Page 3 of Unearthed Dreams
Thanks, but I think I’d like to find something I enjoy.
ELLIOT
I hear that, but ya gotta make money somehow.
Easy for him to say. Elliot never had any other dreams other than carrying on the family legacy. Meanwhile, I was the baby of the family, encouraged to focus on school and books while my brothers learned the business. Mom and Dad never pushed me toward the orchard like they had Elliot, Chase, and Jasper—probably thinking they were doing me a favor, giving me the freedom to choose my own path. But sometimes, I wondered if that freedom was just another way of saying they didn’t see a place for me there.
Everyone had a role on the orchard—except Chase, but that had more to do with living in Elliot’s shadow. Maybe that’s why I always felt closest to him. We were both the family outliers, trying to find our place in a world where everyone else seemed to know exactly where they belonged.
But here I was—four years away from home and a degree under my belt, yet still adrift. Unmoored with a destination in mind, but no clear path to get there.
Shaking away those thoughts, I peeked into the bathroomto give Shelby one last goodbye hug while she was straightening her hair, then climbed into my Kia to hit the road.
On the passenger seat beside me sat all my hopes and dreams: a red pen and 439 printed pages.
“Honey! I’m home!”
The words had barely left my mouth when Elliot lifted me clean off my feet in a bear hug, the manuscript in my bag crushed between us.
“Hey, Squirt.” His familiar apple-orchard scent mixed with something spicier—probably Tessa’s influence. Speaking of...
“Hi Charlie.” Tessa appeared behind him, grinning. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to seeing her in our house. But the way she softened my brother’s rough edges? That, I could definitely get used to.
The kitchen hit me like a wall of competing aromas—Mom’s beef bourguignon, Natalie’s vanilla perfume, Dad’s earthy orchard smell. Multiple conversations crashed into each other like waves.
“—absolutely crushed our profit projections this quarter—” Natalie’s voice carried from where she and Jasper sat tangled together at the island, apparently unable to maintain personal space even after two months of marriage.
“Charlie!” Mom abandoned her cooking long enough to wrap me in a hug that smelled like herbs and home. “How were finals? Have you thought about what’s next? Mrs. Henderson mentioned?—”
“Mom,”Jasper cut in, finally detaching himself from Natalie. “Let her breathe. She just got here.”
My manuscript felt heavy in my bag. If they only knew what I’d really been doing this past year instead of planning my future…
“I’m just asking…”
The kitchen suddenly felt too small, too loud, too everything. I tried to focus on Mom’s question, but my mind kept drifting to the pages burning a hole in my bag, to Trevor’s crooked smile this morning, to?—
“Earth to Charlie!” Elliot snapped me back. “You’re doing that thing again where you disappear into your head.”
“Sorry, I?—”
“Is that my baby girl?” Dad’s booming voice drowned out whatever I was going to say as he swept me into yet another hug.Apple trees and soil. Home.
“How’s the smartest Everton doing?”
“I don’t know, Dad.” I pulled back, grateful for the distraction. “Why don’t you ask Natalie?”
The room erupted in laughter and overlapping voices:
“Always so modest?—”
“—actually, the new spreadsheets?—”
“—Jay, the sauce needs?—”
“—grand opening details?—”
My head spun. How did they live like this? How did they not go crazy with the constant noise, the endless motion, the?—
