The Last One

THE LAST ONE-Chapter Sixteen-Sam

OUR FARM HAD BEEN in thefamily for more generations than I knew, and over the years,there'd been some changes in how we did things. We didn't use ahorse to pull the plow anymore, much to my niece's disappointment.We'd gone from not using any fertilizers or insecticides in thenineteenth century to using all of them in the twentieth toswitching over to only natural help in the twenty-first century. Iused the same almanac to tell me when to plant and when to harvest,but mine wasn't a paperback book; it was on my cell phone.

But over a hundred andfifty years later, one thing hadn't changed. We were stillcompletely at the mercy of the weather and unable to do a damnthing to change it.

Two nights after Meghanand I had our night down at the river, a front came up along theFlorida coast, a hurricane that never developed, and it stalledover eastern Georgia. We had days and days of torrential rain. Iwas stuck in the house most of the time; I went over to the standeach day, but business was slow there, since only the most stalwartsouls ventured out in this weather to buy fruit and vegetables froma stand instead of a grocery store. I spent more of my timeplanning for harvest and for next year's crops.

"I don't mind a day ortwo of rain, but this is ridiculous." I sat on the porch withMeghan after dinner. The steady patter on the roof had been cozythe first few nights, but now it just pissed me off.

"I know. I was supposedto take the kids out to a few places around town to do sketches,and we have to keep putting it off. They're all restless duringclass, too. I can't imagine how you're holding it together."

I raised an eyebrow."What's that supposed to mean?"

She smiled at me,unfazed. "It means you're a man who needs to be outside. You thriveon walking in those fields and being with your plants. You're kindof like a caged lion when you have to be inside for too long."

"Hmm." I folded my armsover my chest. "I like the lion part, but I'm not sure about therest."

"You can be not sure,but it's true." She laid down her drawing tablet and pencil andscooted closer to me on the wicker love seat. "Are you missinganything else, maybe?"

"What else would I bemissing?" I played dumb, mostly because she was right that I wasbeing antsy inside, and I wasn't sure how I felt about her knowingme that well.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybesomething like this." She leaned closer, kissing my ear lobe as herhand ventured to my zipper. "No alone time." She licked the side ofmy neck. "Other than the porch, I mean."

"I've gone longer than aweek without sex. As you know." Still, I took her hand from thefront of my pants and laced our fingers together. "But yeah, it iskind of messing with any plans to go back to the river."

"And I've thought aboutdriving home during lunch a few times, but with the stand not beingbusy, I know Ali doesn't always stay there all day.""Yeah, and she left Bridge with me today. That would've beenfrustrating, to have you come home and not be able to doanything."

"It's got to stopraining soon." Meghan wrapped both of her arms around one of mine,her boobs pressing into my side making me ache. "And then we'llmake up for lost time."

Of course, she wasright. Three days later, I awoke to clear skies, with no rain inthe forecast. I spent the day out walking the fields, checking forany damage almost two solid weeks of wet might have done to thecrops still out there. When I finally drove the farm truck back tothe house, all I could think about was kidnapping Meghan back outto the river and keeping her up all night-again.

Her car was in thedriveway when I got out to get cleaned up. I turned on the faucet,pulled off my dirty shirt with one hand and cupped water in theother. I had just made the first swipe with the rag when I feltarms slip around my waist.