Chapter 5: Chapter 5

“Honey, it’s nearly 10! Come get breakfast before the day is over.”

Olivia looked over the room as she opened her eyes. Lilly’s bed was still there in the corner. Empty. They always insisted on sharing a bed with each other. She still remembered all the nights they would stay up, making bouquets of flowers that they had secretly picked from their mother’s beloved garden. She always blamed it on Levy, their childhood dog, who died a few months before. Her attention was next drawn to the big window on the main wall which overlooked the barn. You always had a view over the farm when you woke up. That window was sometimes used more as a door, when Lilly snuck out to see her boyfriend. Covering for Lilly had always been Olivia’s job, and it was the hardest. Lilly was always the one with boyfriends; Olivia disappeared when guys were around. Memories. Some clearer than other.

Before she could drift off to sleep again, the clanging from the cattle’s bells outside made her jump to her feet.

“I’m coming! Just getting dressed,” she shouted.

She rubbed her head where she had hit it a few times on her princess themed bedpost. Then, she almost fell over. Getting your legs through the overalls was harder than she remembered. Looking in the mirror, she barely recognised herself. A black skirt, a white shirt and low high heels was how she always dressed for work. That day, she wore a denim overall and a long sleave shirt full of colourful flowers.

At breakfast, a whole spread awaited her. More than a spread for someone who only ate granola bars for breakfast. Bacon, blueberry muffins and scramble eggs were just some of the things she grabbed from the table. But, she had to find the homemade bread with strawberry jam and cheese. She finally spotted her favourite behind the flowerpot. As always, her stomach rumbled for more.

“Wow! Mom, you really outdid yourself,” Olivia said.

“Fit for our San Francisco princess,” her mother replied, smiling.

“You’re going to join me?”

“Oh no. This is just for you.”

“I can’t possibly eat all this. Come on, mom, I’ll enjoy your company. You’re the chef after all!”

“All right, if you really want to,” her mother replied, pulling out a chair and sitting across from Olivia.

Since Olivia and Lilly had both grown up, it seemed to them that their mother hadn’t aged a bit. With short, brown, and curly hair and only a few grey hairs here and there, her mother still looked years younger than her fifty years. Olivia thought of what her mother went through the last few years, including Olivia’s grandfather dying and grandmother fighting cancer.

“How are you and Lilly?”

“Fine, why?”

“Nothing. Lilly talked less about you than she normally does. She usually can’t stop talking about you. Anyway, I’m probably just seeing ghosts.”

The last few months, Olivia and Lilly had not been getting along. There was constantly tension between them. Lilly thought Olivia was too busy with work and was starting to neglect spending time with the family. The fact that Lilly’s two-year-old daughter, Eve, didn’t yet know Olivia’s name just made things so much worse. They always tried keeping tension like this from their parents to prevent even more stress pilling on their shoulders. The tension between them had become much worse than Olivia thought, if their mother was starting to notice.

“Where’s dad,” Olivia asked, trying to change the subject.

“Outside washing the horses. He’s waiting for you.”

“Then I should probably get going. Thanks, mom, this can’t get any better. Duty calls.” She grabbed another piece of bread. For the road.

“Your welcome,” Renee replied as she kissed Olivia on the cheek.

Closing the big farmhouse door behind her, Olivia was amazed at how beautiful the garden had gotten, when there’s no children or dogs around to destroy it. She walked over to the barn and felt excited, as usual. Maybe because that’s the only thing she ever loved, she wondered. She always felt free when she rode the horses, especially Poppy. Nothing in the city had yet come close to giving her the same freedom.

Her dad was still washing the horses when she walked into the barn. She caught a glimpse of the swing made of tyre that hung in the middle of the barn. Feeling the wind through your hair, before launching off and jumping into the pile of sturdy loose hay, was one of her clearest and most precious memories. That was how both she and Lilly broke their arms on separate occasions, trying to beat the other’s record by stretching the distance of the jump.

“Day dreaming?”

“Memories.”

“I know what you mean. I still sometimes feel like a little boy running around.”

“I’m glad you still feel like that,” Olivia joked.

“Well, I sure as heck don’t look or feel like one,” her father replied.

They both laughed. It might have been true that he did not look like a boy, but the fifty year old definitely did not look old either. He had sunbathed skin from his daily horse riding, green eyes and a heart more beautiful than her mother's garden in the spring.

Oakdale Farm had been in the Acker family for centuries. This only made the place more special. The photos of her great-great-grandfather still scared her whenever she walked through the hallway in the night.

Olivia spotted Poppy in the corner of the barn and immediately sprinted over to her. She threw her arms around Poppy; her eyes welled up with tears. It felt like greeting an old friend. She looked much older than when Olivia saw her last Christmas.

“Poppy.” It was the only word she could get out, wiping away the tears rolling down her cheek. A minute later, Olivia managed to say, “Wow, look at her. Thanks for taking such great care of her, Dad.”

“No problem. I always come here when I miss you. That happens a lot more than you might think,” her father replied, looking down at his hands.

“I love you, Dad. Don’t think that I forget about you all when I’m in the city.”

For a moment they just stared at each other in silence. The scent of fresh hay was in the air.

“Want to go for a ride,” Gideon asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure! There’s for sure nothing better in the world.”

They hugged and then saddled their horses to set off into what Olivia called “freedom”.

They rode down to the river and through small roads with trees and bushes bent over them. The fresh air always refreshed Olivia’s mind and lifted her spirits. It’s funny how nature calms you, she thought. But that day, not even the ride could erase Tyler from her mind along with all the uncertainty and unanswered questions that came with the thought. Try to forget him, even for just five days, Olivia told herself over and over again.

When they arrived home, she got Poppy safely in her stable again. The scent of her mother’s cinnamon pumpkin tart hit her as they walked back to the house. She and her father looked at each other and smiled.

“You know, she only bakes that when you’re here,” he said.

“I know. Lucky me,” Olivia said with a smile, barely controlling her excitement.

Eating the pie, Olivia shared many of her strange city experiences with her parents. They laughed. They could relate as they both had worked in the city together for a few years.

Before going to bed, the three of them decided to sit around the fireplace to drink peppermint tea. Olivia realised how much she missed being together as a family. She missed Lilly and Lilly’s husband, Gilbert, and their daughter, Eve. The house was too quiet and empty without them.

When she had finished her tea, she said goodnight and went to bed. It was only then that she realised that she had not once looked at her phone since arriving in Montana. There were no meetings to attend and no need to rush. She picked up the phone from her bedside table and noticed that she had a message from Kate. She felt a spark of disappointment that the message wasn’t from the person she had hoped or rather wished.

- Hey there rancher! Place pretty boring without you, and Tyler pretty miserable. Think he’ll appreciate you more when you come back cause he ran late for all his meetings today. Mis u. xx -

Without responding, she put her phone back on the bedside table. That’s probably all I’ll be missed for – preventing him from being late for meetings.

“Olivia is it even worth it,” she asked herself, lying on her bed in the pitch black where no city lights or sounds interfered.