Page 29 of Touch the Sky

Only a handful of people have made it out to the backyard. I mowed the whole property yesterday, so the air still smells like cut grass. There are a few picnic tables scattered around under some big maple trees. The signature balsam firs that tower on either side of the house create some patches of shade.

Tess and I end up walking over to the small pond lined with rustling bulrushes. It’s late enough in the season that the cattails have gone all puffy, little bits of fluff drifting off in the breeze.

“So,” I say, since we can’t walk in silence forever, “you showed up at my house today to ask me if I hate you?”

Tess laughs and scratches the back of her neck. “I was going to do it with a little more finesse than that. I didn’t realize I’d be crashing your grand opening.”

I run my finger over one of the cattails as we pass by, sending a whole spray of fluff into the air.

“I don’t know,” Tess adds. “I guess I thought maybe we could, like, talk a little? I spent a whole day talking to your mom while I was working on your horses, which I get doesn’t mean I, like, know her, but it seems kind of weird that you and I might be sharing a kitchen without ever having had a proper conversation.”

I scoff. “Oh, you really think we’re going to let you use the kitchen, huh? Didn’t you read the fine print? That’s an extra three hundred a month.”

Tess stumbles to a halt, her face turning pale.

“I’m kidding,” I add.

“Oh.” She gulps. “Ha.”

I hold my hands up in apology. “Okay, no kitchen jokes. Got it.”

“No, no.” She shakes her head and continues walking. I fall into step beside her. “It’s just…you have a very unpredictable sense of humor.”

“I’munpredictable?” I clap a hand to my chest. “You’re the one who keeps showing up at my house uninvited.”

She gives me some serious side-eye.

“That was also a joke,” I tell her.

This time, she laughs for real. She tosses her head back, her shiny lips glinting in the sun.

Maybe it’s not Chap Stick. Maybe she just has a naturally radiant mouth.

Thankfully, she doesn’t catch me staring. We start on another lap around the pond, and her attention drifts over to the white barn at the back of the two acres of property.

“Do you have horses here too?” she asks.

“No, that’s Natalie’s art barn.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Art barn?”

“She’s a painter,” I explain. “We turned the barn into a studio, and she’s going to run art retreats and classes for the guests out there.”

Tess grins. “That’s so cool.”

I nod. “Yeah, she’s pretty badass.”

Without really deciding on it, we both start heading for the barn.

“So, you’re all running the business together?” Tess asks.

“Uh-huh. We do a bit of everything, but we all have our specialties. Natalie is doing all the art stuff, and my cousin, Maddie, is this big math genius, so she’s the numbers girl. I’m in charge of maintenance and tourism operations.”

I can’t keep my chest from puffing out a little as I explain my job.

“We have all these different packages and add-ons for the guests that I set up with some of the other local tourism businesses. We really want people who stay here to get the most out of La Cloche.”

Tess glances back at the house, which is still swarmed with so many people I think the walls might start cracking.