said, reaching for her. He managed to roll her over and help her up to sitting, then get hold of her under her arms and lift her to standing.

“Let me go, you asshole,” she snarled, still sobbing.

“You’re welcome,” Avery answered, then stepped back. “Could you just arrest her and take her in, please? You don’t have to cuff her. I think she’ll behave herself, right, Lydia?”

“Shut up. Just shut up! This is all your fault!” she whined.

“No. It’s yours. I’ve told you and told you to leave me alone, and this is what you do?” He stood for a minute and thought, then looked at the deputy. “Could you give us a minute, please?” he asked.

“No, don’t. I don’t want to be alone with him. No telling what he’ll do,” Lydia sniffled.

“Yes, sir. I’ll go wait by the cruiser. Yell if you need help,” the deputy said, nodding to Avery.

As the law enforcement officer made his way down off the porch, Avery turned his attention to Lydia. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I. Want. My. Farm. Back. What the hell do you not understand about that?” Lydia asked, her shoulders quaking with sobs.

Avery sat down on the porch’s glider. “Would you please come and sit down with me for a minute. Please?” he asked, waiting.

She wandered over in front of him but wouldn’t sit. “What do you want?”

“Look, Lydia, I don’t hate you. I don’t even dislike you. But damn, you’re driving me crazy. I’m always looking over my shoulder, wondering what kind of attack you’re going to launch next, wondering what you’ll be up to.”

“I’m going to prove my grandpa was crazy when he sold you this land, that’s what I’m up to,” she threw out.

Avery sighed. “You and I both know that’s going nowhere. Why don’t you just cut it out? You’re wasting your time and money. If I have to defend myself and I win, which I will, I’m going to sue you for the attorney fees and court costs. Do you really want that?”

“I want my farm back,” she repeated.

Avery just sighed and shook his head. “How ’bout we strike a deal? You give this up and you can come out here any time you want. Not in the house, mind you, but you can come out here, wander around, play with the dog, pet the cows. You can fish in the ponds. You can climb the trees if you want to. Hell, I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t tear anything up or hurt yourself. But at some point, you’re going to have to admit that this farm is mine. Do you understand?”

Lydia shook her head and just stood there, rubbing her shoulder. “No. I’ll never admit that this is your farm.”

Avery chuckled. “Okay, how about this? We both admit that this is God’s country and we have no claim to the land. We’re just mortal travelers passing through, and He’s granted us the use of it for as long as we’re here.”

“What the hell? You’ve been spending too much time in that damn Methodist church!” she snapped.

Avery’s brow fell. “How did you know I’d visited at the Methodist church?”

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