“So what happened to you last night, Ashley? We looked for you and we couldn’t find you anywhere before bed.”
Ashley smiled at Ana. She had seen then before she had gone to bed and Ana had been with Sebastian. She wanted to ask who the ‘we’ was, but Ashley was afraid that she was talking about her and Sebastian. Ashley couldn’t think of anything that she would have actually wanted to say to them. “Oh, I just went for a walk. Ran into the rancher on the next property over.”
She looked shocked for a moment. “Oh, was he as bad as everyone makes him out to be? I have never met him, but people talk about him like he is really mean.”
Ashley couldn’t agree with that assessment. While in the beginning he had down right scared her, it hadn’t lasted long. There was something about him that she decided she liked, even if he was more commanding than she was used to. He had been a complete gentleman and that was what she remembered most. The way he had held her, even though Ashley had been scared out of her mind from being on the back of a large moving animal, she had felt safe in his arms.
“No he was kind of standoffish at first, but he turned out to be really nice.”
Ana looked like she didn’t believe her. “Sebastian told me and several others just to stay away from the fence line and away from him. They had a falling out when they first moved here, something like he didn’t like us.”
She wasn’t the type to believe anything that Sebastian told her, but Ashley wasn’t going to argue about it. What she really worried about was why the girl was there, as well as the others. Her suspicions had been raised since she had been there. The commune wasn’t actually self-sufficient at all. They bought most of their food and crops. The gardens were not near productive enough to feed the growing place. So she wondered why there were so many women as compared to men and where the money was coming from to buy the goods. No one seemed to have a job.
After a week of being there, Ashley started to have more questions. There were a couple of cob houses in the back that had a small road going to it from the highway and she was told not to go back there. It was in her nature of course to do the very thing she was told not to, but she had not gotten any time alone to do so. It was a mystery that intrigued her. Ashley wasn’t starting to think that it was some kind of cult or something. Most of the women did whatever Sebastian and Troy asked. Troy she could almost understand. He was handsome and virile, but Sebastian seemed to have even more women than his young counterpart.
It was strange and the longer she stayed there, the more she realized that she didn’t want to spend her summer there. It was a bit of pride though. She didn’t want to admit that her mother was right and crawl back home, but Ashley had to do something. The Sunshine Commune was anything but sunshine. There was a dark cloud over the whole place and everything in her told her to just get out.
There were no vehicles that other people but Sebastian and Troy could use. It was a pattern. They pretty much controlled everything. Ashley didn’t want to ask either one for a ride to town, so she set out to walk the few miles to the store that had a phone. Phones were discouraged at the commune and hers didn’t work anyways. She had noticed a pay phone on her way in, thinking of how quaint it was to see one, but now she needed to use it. Ashley had promised Betty that she would call at least once a week so she didn’t worry. She played in her mind what she was going to say to her, but it was hard. Nothing was going the way she had thought it would.
About halfway there, she passed the ranch that she had met Grahm in and she almost stopped there. She wanted to, but something told her that she shouldn’t and she kept going. She didn’t want to bother him, figuring he had a lot of work to do taking care of all of those animals. There was also the small pride issue that she didn’t want to prove him right either. Both seemed to have a higher chance of gloating that they were right and she just couldn’t imagine it.
When Ashley got to the small store, she was happy to see that it had a little bit of everything. A few men there looked at her strangely, asking when she was out back at the commune. She didn’t know what they were talking about and didn’t ask. They were kind of creepy and Ashley quickly paid for a few things and got some change for the pay phone.
She talked to her mom until the time ran out. She hadn’t lied, but there was definitely a lot of omission in the conversation. Ashley had spent most of her days harvesting from the orchard and working in the gardens, but the other systems she had been so keen to check out weren’t quite ready. By the looks of the hydroponics set, they had never even started some of them.
Ashley hung up and felt a little homesick. She wanted to be back where there was power and her own room. She was not too enthused with the commune type of lifestyle and there was just something in the back of her mind that kept telling her to leave. Ashley ignored the little voice and made her way back towards the commune. It was getting dark and when she saw headlights behind her, she got off the road. When it stopped, she looked over to see Grahm in a red pickup truck.
“I seem to always run into you walking at night.”
She started to walk up to the truck. “It is good for thinking.”
“You must have a whole lot to think about. Hop in and I will give you a ride.”
Ashley thought about it for a second and she really didn’t want to walk all the way back, especially not in the dark. “If you are sure you don’t mind.”
She got in and immediately smelled pizza. “That smells good. Is that your dinner?”
He nodded. “You are more than welcome to join me.”
“I would love a piece. They all eat vegetables and fruit, vegan and vegetarian. I feel like if I don’t eat grease soon, I am going to lose it.”
“Good, I always like pretty company.”
She didn’t say anything. He was being a lot nicer that evening, though she supposed it was because they were meeting on different terms. She wasn’t trespassing in the middle of the night this time and Grahm seemed to be in a good mood. Ashley needed some time away from the commune. She was sick of smiling and singing.
“So how are you liking the commune?”
Ashley sighed as she looked out the window. They were pulling into the long dirt road to his ranch and she looked over at him. “I’ll admit it, that place is a little crazy.”
“What do you mean?”
There was an edge to his voice, like he was worried about her. “Sebastian and Troy have like, this hold on the other girls. I don’t know, it’s kind of scary. I am starting to wonder if I should have come out here at all.”
“May I ask why you did?”
“I wanted an adventure, learn something new, but I guess nothing really ever turns out the way you want it to, does it?”
“No, I guess not.”
They stopped in front of the wooden cabin and she got out without any prompting from him. It was nice to get away and even after a week, she was missing some of the things she had come to think of as necessities, like electricity and television.
The two sat next to each other on the couch and watched a movie, eating pizza. Ashley felt like she was cheating in a way, but as she leaned up against him halfway through, she couldn’t think of anywhere else that she would rather be. She actually dozed off lying underneath the crook of his arm.
***
Grahm looked down at her. His arm was asleep from being outstretched on the back of the couch, but he didn’t want to move in fear that he would wake her. She was so soft and warm. He missed lying next to a woman. It had been too long, he thought to himself again. Pulling her in closer, he closed his eyes and fell asleep not too long after she did.
The next morning he was up first and looked down at the girl next to him. She looked like one of them, long hair and long colorful skirt, but she was different. He had gotten to know her and they were comfortable together. There was no guile in her, but a lot of fire. Getting up gently, he had to give himself a moment away from her before he woke her up. She seemed so peaceful, but was awake when he came back in the living room.
“Good morning.”
She rubbed her eyes and then frowned. “Sorry, I can’t believe I went to sleep. You were a lot more comfortable than the cots. Strange because you are about as hard as they are.”
Ashley started to look for her shoes. They had come off while she slept and she had to pull it out from underneath the couch. By the time she got back up, Grahm was staring at her with his dark eyes. “So I am going to just get out of your way. I have some work to do back there.”
“You can’t stay and have breakfast?”
She shook her head. Like him, she needed some space apart and tried to just walk back. He wouldn’t let her, insisting that he take her back in the truck and she was once again unable to refuse. It was the way he said it that made her want to comply. She needed to comply for some reason. They were quiet on the way back to Sunshine. Ashley didn’t want to go back in a way, but she had resolved to stick it out. She was convinced that it would get better once she got into the swing of things.
As he stopped on the side of the road, she thanked him again. “Thanks for everything Grahm.”
She had gotten out and was shutting the door when he finally said something. “You want to go out tonight?”
“We’ll see. I will come by if I can.”
“If you can?”
She sighed and pushed her long hair back from her face. It was tousled from just waking up and the wind was running through it. “This place has rules, like everywhere else.”
Grahm didn’t really understand what that meant, but he tried to ignore the inkling that he got. There was something about Sebastian and Sunshine Commune that rubbed him the wrong way. He didn’t want her to go back, but they barely knew each other and he had nothing more than a gut feeling about it. There was something not right about that place.
“Well I hope to see you. Take care of yourself Ashley.”