times and caught sight of his grandmother in her garden or picking apples off the small trees or lower branches. She was hearty and healthy, but they had agreed she was going to stay off ladders, at least for the most part. She baked, visited with workers, brought lemonade to the break room in the barn, put out cider for anyone who would like to take a gallon home.
Darla mainly sat on the porch lounge with a book in her lap. Well, hell, she had said she had to work as well, and this must be her work—he had no cause to judge or complain.
“We got a fence issue, Tom,” Junior said.
“Now what?”
Junior scrubbed off his cap and wiped a rag over his thin hair. Junior had started out here over thirty years ago when he was a teenager and stayed on. He was one of their few year-round employees. Since Tom had known him he’d served a tour of duty in the Army, married and divorced and was now on his own. He had two grown children and was by far one of the finest and most dependable men Tom had known. He was damn sorry about the family issues and even more sorry Junior was mostly alone except for seeing his kids now and then.
“I just happened to see it,” Junior said. “Kinda close to the house—tore down the cyclone mesh. I’d like to get it back up today. If one of Maxie’s pies gets snatched off her cooling tray on the porch, she’ll kill that old bitch with her bare hands.”
Tom chuckled despite himself. “That bear?”
“Who else? Wunt elk or deer or bobcats.” He pronounced wasn’t as wunt. “Only a bear with a family is gonna go to so much trouble as that. So damn heavy, all ’em, they broke it down tryin’ to get over. And wunt a person—they’d climb over, no trouble. Not like we got barbed wire on top.”
“She’s starting to get on my nerves,” Tom said. “Costing me way too much in fencing. I see two possible solutions here—either she heads for hibernation with the kids pretty soon or I’m going to have to sit up late, catch her and shoot her. It’s come down to that.”
“I’ll do that if you want,” Junior said.
Tom grinned. “Maybe we bag that bear together?”
Junior grinned in response. “I’m into that idea.”
“Buddy’s working today. Pull him off the trees and get him to help on the fence—I have stuff to do.”
“Sure thing.”
Tom went around the perimeter to look at it even though he wasn’t going to work on it. Sure thing, it wasn’t torn apart so much as bent over. Same as always. It looked like a few heavy bears attempted to climb the fence and it bent under their weight. The poles that held up the cyclone fencing flattened and the metal wire collapsed. It was a bigger pain to repair than if someone had taken wire cutters to it and opened it up. With this kind of damage, more of the fencing had to be removed and replaced, more support poles replaced.
He checked more of the perimeter and saw a couple of familiar legs up on a ladder. He slowed, killed the engine and heard humming. “Hey, apple girl,” he yelled.
She laughed and came down a couple of steps, her bag nearly full. “What’s up, boss?”
“Got another bear scare. Damn things broke down some more fencing.”
Her eyes got wide. “They aren’t in here, are they?”
“Nah. One thing about bears, they’re kind of hard to hide in daylight. They’re big and clumsy.”
“Shew. Try not to scare me.”
“You’re working this weekend, huh? What about Jed?”
“He’s coming up tomorrow afternoon, which usually means he’ll be here tonight. I think he spends the night over at the Best Western in Fortuna. I’ll work till lunchtime tomorrow, then he’ll come over. He wants to take the girls to the redwoods and coast on a picnic before it gets too cold.”
“Nice,” he said. “I guess it’s working out.”
“So far,” she said. “I’m trying not to let the fact that he’s given me so much influence my opinion of him. Know what I mean?”
Tom nodded. Her love was not for sale. “You like baseball?” he heard himself ask.
She looked a little perplexed, but nodded. “Why?”
“Red Sox played the Yankees last night,” he said idly.