Bait

by Mia Carson

  “Oh, hell no, you’re not putting that on me. Your mother would rip me a new asshole if I were to do that.”

  I smiled. “I’ll square it with her. Once I’ve harvested enough to cover Ken’s contract, you can start paying me. I can sell her on that.”

  He sighed again. “No. I should, but you’re my son and, goddamnit, I owe you. I wouldn’t have the crop in without your help. But I’m not paying for the fuel! I draw the line there.”

  I grinned. “I’ll make sure it comes back with a full tank of gas.”

  “I must be going soft in the head,” he muttered as he turned away.

  I grinned as I stood beside the machine. I could tell he was bitching just to bitch.

  -oOo-

  I left at six the next morning. What I could drive in fifteen minutes in a car would take a couple of hours to complete in the combine. I couldn’t drive it on the roads with the header attached, so I was going to stick to farm tracks and edges of fields.

  When I’d talked to Ella last night, I didn’t mention what I was planning because I knew she’d tell her father, and his pride would prevent him from accepting the help. But when I rolled up at their house unannounced, it would be much more difficult for him to turn me away.

  Because of the machine’s size, I couldn’t exactly sneak up on the Johnsons, so Ken and Helen were standing by their shop when I rolled to a stop and shut the machine down.

  “What are you doing here?” Ken asked as I climbed down from the cab.

  “I figured you needed some help.”

  “I’ve got it covered.”

  “I’m sure you do, but they’re predicting more rain in a couple of days. With my help you can probably get finished before then.”

  He held my eyes. “What about your own fields?”

  “Finished yesterday.”

  “Your dad know about this?”

  “You really think I could sneak off with that thing?” I asked as I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the hulking green and yellow machine. I knew I was winning when Helen snickered.

  “I could use some help, but so can a lot of others. This has been a tough harvest.”

  “Tell me about it. That’s why I’m here.”

  “What’s it going to cost me?”

  “Fuel,” I replied. If I’d said it would cost nothing, he’d reject my offer out of hand as charity.

  “Fuel? That’s it?”

  “That’s it. I wouldn’t turn down lunch if you offered it.”

  “I think we can handle feeding you,” Helen said.

  “Why?” Ken asked.

  “Because you need help, you’re the nearest thing we have to a neighbor, and because of old times.”

  “Did Ella put you up to this?” he asked, his voice hard.

  “She doesn’t know anything about it. So, where are we starting today?”

  He looked at his wife and she nodded. “Have you had breakfast?” she asked.

  “I ate a biscuit with a piece of sausage in it on the way over.”

  She smiled. “I think we can do better than that.”

  Ken nodded and waved a hand in invitation. “We were just sitting down to breakfast when I heard you coming. If you don’t mind, I’ll ride out to the field with you.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said as I followed them into their house.

  Ken had a little more than half his crop in. After the dew dried, we hit the fields hard, and I figured in a little over a day we’d have his crop completely up if the weather held. We worked as a team, finishing the field he’d been working yesterday before moving to the next. We ran until dark before shutting down. I left the combine in the field and realized there was a flaw in my plan. I had no way to get home.

  “Uh, I hate to ask this, but can I bum a ride home?” I asked. Helen had come to get us in a pickup, and I was squeezed into the narrow jump seat in the back.

  “I guess,” Ken said with a chuckle. “But you’re staying for supper first, right?”

  “Please do, Levi,” Helen said, catching my eyes in the mirror. “It’ll be so good to have you again.”

  “I don’t want to be a bother.”

  “No bother. It’s the least we can do for all your help.”

  I smiled. “Then sure. Thanks.” The only thing preventing it from being like old times was Ella wouldn’t be there.

  “Supper’s going to be a little later than normal. Ella’s joining us,” Helen said before I’d even completed my thought.

  I said nothing, but I’m sure she saw my smile.

  When I’d walked in from the field, and Abby found out I was staying for a couple of hours, she’d taken me by the finger and showed me around their house. I smiled at Helen and Ken as she led me around, unaware that’d I’d spent more years in their house than she’d been alive. Abby and I were having a right old conversation with Theodore as she sat in my lap when I saw Ella peek around the corner. I nudged Abby and pointed.

  “Mommy!” Abby cried as she hopped down and ran to her mother.

  I couldn’t blame her. I wanted to do the same, but I rose and walked at a more dignified pace. She smiled at me as I approached, and when I got close, she placed Abby on the floor.

  “And here’s a hug for you,” she said as she pressed herself against me. “Thank you,” she whispered as my arms went around her.

  “You’re welcome,” I murmured.

  Helen’s cooking was a delicious as ever, and with Ella there, the company couldn’t have been better. When we were finished, Helen rushed us out the door. I placed Abby in her car seat. She was still awake, but she was getting drowsy. I crawled into the passenger side.

  “You didn’t have to do this, and you probably shouldn’t have, but thank you all the same,” Ella said as she started her car.

  “Everyone needs help this year. As soon as I’m done helping your Dad, I’m off to do some contract work.”

  “Mom said you weren’t charging them? Why?”

  “Because I’m not doing it for the money.”

  “Why are you doing it then?”

  “To help him.”

  “Thank you for that, but you’re charging everyone else, aren’t you?”

  “Everyone else isn’t your family.”

  “I didn’t ask you to do this!” she protested.

  “Did I say you did? I wanted to do this, Ella. I figured it was the least I could do.”

  “I thought we’d promised to stop apologizing to each other for what happened.”

  “I wasn’t apologizing.”

  “That’s bullsh…” I bit off what I was going to say because of little ears in the back. “Bull, and you know it. That’s exactly why you did it.”

  “I used to help your dad on the farm sometimes.”

  “That’s different.”

  “How?”

  “It just is.”

  “Then tell me how.”

  She was silent for a moment. “You’re a very frustrating man, you know that?”

  “I am, I really am,” I moaned in agreement.

  She giggled. “Okay, so long as you know it.” We drove in silence a moment. “Whatever reason you did it, thank you. I know Dad was worried he was going to lose part of the crop.”

  “Glad I could help. Someone will come get me in the morning? I think we’ll finish tomorrow, and if I drive myself, I’ll have to figure out a way to get my truck home.”

  She glanced at me. “I think Dad’s going to come get you.”

  I nodded. “It would be nice if those two could patch things up.”

  She whipped the car into our drive and stopped in front of the house. “Having you come home has been the best thing to happen to our family in five years. I think, with a little more time, maybe our families, you and me might even get back to how they were.”

  I leaned over and kissed Ella quickly in goodbye, smiling at Abby’s wide eyes as our lips parted. “In more ways than one I hope,” I added as I opened the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Abby,�
� I said as reached between the front seats, grabbed her foot, and wiggled it playfully.

  “Bye,” she called, waving to me by opening and closing her hand into a fist as I shut the door.

  I stood as Ella turned around and raced away down the road. I watched until I could no longer see the taillights before I turned and went into the house.

  Ella

  I scurried from table to table. It was lunch time and Dolly’s was packed. It had rained again the night before, and all the farmers in the area were in town to compare notes and share their misery. Levi had thought he and Dad could finish our harvest in a day and a half, but it had taken a little over two and a half. At least Dad’s crop was in, which a lot of farmers couldn’t say. It’d been a near thing, and they’d finished in the rain.

  Dad had tried to pay Levi, but all he would accept was a full tank of diesel, which was no small thing. The two tanks of fuel the McCormick’s combine consumed was $1,200, but that was fuel that would have been burned during the harvest anyway. In effect, Levi’s help had cost Dad nothing.

  I hadn’t been there when they finished. I was at work, but I heard from Grandma later that Mom had shed a few tears in private over Levi’s help. It would be wildly overstating it to say Levi had saved the farm, but there was no question in anyone’s mind that his help had been invaluable, and he’d done it out of the goodness of his heart.

  I’d had dinner with Levi at my house both nights, but I hadn’t seen him since. He and his Dad were out doing contract harvesting. Dad normally didn’t contract harvest, but since his crop was in, he was this year. Farmers helped each other when times were hard, and with all the recent rain, times didn’t get much harder.

  I passed orders around a table. Normally I tried to loiter and chat a little, which it helped with my tips, but today I was rushing from table to table as fast as the kitchen could pump out the food. I saw Steve and a couple of his running buddies step in. All the tables were taken, and there were two in front of them, but we were starting to catch up.

  Steve and his two friends were next to be seated when the McCormick’s entered. Levi and Steve studiously ignored each other as they waited, Levi talking with his parents. Two tables opened up about the same time and they took their seats. For the first time in almost an hour, nobody was waiting for a table.

  Since the incident with Steve five years ago, I’d avoided the McCormicks. If they sat in my section I’d asked one of the other girls to cover their table, but we were so busy today, and with Levi sitting with them, I decided I needed to suck it up. When I arrived at their table, Levi was his normal, warm self, while Will and Judy were much cooler. I could feel the old shame closing in around me, but I forced it away as I took their order. I’d done nothing wrong, and I refused to act like I had. I moved to Steve’s table to get their order.

  “Hey, babe, how’s it shaking?” he asked as he put his hand on my ass.

  I’d already learned that telling him to stop only made him bolder, so I just ignored him as much as possible. “What can I get you?” I asked, stepping aside so he couldn’t touch me.

  He snickered. “She’s still mad at me because I told her boyfriend to fuck off the other day.”

  I ground my teeth. “Are you ready to order or do you need a few minutes?”

  Steve picked up one of the menus and slowly looked it over. “You know, I think what I want isn’t on the menu.”

  “Then you’re out of luck because that’s all there is. Look, we’re busy, so either give me your order or I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

  “Jesus,” Steve muttered. “I’m just trying to be friendly. Give me the bacon cheese burger, onion rings, and a Coke.”

  I nodded as I took his order, along with the orders of his two companions. He made a grab for me, but I was quick enough on my feet that he missed. As I walked away, Steve and his friends burst into laughter.

  Steve got a pass from the town as long as he didn’t go overboard because he was Abby’s father. He played it off as harmless fun with the mother of his child, but I didn’t like to be pawed, and especially not by Steve. Today, however, he was worse than usual, and I suspected it was because he was once again trying to tweak Levi with what he’d done, the rat bastard. I bit my tongue. I’d already been threatened with losing one job for telling him off. I didn’t want the same thing to happen in Dolly’s.

  Steve’s food came up before the McCormicks’, but I let his sit in the window until I served Levi, Will, and Judy. I wasn’t so petty as to spit in his food, but I didn’t have to go out of my way to provide good service either, especially when we were so busy.

  We had a few tables empty when I slid Steve’s order in front of him. I topped off their glasses and turned to go. I wasn’t quick enough and got a light swat on my butt. I caught Levi’s gaze, and he was glaring at me, his face hard. I felt a sinking in my stomach. It was starting all over again.

  “Everything okay? Need anything?” I asked as I topped off glasses at the McCormick table.

  “We’re good, thanks,” Will said.

  I hesitated a moment, looking at Levi, but he was ignoring me and staring at Steve’s table. Steve’s table burst into laughter as all three of them looked at me. It took every ounce of will I possessed not to slink but to walk away with my head up and my back straight.

  I was working another table when Ed, one of Steve’s friends, called me by raising his glass, indicating he wanted a refill.

  “I think want some dessert,” Steve said as I refilled glasses.

  The way he was looking at me, and the smirk of the other two men at the table, told me I was being setup for something. “What can I get you?”

  “I think I’d like to have some pie.”

  “Okay, what kind? We have apple, pecan, and lemon meringue.”

  “I’m thinking a hair pie. Can you give me that? Maybe with a big sausage in it?”

  I turned on my toe without a word, not dignifying his comment with a response. He grabbed at me again, and I roughly shoved his hand away as I danced out of his grip. I heard a hard bang and looked up as Levi rose from his table, Judy pulling at his arm before he shook her off.

  “Levi! No!” she called as he stomped toward me.

  She started to slide out of their booth, but he froze her with a look, pointing at her with a finger. His Dad continued to slide out, but Levi turned his back on him and stomped toward me. I felt sick at how he glared at me. Just like before, I’d done nothing wrong, but I was going to be blamed. Just when I thought I was getting my life back together, I was going to lose him again. I took his arm as he reached me, preparing to beg his forgiveness, but he shook me off without slowing. At first I was surprised, and then I wilted in relief. He wasn’t glaring at me, he was glaring at Steve, behind me.

  “Levi…” I began, trying to stop him before the situation got out of hand, but he ignored me.

  “If you want to keep those hands, you’d better learn to keep them to yourself,” he snarled, glaring at Steve. Ed and Tony, Steve’s companions, watched with wide eyes.

  “Or what?” Steve replied with a sneer.

  “Or I’m going to make it so you can never grab a woman with them again.”

  Will arrived. “Levi, let it go!”

  “Yeah, Levi. Do what your daddy says.”

  Levi reached in, grabbed Steve by the shirt, and hauled him out of the booth, knocking dishes and glasses everywhere.

  “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Will called, getting between Levi and Steve, trying to separate them. “Knock this shit off right now, both of you!”

  I could see the fear in Steve’s face as the entire restaurant scrambled out of the way and watched in stunned silence. Levi held Steve an inch from his nose.

  “If you touch her again, I’ll shove my boot so far up your ass you’ll need spelunking gear to find it,” Levi snarled.

  Steve freed himself with the help of Will. “Back off, fly boy, before I kick your ass.”

  “You want to take it outsi
de?” Levi challenged.

  “Knock it off!” Will roared, shoving at Levi. Levi had to take a step back to keep his balance, but he wasn’t backing down.

  “Come on!” Levi snarled. “Be a man!”

  Steve reddened but recovered and sneered. “I got better things to do than mess with you.”

  “What’s the matter, Steve? Afraid of someone that can fight back? Is that why you had to wait until Ella was drugged to make your move?”

  “Fuck you, McCormick!”

  “Knock it off!” Will roared again. “Levi, shut the hell up. Steve, get out of here before I turn him loose on you!”

  “Fuck you, old man! I don’t need your protection!”

  “Then let’s go,” Levi growled, stepping around his dad and heading for the door.

  “Levi! No!” I cried, running after him. I caught up to him before he’d taken two steps and grabbed his arm. “Please, don’t.”

  He looked at me. “This shit stops, and it stops right now,” he said, holding my gaze.

  “Please,” I said softly, begging him with my eyes. “You’ve made your point. Please, let it go…for me.”

  He watched my eyes a moment before the tension seemed to flow out of his body. “Okay. For you,” he said as he held my gaze before he kissed me. It was an innocent kiss, the type of kiss lovers gave each other in public every day, but it made me tingle anyway. Maybe he was my gallant knight after all. He turned back to Steve. “This is your last warning, Calhoun,” he growled.

  “I should have you up on assault charges!”

  “Shut up and get out of here,” Will ordered again.

  “What’s the trouble here?” Officer Randall asked as he strode in.

  “Nothing,” Will said. “Just a little misunderstanding.”

  Hank Randall looked the area over, taking in the stunned faces of the customers huddled together, the scattered dishes, out of place tables, not to mention Ed, Tony, Steve, and Levi’s pants and shirt stained with drinks and condiments from Levi dragging Steve out of the booth.