Lenore left the cabin, and after several failed attempts to release the tension on the strap, she made a guttural noise of frustration and turned in a full circle. Brandon had made that thing so tight, and she couldn’t get it undone.
She thought for a moment about ramming the greenhouse to give the strap a little bit of slack, but of course, she wouldn’t do that.
“There has to be more to this.” She examined the ratchet system and found a pin, and she pushed it. Slack came into the strap, and relief filled her. She was able to release it easily then, and she threw the hook to the ground near the corner of the greenhouse.
She got the other side off as well and situated herself behind the controls of the skid steer. She’d watched Brandon boogie around in this thing that morning, clearing the land on this side of the cabin for the greenhouse and the gardening area. It had only taken him about an hour, and Lenore could already see the landscape at the homestead changing for the better.
They planned to cut trees on Monday to use for the raised beds, as they had found no railroad ties as of yet. Brandon also wanted to use the smaller trees to build the chicken coop. He wanted a raised roost house, and he’d sketched and designed one that allowed the chickens to roam freely underneath their house, which would also protect them from flying predators.
The whole thing would be fenced, and Lenore wouldn’t have to go inside to get the eggs, as Brandon had designed little doors on the outside for collection.
They’d emptied the barn and brought in as much as they could this week, and Lenore had never worked so hard simply to get everything that had been deposited here, there, and everywhere into one place.
She saw the wisdom in it, but she had started to become frustrated at the lack of progress. She wanted toseethings being built and fenced and growing—and all they’d done was fill the big area between the barn and the woods with all the junk on the homestead.
She looked down at the controls, found the one with the arrow pointing toward her, and put her hand on it. The machine hummed beneath her, and she pulled gently back.
The skid steer moved. The greenhouse rocked, then found a place to settle on the ground as the shelf cleared it. A smile burst onto Lenore’s face, and she pumped one fist. “Yes!”
Then the skid steer came to an abrupt halt as she hit something on the back right side. She immediately let go of the controls and quickly swiped the key out of the ignition. The engine died, and Lenore looked over her shoulder to see…she had hit her own cabin.
“No one needs to know about that,” she said to herself, and she hoped she hadn’t hit it hard enough to shake the walls inside. She embarrassed herself on an hourly basis in front of Brandon, and the last thing she needed was him to know that she’dhit her own home.
She got out of the skid steer in a much more graceful and dignified manner than Brandon had, and she looked at the greenhouse several feet away. It sat down on the ground in the new, rich earth that Brandon had turned up.
She went inside to see what damage had happened with the move, and she set about fixing the pots and starts had been knocked over or jostled out of place. Brandon had said she could plant down on one end now, right into the ground, which made Lenore smile.
The sun coming in the thick plastic windows definitely felt warmer on this side of the cabin too. She found the hosing he’d bought at the hardware store to start the watering system from the roof and set it on the end of the bench for him.
Susie-Q came into the greenhouse with her and laid down under one of the shelves. Lenore puttered around for longer than necessary, because she always enjoyed being in the greenhouse with living things.
As she worked, she thought of the way her fingers fit between his, and the jolt of electricity her heart had taken as she’dwatched him get hurt. At first, she thought she’d hate having another person on the homestead, but she found she didn’t.
In fact, she quite liked Brandon’s presence in her life, and the way he’d started to drink her coffee in the morning and sit with her while they ate lunch. He did work later into the evening than she did, and somehow, in only a week, they’d found a rhythm of working together and living on the homestead.
She finally returned to the cabin, where the sound of Brandon’s soft, even breathing told her he’d fallen asleep. Lenore envied him, as she was so tired as well.
Her mother had always warned her to be sure to drink enough water. So Lenore got another bottle, intending to drink it before she laid down herself. She didn’t normally nap during the day, but she reminded herself that they had done more in the five and a half days that Brandon had been living and working on the homestead with her than she could do in five months alone.
They could have a few hours off on a Saturday afternoon, and nobody would die, and nothing would perish.
“Lenny,” Brandon muttered as she started to walk past him on her way down the hall to her own bedroom. She froze.
She hadn’t been calledLennyin a long time. In fact, she’d only told Brandon about the nickname yesterday, right before he’d left to go pick up the equipment that he’d rented.
He shifted on the couch and raised his head. “You’re back.”
She detoured over to him. “Are you okay? What do you need?”
He reached for her, latching onto her hand and tugging her closer. “Come lay by me.”
Lenore eyed the couch and his broad shoulders. “I don’t think there’s room for that, Brandon.”
He turned onto his side and pushed back into the back of the couch, creating a little pocket for her. “Sure there is,” he gave her a soft, sleepy smile. “Right here. Just for five more minutes.”
Lenore’s heart pounded against her breastbone and her ribs. She’d had boyfriends in the past, but not for a few years, and Brandon reminded her of what it felt like to be touched and loved by another human being.
She hadn’t been hugged in far too long, and she found herself being very touchy-feely with Brandon. He didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, he initiated the simple contact between them quite often.
