“Dot, why don’t you join me in the kitchen,” Grace said. “I just have a few things to warm up.”
“Happy to,” Dot said, grateful her assignment didn’t include going back into the cold. She watched Harper and Mary waddle out the front gate, huddled in their borrowed coats, and snapped a picture. She sent it to her sister. “At a farm. Check this out.”
“This ought to be good,” Anne responded right away.
“I’ll let you know if they survive.” Then Dot tucked her phone back into her jeans and joined Grace in the kitchen.
Chapter 24
So, New York.... Whatactuallybrought you to Cedar Falls?” Jake led the way to the chicken house, grabbing an empty basket and a bag of feed from a shed on their way, his broad shoulders and narrow waist grabbing Mary’s attention.
“It’s kind of a long story.” Mary went on to explain as best she could.
“So you left your job and your family to come here to help the Democrats win an election. Do I have that right?”
“Yeah. Well, Dot came to work on the election, and Harper and I help her whenever she needs it. She convinced us to come along for the ride. You know, one last big adventure before we all settle down and can’t do wild and crazy things anymore,” Mary said, watching where she walked. “I still work for my law firm, just from my bedroom. But it’s only until the election, then we go home. Back to the city.”
“So it’s like a gap year—but one you doaftercollege?” he asked.
“That’s a good way to put it,” she replied, nodding her head.
They stepped into the fenced-in chicken area. Several chickens squawked around their feet and pecked at their boots. Mary squealed and kicked up her heels in fear.
“They won’t hurt you. I promise.”
“They’re kind of scary with those red-rimmed eyes.”
“Any worse than the pigeons in Manhattan?”
“Fair point. There’s a woman who feeds them near my apartment. I get so mad at her, but she seems to love them. Like they’re her best friends. So I just stay out of her way.”
“Around here, these birds we actuallyhaveto feed. Here, you can help. Just take this bag and scatter handfuls of this food into these trays, and I’ll get them something to drink.”
Mary stuck a gloved hand into the bag of tiny pellets of corn, barley, and oats and did as he instructed.
Jake refilled the chickens’ water tray from a pump. “Here’s something. You know this chicken coop is haunted?”
“It is?”
“Yes. We have a poultry-geist.”
“You’re an idiot.” But she giggled.
Then Jake ducked into a henhouse that smelled sharp and unpleasant. He came out with several eggs in a basket.
“Here’s breakfast,” he said. She winced. The eggs were dirty.
“Oh, come on. Where did you think eggs came from?”
“Trader Joe’s.”
“Who’s that?”
“A guy I see a lot back home. He’s got a killer frozen food section.”
Mary pointed to a stump with a large red stain. The blade of an axe stuck out of the top. “What’s that?”
“That, New York, is where your dinner came from.”