Chapter 8 – Lena
“Mi cielito, be careful with that step ladder.” My mother, ever the worry wart, clucked at me like one of her chickens.
“I’m fine, Mami. I’ve been training apple trees since I was five.”
“But that one time you fell off the ladder.”
“I was eight.” I rolled my eyes, tying a length of soft twine around the slim branch of a two-year tree. Training trees was mindless work, but it took the whole family and most of our skeletal staff to get the work done every year. We usually finished by mid-May, but this year, with fewer hands, it was taking us longer.
Enzo moved on to the rows of three-year trees with the taller ladder, barely hiding his amusement as he worked quietly with our dad.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I climbed down the stepladder and moved to the next tree. Mom removed the training ties from last year, giving a nod of approval when last year’s solid branches stayed put without the ties. Apple trees craved sunlight, and they produced the best fruit when the bulk of the trunk wood was exposed to it. I tied down the new growth to train future branches to remain wide open to the sky.
“It’s going to be a good harvest this year, Mija. The fruit buds are looking lovely already.”
“Music to my ears.” I tied a branch down, securing it with a heavy rock so the tender young branch arched down toward the ground. As it continued to mature throughout the season, the branch would harden and remain in this ideal position permanently. A good harvest this year would make up for the last few harvests that hadn’t fared as well. It would be a small step in the right direction, but we still had a long road ahead of us.
If my family would trust me. I knew I could breathe new life into Orchard Hill Farm, but I needed them to listen to me and not hear little Lena with the big dreams. That was hard when your family still saw you as the kid in pigtails, skinning her knees from climbing trees with the boys.
“What’s on your mind, Lena?” Grams asked, handing me a cool glass of lemonade from the truck.
“The usual.” I sighed, moving into the shade for a rest. “Work. Things that need to be done around here. More work.”
“And secret bank loans for secret Selena projects?” my grandmother whispered in a hushed voice.
“Grams.” I shushed her, looking over my shoulder to see if Mom heard us. She would not approve. Neither would Dad.
“I’m not sharing your secrets, Lena. I have faith in you. But the Ashfords can be a sly bunch. As soon as you attempt to make big moves for Orchard Hill, they will swoop in like vultures to push you back down.”
“So, I shouldn’t try?”
Grams gave me a dirty look for putting words in her mouth.
“Of course you should try. You just have to be smart about it. Smarter than all of them put together. You will find a way to get the loans you need.”
“How can I when the Ashfords refuse to sell the land I need? As soon as they found out a Contreras was the interested buyer, they rejected my offer.” I turned back to my work, gathering a bundle of training ties for the saplings we planted last week.
“If I know the Ashfords at all, they’ll want something other than money.”
“If it was just money, I would find a way.”
“They want something that will hurt?”
I nodded. “They want me to stop seeing Carter.” I looked up at the clear afternoon sky, wishing I was anywhere but here. The mindless activity left me free to think about all the things. Plans for Orchard Hill led to thoughts of how to make it happen and thoughts of buying the property I needed. Then, Carter’s betrayal and Conner Ashford, which sent me into a fury.
Though the last time I’d seen him was a supremely satisfying moment, I would likely regret it. Dumping the heir to Ashford Estates into the bay was not the best way to get ahead in this town.
“I’ve been telling you for years, your friendship with that boy will come to no good. Trust me, I know.”
“I trust him.” Grams and I walked along the fresh mounds of new saplings. This would require a more delicate hand to train the youngest saplings. Grams was the best at this particular chore.
She sat down on the ground, talking to the baby trees in Spanish. She claimed they responded more to the romance of the Spanish language. I wasn’t so sure she was wrong.
“Of course you do, he is your friend. You two have been sneaking around since you were young. No friendship would last that long through such trials if it wasn’t a true friendship. I didn’t say I don’t approve of the relationship.”
It felt good that she understood, but I knew there was a ‘but’ coming.
“But his family will use him against you to get what they want. Ending your friendship with Carter would be the first of many conditions they would put on you. You don’t want the Ashfords holding anything over your head, so don’t give them a precedent.”
“I won’t let them manipulate me.” I trimmed a spindly growth from the first sapling. “I’ll find another way to get the land I need. I wanted the parcel close to town to draw in tourists and still remain close to Orchard Hill, but maybe we can make it work with something farther from town.”
“Don’t compromise on your dreams, Mija. You will find a way to get what you want. Just be careful. Old man Ashford is like your Carter, but his son and grandson are cut from a different cloth.”
“Deep down, Conner is just a spineless coward.”
“You work too hard.” Grams shifted the loose soil around the root ball of the sapling. “You and your brother. You’re too young to spend all your time working to keep this orchard afloat.”
“We do what we have to, Grams.” I smiled at my grandmother. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
“Well, the old ones can handle the rest of this work.” Grams climbed back to her feet. “Enzo, take your sister sailing.” She dusted the dirt from her grandma jeans.
“You’re not old, Grams.” I leaned against her. I could try to talk her out of sending us sailing, but I knew from experience I would lose that argument. Plus, it had been an age since we went on the boat Enzo had fixed up two summers ago.
“Of course not, I’m talking about those two.” She flung a hand out at her son and daughter-in-law shuffling along the rows of young saplings.
“Right.” I grinned at my grams, draping an arm around her. “Maybe you should come sailing with us and leave the olds to the work.”
“But then, who will tell them what to do?” Grams deadpanned. I loved this woman. Of all my family, I felt the most connected with her. My mom was Mom. She was the best mother I could have asked for, but Grams was special.
“Sailing? Really?” Enzo glanced back over his shoulder at the others hard at work.
“Grams says I’m too young to work so hard, so you have to take me out for a leisurely afternoon on the bay.”
Enzo tossed down his gloves, and with a shrug, he followed Grams’ orders. “Won’t argue with that.” He grinned. “She’s right, you need to get work off your mind for a while, and I have a new fishing rod to break in.”