we had a crush on each other. Sometimes when he’d catch us holding a glance too long, he’d clear his throat a little bit louder than necessary. But this time, he just stood there, drinking his beer.
Clara gave me a nod and then shifted her eyes back to Scott. “I’m taking a shower,” she said, without saying a single word to me as she walked past.
What the hell was that about?
She didn’t say hello. She didn’t smile. She didn’t say or do anything to acknowledge that I was here. Was she mad at me about something? If she were, I had no idea what it could possibly be. I hadn’t even been here in a month, and it wasn’t as if she was expecting me to call her or text. She had told me explicitly never to call or text her because it would only make Scott suspicious if he ever saw her phone. But something sure didn’t seem right with her. I had at least expected a simple “hello.” Now I was bothered and wondering about why Clara was acting so cold.
“So, how long are you in town for?” Scott asked.
I didn’t think he had noticed anything strange at all about his sister’s behavior. I guessed that was good, at least. “Not sure; it depends on how long a few matters of business take to wrap up,” I said. “I’d be happy to help out around here for a bit if you need an extra pair of hands. I can’t promise that I’ll have too much time or that I’ll have any idea what the hell I’m doing. But I’d be happy to help if you need another guy for a task or two.”
Scott grinned and gave me a hearty pat on the back. “Thanks, DeShawn, I appreciate that. I wish I had your muscles here on a daily basis. I’m sure I have a couple of things for you to help out with before you leave. It’d be nice to have another guy to do some of the heavy lifting. Don’t get me wrong, Clara does more than pull her weight around here. Honestly, I think she does more than I do. Just don’t tell her that I said that because it’ll go straight to her head.”
“I won’t,” I laughed. “And it’s the least I can do when I’m in town. You and Clara helped me out more than you know when we were kids. If it hadn’t been for you guys and your parents, well, let’s just say I don’t know if things would have turned out the way that they did for me.”
I didn’t need to say anything further. Scott knew exactly what I meant. I didn’t come from a good home, and the Wiley family took care of me growing up. I owed them a lot, more than I could ever repay.
“We all have our family chains, I guess,” Scott said.
I wondered what exactly he meant by that. His parents were good people, great people, in fact. I hadn’t known the Wiley family to have any skeleton’s in their closet. Maybe it wasn’t his parents that he was talking about, though. Maybe Scott was talking about himself.
He popped open a couple more beers and then sat down at the table with me.
“You know,” I said as I launched into the same conversation that I have had with him several times over already. “I’ve got a great position to put you in at the company—high pay, nice benefits, and even some potential for growth.”
One of these days, I was going to get him to say yes to come to work for me. Then I would probably be able to come back and forth to the farm and see Clara even more. Plus, I genuinely thought that Scott would be perfect for the job. He’d always been a smart guy, clever when it came to technology, too. Although maybe not so much when it came to mechanical things like tractors. Sometimes I wondered whether or not he would still be here, working on this farm if his parents hadn’t died. But even though I presented him with the job offer every time I came to see him, he always refused. This time didn’t look like it was going to be any different.
Scott dropped his head and looked at the table while he shook his head. “What and leave all of this splendor?” he said sarcastically. “Besides, what would Clara do without me? You know she can’t live