“As long as she starts talking to her family again,” Sam adds, with a kiss on the cheek.
“Which I’m trying to see as a good thing.”
“It is a good thing, sweetheart,” Ethel says. “Family is family.”
“Will you live there?” Colleen asks. “What about Sam’s job?”
“Actually, I think we’re going to live at Sam’s new apartment in Climax. It’ll be more convenient for both of us. I’ll move my nonprofit into the orchard’s farmhouse. It’ll provide housing for the grad students studying the woodpeckers and apples too.”
“This all sounds great,” Alex says.
“We’re pretty happy,” I say, feeling the grin that’s been on my face for the past two days appear yet again.
When I raise a brow at Sam, he nods solemnly. “I have more to share. Good news and bad news. Well, more of a clarification than bad news, I guess.”
“I usually say good news first, but now I’m intrigued,” Ethan says. “What have you got to clarify?”
Sam takes in a breath, and I take his hand and squeeze in support. “I know you all watched me say it on Diane’s channel, but I owe the farm about fifty grand. Plus interest.”
Lia tips her head to the side. “So that loan marked personal was to you?”
Sam nods, lips pressed together. “Grandad told me the money he gave me to pay for my rent and other expenses not covered by my scholarships at school was a gift. But from what Lia told me, and the dates on a couple of the refis, he just further mortgaged the farm to get it. So, I’m paying it back.” He slides a check across the table to Ethan. “This is the first installment.”
Ethan holds up a hand. “No matter where he got it, that money was a gift. You don’t have to pay it back.”
“I do,” Sam says, his tone adamant but not angry. “I would’ve taken out a student loan, so I’m just paying the farm back instead of the government.”
Ethan opens his mouth to argue, but Sam stops him. “I want to do this Ethan. It’s important to me.”
Hands up, Ethan nods, and Lia takes the check.
“Smart woman,” Sam says with a grin. Maybe I only imagine it because I know how much this secret debt has weighed on him, but I swear he sits up taller as he reaches for his fork and stuffs a bite of meatloaf in his mouth.
We all eat in silence for a few moments until Alex says, “Hey, wasn’t there also good news? Or was that the good news? I’m confused.”
“Right. I almost forgot.” Sam wipes his mouth with his napkin, and then pulls a folded piece of paper out of his breast pocket. “I have a proposal for a way to create a buffer field between the soy crop and Gran’s expanded vegetable garden.”
He slides the paper to Ethan too, but this time Ethan takes it with interest and begins to read.
“Are you going to share with the rest of the class?” Colleen asks.
“Uh, I’m not sure what this means exactly,” Ethan says. “So maybe Sam should.”
“After talking to the ag school guy who has the grant to study heirloom apples, I did a little calling around to some of my old professors. One of them connected me with a woman studying pesticides. She’d be interested in a ten-year agreement where she pays you to let her experiment on a few acres with pesticides and herbicides that are nonpoisonous.”
“But what if they don’t work? I’ll be out a year’s crop,” Ethan says.
“That’s the beauty of it. Part of her grant covers loss. So she’ll reimburse you for any crop damage or reductions.”
“Wow,” Lia says. “That’d be essentially guaranteed income.”
After a long moment where Ethan turns to her and they engage in some sort of silent communication, Ethan asks, “Can we call a farm meeting real quick?”
“I propose we do,” Alex says.
“I second,” Colleen says.
“What about Jackson?” Sam asks.
Lia looks up and counts silently on her fingers. “You have a quorum without him.”
“A quorum?” Alex asks.
Ethan, Sam and Colleen join him, sticking out their pinky fingers like they’re at an English tea and piping the word quorum in the worst set of English accents I’ve ever heard.
Ethan raises his beer glass. “Then I propose we accept Sam’s proposal!”
Lia rolls her eyes before looking over at me. “You sure you want to join this nutty crowd?”
“All right, all right,” Alex calls out. “I second.”
Lia grins. “All in favor, say aye.”
The room is filled with a chorus of them.
CHAPTER 26SAM
