CHAPTER 16
Colt
It’s practically a zoo when I pull up to Farrington Farms Monday afternoon. I knew Darby would be elbow deep in the planting of the peach trees. All the holes had been dug in the prior days with a large auger, and she had tractor-trailers bringing in ten-acres worth of two-year-old nursery-raised peach trees today. There was a good chance I would be doing nothing more than getting in her hair with my visit.
Didn’t stop me, though.
The pasture on the opposite side of the gravel driveway that leads up to the main house is filled with several vehicles, mostly trucks. I assume those are the temporary workers Darby hired. There is a large flatbed tractor-trailer taking up the entire eastbound lane of the highway that runs perpendicular to the farm road. It’s completely empty. The workers look to be transferring the last load of trees onto a tractor with a flatbed cart attached to it, which will then transport the trees out to the orchard.
I see Darby immediately, looking as fetching as ever. She’s got on a heavy flannel shirt, jeans, and work boots. She’s got her strawberry-blonde hair in a ponytail with a baseball cap on her head. Pointing to some of the workers, she seems to be giving them instructions regarding the trees.
I’m not sure what it is about a woman in charge and running her own farm that makes her singularly attractive to me, but Darby McCulhane pushes every one of my buttons. I grab the bunch of wildflowers off the passenger seat of my truck and hop out. Making my way toward her, I watch as she effortlessly directs people to do different things. When I get just a few feet from her, it’s as if she can sense my presence, and she turns toward me with a smile already in place.
Her eyes cut to the flowers in my hand and then back to my face.
“What are you doing here?” she chirps as she walks my way, that ponytail bouncing back and forth because of the pep in her step.
“Well, seeing as how my entire vineyard has been planted and there’s nothing left to do but some minor irrigation modifications, I thought I would come hang out with you this afternoon and watch how a peach orchard gets started.” I hold the flowers out to her, and she takes them. “And here are some wildflowers I stopped to pick from the side of the road.”
It’s so cute when Darby lifts the loose bouquet to her nose and breathes them in deeply. I don’t think they smell all that spectacular, but they were so pretty on the side of the road I couldn’t resist. She gives a dreamy sigh and opens her eyes to stare at me. “Now that’s romantic.”
I give a careless shrug as if I do romantic stuff all the time. I don’t, but I think I will be starting based on her reaction. “So how’s it going today?”
She jerks her chin over her shoulder toward the tractor-trailer. “That’s the last load. All the trees have been laid out near the holes, and the crew will come back tomorrow morning to start the planting.”
My eyes cut out to the highway before coming back to Darby. “Is Linnie home from school yet?”
Darby shakes her head and glances down at her watch. “Not yet but she should be soon.”
I reach out and take Darby’s free hand. She blinks in surprise but doesn’t hesitate in giving it to me. I give her a devilish smile and say, “Before she gets here, I wanted to see if I could secure another date with you. Didn’t get much of a chance yesterday during all that cake making you were doing and dinner with Larkin and Linnie watching.”
Darby laughs. “What did you have in mind?”
“I thought I would take you and Linnie to the North Carolina State fair in Raleigh this weekend,” I tell her.
Darby’s mouth falls slightly open for a moment. She shakes her head and gives me a wry smile. “Thought you were asking me out on a date?”
“Then let me clarify. This is sort of a date with you and your daughter. I remember you telling me at dinner the other night that you hated amusement park rides while I, on the other hand, love them. I also know your little girl is a daredevil so I would like to bring her with us so she can ride all the rides with me. But I promise I’ll win you a big stuffed animal. I’m actually really good with the balloons and darts.”
Darby laughs and shakes her head with amusement. “You are just too much, Colt Mancinkus. How could a woman ever say no to that offer?”
My heart leaps, and I’m filled with giddiness at the thought of spending a full day with Darby. Even with her daughter along, I know I’m going to have an awesome time. How could I not when both Darby and Linnie are simply two awesome people?
I pull her hand up to my mouth and give it a kiss just the way I did when I walked her to her door after our first date. Walking backward toward my truck, I say, “I’ll pick both of you up Saturday morning about nine.”
She grins back at me. “I can’t wait.”
At that moment, the grinding gears and squeaky brakes of a school bus have both Darby and me turning to look toward the highway. It’s almost like deja vu as Linnie gets off the bus and trudges up the lane toward us with her head lowered, staring at the ground. I can tell by the hunch to her shoulders that she didn’t have a particularly good day.
I’m not sure whether Linnie sees us, but she tries to walk by without even raising her head.
Darby takes a step toward her and calls, “Hey Linnie… How was school today?”
Linnie mutters what I think was the word “good” but doesn’t look up and continues to walk by us.
Darby moves fast. She jogs just a couple of paces and takes Linnie’s arm in her hand, gently turning her around. Linnie still won’t look up, so Darby puts her fingers under her daughter’s chin to lift her face.
Darby gasps just as my blood heats to boiling as we both take in the dark purple bruising underneath Linnie’s right eye.
“Oh my God,” Darby exclaims. She drops to her knees, which I know had to have hurt given that the lane is made of gravel. When she cups Linnie’s face in her hands, she turns her from side to side so she can examine her. “What happened to you?”
I walk up to stand behind Darby, looking down at a little girl sporting a shiner I can tell will probably only be worse come tomorrow.
Linnie’s blue eyes fill with tears, and she gives a tiny push of her glasses up her nose. “I got in a fight.”
“A fight?” Darby asks softly, her tone attempting to coax the necessary information from her daughter.
Linnie pushes her glasses up again as she mutters, “I got in the way of Caleb’s fist.”
“That boy you said was bullying you?” Darby snarls in outrage.
I can feel my blood pressure start to rise as I think about that little brat punching Linnie. He’s way bigger than she is, and boys don’t punch girls.
“If you ladies will excuse me,” I grit through my teeth. I turn on my heel and start toward my truck. “I’m going to handle this.”
“Colt,” Darby cries out in worry. I stop and turn to look at her. “Are you going over to that kid’s house or something?”
“You’re darn right I am,” I tell her. My blood continues to boil at a nuclear level. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“But you can’t,” Darby says, but she doesn’t sound quite so sure I can’t really do this. “I mean… this is my responsibility.”
I sweep my hand toward my truck. “Would you like to go with me?”
“Mom… please don’t,” Linnie says as she takes her mom’s hand. “I really don’t feel good, and I just want to go inside.”
And just like that, I’m forgotten, as is Caleb Rochelle. Darby bends down and scoops Linnie up. Little arms go around Darby’s neck and her legs wrap around her mom’s waist. She lays her head on Darby’s shoulder. I didn’t think it was possible for me to get more mad, but the little sob that comes out of Linnie’s mouth has me stomping toward my truck with purpose.
It only takes me about fifteen minutes to drive back to Whynot, through town past Jason’s gas station where Caleb’s mom Missy works part time. Her car is parked on the side of the building, but I hit the gas. She’s not the one I want to talk to anyway. I keep going for another five miles before I turn left onto a dirt road with a sign out front proclaiming it to be Goddard Farms. Last I heard, Jimmy Rochelle was working here. If he’s not, I’ll try his house next, which is only about another mile down the road.
Goddard Farms is one of the few still left in our area that hasn’t leased out any of their land to bigger companies. I’m not sure how they’ve maintained, but I think it has something to do with the fact they are a small farm and can work it with minimal help. This keeps their overhead down and probably lets them turn a decent profit on the soybeans and field corn they mainly grow.
There’s not a typical barn so to speak but rather Mr. Goddard keeps all of his equipment under a massive freestanding structure made of aluminum with no walls. It’s basically to keep the rain off. I see Jimmy’s little blue Toyota truck with the muffler hanging down parked there. I pull in right behind it and shut off my engine.
Just as I’m slamming my truck door shut, Mr. Goddard himself walks out from behind an old John Deere tractor wiping his hands off with a grease rag. His face lights up when he sees me, and he calls out, “What can I do you for, Colt?”
I give him as pleasant a smile as I can muster, but I can tell by the look on his face he knows I’m not a happy camper. “Is Jimmy Rochelle around?”
“Why?” he asks suspiciously. “You plan on kicking his butt or killing him on my property?”
I give a shake of my head. “No, sir. But I do need to have some words with him.”
Mr. Goddard jerks his thumb over his shoulder to a small work shed with the doors propped open. “He’s in there cleaning some tools.”
I turn to walk that way, but Mr. Goddard calls out to me again, “How’s Pap doing? I haven’t had a chance to see him since his surgery.”
I take in a breath and let it out slowly, forcing myself to put on a pleasant smile as I face Mr. Goddard. He’s a nice old man and he’s worried about Pap, so I can take a few minutes to assure him. “He’s doing really good. Bounced back from that surgery better than any one of us kids ever would have. You should go down and have a drink with him.”
Mr. Goddard shakes his head. “Had to give that stuff up. My liver’s been acting up.”
I give him a nod of understanding, but I think more than anything Mrs. Goddard has probably put her foot down and said no more late nights at Chesty’s.
I wave to Mr. Goddard and take off toward the work shed.
When I step in, I’m relieved to know there’s no one else in there but Jimmy. He turns to look at me, a smile starting to bloom on his face, but it doesn’t go anywhere when he sees the thunderous look on mine. His lips press into a grim expression. “Colt.”
“You son punched a little girl in the eye today at school,” I growl.
Because Jimmy is a bully himself and I have long suspected he probably knocks Missy around, I’m not surprised when I don’t get any reaction from him. Granted, he doesn’t look happy his son was beating up on a little girl, but he doesn’t look put out of place either. He doesn’t say anything, and that infuriates me.
“I want to know what you’re going to do about it?” I ask him pointedly.
“Ain’t going to do a damn thing,” Jimmy says as he turns his back on me.
Yeah, that’s not going to work. My hand claps down on his shoulder, and I turn him back forcefully to look at me.
“Try again,” I instruct him. “Assure me what you’re going to do to make sure your bully of a son doesn’t hit that little girl again.”
Jimmy puffs his chest out and lifts his chin. I’ve got about six inches of height on him, so this is a little comical.
“What’s it to you?” he asks belligerently. “What little girl is this? I know you ain’t got no young-uns.”
“She’s the daughter of a friend of mine,” I grit out. “Now tell me how you’re going to rectify this.”
Jimmy stares at me blankly for a moment, but then he shrugs in the most nonchalant of ways that has me itching to join my fist with his jaw. “I’ll have a talk with the boy.”
I can tell by the tone of his voice he has no intention of doing that. I guarantee he won’t say a single thing to his son.
“Just to make sure you impart the right information to your son,” I tell Jimmy in a deadly quiet voice. “You make sure he understands that the next time he lays a hand on Linnie McCulhane, I’m gonna come here and I will whip his father’s butt. For every black eye he gives her, his daddy’s going to get two. He bloodies her nose, Daddy’s going to get it twice as bad. Am I making myself clear?”
Jimmy is a bully himself, but there’s no way he would ever try to go head to head with me. I once whipped his butt really bad in junior high, so he knows I’ve got the skills to back up what I’m saying. Jimmy swallows hard and gives an uncertain nod.
I beam a brilliant smile his way. “Excellent,” I say with enthusiasm. “I think we have an understanding.”
And with that, I turn on my heel and walk out of the shed. I wave goodbye to Mr. Goddard, who’s standing just outside the door, and jump back in my truck. I don’t think about heading back to Farrington Farms but rather decide to go back and check on the progress at the vineyards.
Before I put my truck in drive, I shoot Darby a text to assure her Linnie is done being bullied by Caleb Rochelle.