Feeling like I just took the shortest and steepest roller coaster ride ever, adrenaline drains from my body as I sink onto the couch, barely noticing when Gomer noses under my hand. Petting him calms my heart rate enough that I notice there’s another voicemail message, this one from an unfamiliar Manhattan area code.
When I press play, the recorded voice is a familiar one. “Didi, it’s Seth. Heard you’ve been tearing it up on social media. Gimme a call, okay?” He then rattles off a number and ends the call.
My eldest brother never was one for chatting, but this is terse even for him. Figuring that if I don’t call him, some PR firm my parents hire to mitigate whatever blowback they might get from yesterday’s viral video will be next, I punch in the number.
May as well get this reconnection thing over with.
Expecting to have to go through an executive assistant to get to my CFO brother or, at the very least, have my call screened, I’m surprised when Seth answers on the first ring. “Hey, squirt, how the hell are you?”
My heart squeezes at the nickname. There are six years between us, and I idolized my big brother growing up. Hearing his voice makes me realize that Sam may be right. Maybe cutting myself off from my family has its downsides.
“I’m pretty good, considering.”
“I’ve missed you, you know.” There’s real fondness in his tone, even as he cuts to the chase. “It was good to see your squishy face, even if it was on video. Your channel’s pretty cool too. Cheryl and I went down a bit of a rabbit hole watching it yesterday.”
“How is Cheryl?” Remembering that I actually like his wife, I listen as he fills me in on his family’s news—milestones their three kids have hit, Cheryl’s job at Planned Parenthood, their new kitten.
“And Mom and Dad? They doing okay?”
“They’re pretty much the same. Dad’s stepping back a bit so they can travel.” He clears his throat, and I hear what sounds like a door closing. “Which means I’ve been able to make some changes.”
“Changes?”
My brother worked his way up the investment firm my father established, starting in whatever the financial version of a mailroom is. “Oh, just diversifying the portfolio. In particular, moving money away from dinosaurs like Mayer-SynAgro and rolling into green energy. Things like that.”
Before I can ask why, he adds, “Oh, and I bought Nana and Pop’s orchard yesterday. Got lucky. Some bird nuts swooped in with a sighting of some rare woodpecker, so I got it for a song. Ha-ha, no pun intended.”
Heart in my throat, I whisper, “What are you going to do with it?”
“I dunno. You want it?”
CHAPTER 25DIANE
We emerge from our sex fest to help out at berry picking, followed by the cooking of Sunday dinner. As much as I’m grateful to have reconnected with my brother, which I’m determined to keep up, I still feel like I belong with the Bedds, even though—or perhaps because—I’ve witnessed some of their struggles. From financial challenges to relationships that needed mending, I’ve watched Sam and his siblings and grandmother work through it all.
I’m sure we’ll have more to come, and I’m here for it.
Tonight, however, we’re celebrating. No one seems surprised that Samuel was able to talk me into returning. Perhaps because they watched him do it. No one seems to give two hoots whether I’m really Diane or Didi, McCarthy or Mayer. When asked going forward, I think I’ll just say she’s all me. I can’t change the fact that I was raised with the advantages of the top one percent, but I can and I do choose to live more lightly on this earth. For instance, I can avoid buying a whole new wardrobe by keeping the one I already have, even if my clothes were ridiculously expensive to begin with.
In addition to our newly committed romance, Sam and I have a lot of other news to share. Once we’re all seated at the table, I clink a spoon to my glass to get everyone’s attention.
“Does that mean I get to kiss my woman?” Ethan yells.
Colleen throws a napkin at him before he and Lia can lock lips. “This isn’t a wedding, dumbass.”
Her tone is a little sharp, but I can hardly blame her. It might be tough to watch every brother within spitting distance find love one after the other. “Sorry about that,” I say. “I just wanted to share our news while we’re all here.”
“Are you pregnant?” Gran asks, her hands clasped under her chin.
My face heats so fast I have to down a gulp of ice water. I guess that means Gran knows what we’ve been up to. “No, ma’am. I think we’ll wait on that.”
“Don’t wait too long,” Ethel says, pointing a finger at each of her grandkids in turn. “I’m not getting any younger over here.”
“Hear, hear!” Molly’s dad calls out from the other end of the table. “I vote for grandkids, not just granddogs.”
“Anyway,” Sam says over the chorus of groans. “Our news has to do with farming.”
“That’s no fun,” Ethan says. “That’s all we ever talk about.”
“I think it’s pretty darn fun,” I say. “I didn’t get to grow up on my grandparents’ farm, but I loved the time I did spend there. And thanks to Samuel, their heirloom orchard is not only going to remain intact, it’s back in the family.”
Everyone raises their glasses in congratulation, and then I tell the story of how Samuel identified the Red-headed Woodpecker and rallied the Cornell professors behind saving the orchard.
“To be fair, they rallied me. Or called me on the phone and told me exactly what was going to happen.”
He goes on to explain that professors in both the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and School of Agriculture have grants at the ready, which they’re salivating to employ at Kaaterskill Orchards.
“Where did that name come from?” Molly asks.
“Kaaterskill is the Dutch word for Big Cat Creek, so the Catskill mountains are named for both the mountain lions and creeks that run through the range. My grandmother was Dutch, so she came up with the name.
“This all means,” I continue, “that the new owner of the orchard will receive a regular infusion of cash to help manage and care for the trees. All we have to do is give the Cornell teams access whenever they want it.”
“You’re saying we,” Lia notes. “Does that mean you?”
My smile is wide. “It does. It’s not official yet, but it turns out that my brother picked up the property when the zoning changed and the price dropped. He offered it to me last night.”
