The Farmer's Daughter

Chapter 3

The Fourth of July party was to be held at the Millers’ farm, and due to my promise to Amber I was to attend. We had agreed to meet at the party so I dressed in my regular worn jeans and a white t-shirt. I looked at my self in the mirror fixing and messing up my hair that desperately needed a haircut. For some reason I couldn’t quite decide how I liked it better, not that it mattered. So when my dad walked by and messed up my hair I left it like that. There was no point in trying to look dressed up. It was a casual affair. 

In a single, swift motion I picked up my wallet and the keys to my truck. As I put my wallet in my pocket my mom walked into the foyer and looked at me. She smiled and shook her head, walking up to me she fixed my hair and said, “Now you don’t look like you just rolled out of bed.”

I chucked and said, “Thanks ma.”

My mom was pretty, she had short brown hair that stopped beneath her pointed chin, and her eyes lit up when she smiled. Everyone who saw us together said we looked exactly alike while she swore up and down that I looked exactly like my dad, but I disagreed with both of those statements. In my mind I was a pretty good combination of the both of my parents. I had my mom’s brown hair and eyes, my dad’s square jaw and tall stature, and the tan complexion they both had. But out of all the things I got from my parents there was one thing I wished I had gotten from my mother and it was the way her eyes shone when she smiled, mine didn’t do that. They were dull and perpetually serious like my dad’s. 

Thinking about her eyes reminded me of Amber’s, which reminded me that I had to meet her at the party. 

“Are you going to the party?” my mom asked. 

“Yeah,” I replied, short and simple.

“Alright. Your father and I are going to, Mrs. Miller invited us. She’s so sweet, but we’ll be there a little later. Your dad wants lunch first.” She chucked and shook her head, as if knowing this before my dad announced it to her, which she probably did. 

My parents were high school sweethearts. When they tell me the story each of them has a different beginning. My mom says it was half way through their Senior year. They had P.E. together and my mom wasn’t too athletic, so my dad helped her out and they started to get to know each other. By the end of the year they were in love. 

My dad says it first started for him Junior year. It was the only year in high school that he went to homecoming, but when he did he saw my mom dressed up in a blue dress with her hair tied up and felt something, but he didn’t know what that something was until he finally got the balls to talk to her half way through Senior year. 

Suddenly the doorbell rang. I turned my head to look at the door. I just stared at it for a few long seconds, wondering who could be here and why. Everyone, as far as I knew, would be at the party today. So when I opened the door and saw Amber standing on the other side I was surprised. Unless I was incorrect we were supposed to meet at her house. Not mine. 

She smiled at me a red lipsticked smile and said “Hey neighbor!”

“Hey Amber,” I said, still a little confused. “What are you doing here.”

“I’m here to get you. Is that your mom?” she asked suddenly, looking over my shoulder. 

I looked back, having forgotten my mother was there, I had to make sure. Then I looked back at Amber and nodded. “Yeah, that’s my mom.”

“Hi Mrs. Waters!” she exclaimed.

My mother stepped forward and I stepped out of the way. She smiled and shook Amber’s hand. “Hi, sweetie,” she said.