Page 42 of Take Me Home

“I think you’re doing a great job,” Brianna said, squeezing my arm. “I’m fully here for Darcy 2.0.”

“We’re probably on 7.0 by now,” I laughed.

We had just enough time to hike back, shower, and start putting out food for the first wave of my family coming in. Eli and his girlfriend Jess showed up first.

“How’s the crew working out?” Eli asked. I’d almost forgotten that everyone I’d hired was a friend of his.

“Great. They’re a real good bunch,” I said.

“That’s good. I got a beer with Jake the other night. He said you’re real easy to work with,” Eli said.

“Oh yeah? Good to get a performance review, albeit secondhand. Do you know when Uncle Bill’s busting loose and coming out here?”

“I heard closer to dinner, which is good. He’d probably try and work if they bring him too early. Speaking of, should we get going?”

* * *

The late morningpicking wore me out, but it was invigorating to come back to the farm and see more of my family rolling in. It was hard having my parents so far away, but having my aunts and uncles close softened the blow.

When we got back to the house, it was overrun with Rossettis. My aunties were already set up in the kitchen with an elaborate sandwich-making station laid out. Everywhere I turned, there was a hug to get or a cheek to kiss. My heart was full. I’d missed my family.

Brianna settled right in, being no stranger to Rossetti family gatherings. After what felt like 15 greetings, I slumped down in a folding chair. My whole body throbbed from how much physical activity I’d already done that day.

“There’s the woman of the house!” came a voice from behind me, a firm hand landing on my shoulder. I turned and jumped up right away.

“Uncle Bill! You look great! How you feelin’?”

“Oh, not too bad. Mentally getting ready to do it all again. But hey, looks like I don’t have to worry about anything around here,” he said, pulling me into a bear hug. “You done good without me.”

“Thank you. I have a lot of help, though. I can’t take all the credit. Why don’t you sit and I’ll fix you a plate?”

“I think your aunt’s already doing that. You rest. I know you been working hard. Say, I heard your friend’s here?”

“Yeah, Brianna should be out here in a second. I hope you don’t mind that she came out to stay this weekend,” I said, a little scared. I’d totally forgotten to tell him.

“Brianna? And, no, I don’t care. No, there’s some boy in there saying he’s your friend,” Uncle Bill said, as Aunt Sally dropped a full plate in front of him. My heart skipped a beat. Jake? Already?

“Yeah, Darce, there’s a real good-looking boy in there asking for you. He’s been real helpful in the kitchen,” Aunt Sally said, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

“Oh?” I excused myself and went into the house. If Jake was there, he was early. Helpful in the kitchen and good-looking sounded a lot like him.

I passed through the mudroom, not bothering to slip off my boots with so many people in the house. I’d have to clean after everyone left anyway. I gave a couple more cheek kisses to my cousin and his fiancee as I ran into them.

But there in the kitchen, I saw Jake’s tall form at the sink, all broad shoulders filling out a t-shirt and chino shorts and glowing skin. He was in his sock feet, which struck me as quite adorable. All these people stomped through the house and he was still polite enough to take off his shoes when no one else did. He washed dishes while my aunts grilled him. Oh boy.

I’d always taken after my aunts on my dad’s side: smaller boobs, narrow ribcages, and big ol’ booties that made it damn near impossible to find dresses that fit. Our dark hair started getting salts in it somewhere in our 20’s. If I ever wanted to know what I’d look like as I got older, I only needed to look at them. I wondered if Jake had picked up on the family resemblance.

“And you said you’re in school at Marshall?” Aunt Rosie asked, employing the extremely courteous voice she reserved for people she didn’t know well.

“Yeah, I’m in a master’s program for engineering,” he said, giving her a polite smile with his hands working in the sudsy sink.

“Oh, I bet your girlfriend is proud of you,” Aunt Susan pressed on.

He gave a “heh heh” of a laugh, the nervous kind that only boys being interrogated by matriarchs can produce. “No, no girlfriend.”

I had to save him from this auntie hell.

“Aunt Susan, I guess you’ve met Jake? This is Eli’s TA from Marshall. He’s working here this summer,” I said, crossing the room to stand next to him. “Jake, this is Susan, Eli’s mom. And that’s Rosie, her kids are around here somewhere.”

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