Juniper Blue (NaNoWriMo2023; manxman)

Chapter 11

Juniper

With the harvest fair coming up, my dad was on the verge of working himself to death, but he didn't know how to stop himself. Financially, we did very well every year. Afterwards, we hosted a party, and we never knew who would show up. I oversaw horseback riding. For a small fee, people could take a ride along the grounds and witness the spectacular foliage before all the leaves fell off the trees. We only had four horses, which were 'plenty,' according to my dad. Two of the horses used to be my sisters' and one was my dad's. He hadn't ridden in years, but he kept himself busy doing everything else, never one to stop to rest... part of the reason for his heart attack.

While my dad was toiling in the fields, I was in the chicken coop collecting hundreds of eggs. They'd laid so many, I needed help collecting them all. Dennis, one of the farm employees, took pity on me and offered to help me. "I don't know what we've been feeding them," I said. "I've never seen so many eggs."

"You need to bring more to the school," my dad said, entering the chicken coop.

"I guess I better expand to the middle school," I said.

"I can take over, Dennis," my dad said, taking the basket from him. That was Dennis' cue to leave. It meant my dad wanted to have a serious conversation with me. "So, Juni, where ya been lately?"

"Where have I been? I've been nowhere... just work and here."

"It's not just work and here. You didn't come home the other night."

I stopped collecting eggs and glared at my dad, thinking he'd been keeping tabs on me. He claimed he wanted me to get out and explore things, but whenever I tried to break away, he questioned me and almost panicked as if he were afraid of losing me.

"Are you spying on me?" I asked.

"No, of course not. It's just... well, you've just been different lately. Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"What do you mean by 'different?' And when have I even been in trouble? Never."

"You seem distracted and you're not a kid anymore, so--"

"Exactly. I'm not a kid anymore."

"Just talk to me, Juni. Remember when we used to talk?"

"We still talk. What do you want to talk about?" There were a lot of things I wanted to tell him, but I wasn't near ready.

"I'd like to know a little bit about her."

Her. He jumped to the conclusion that I'd finally found myself a girlfriend, and it bothered him that I didn't tell him about her.

But it wasn't a her. Maybe if it was a her, I would have been upfront.

I sighed an exasperated sigh, running my fingers through my already messy hair. "Dad, I need you to respect my privacy. We've only been seeing each for a little over a month and I don't know where it's headed. We like each other. I think we like each other a lot, but I don't know. I'm not in trouble. Just... just... mind your own business. I'm gonna go pack up these eggs."

I'd never been so defensive. I turned my back to my dad and headed out of the chicken coop. "You're using protection, right? Remember our talk."

We had the 'talk' when I was twelve years old. "Dad, I'm gonna be twenty-six. I don't need any more sex talks. I do all right on my own."

"Oh, yeah... right. I sometimes forget you're not a boy anymore." His eyes told me he was about to get super sentimental and nostalgic. "You're a grown man, and I should respect that. You're absolutely right. I guess it'd be nice if you let me... us... into your world."