“I know that must be hard. I know you want her to see and experience
as much as possible, and I know that you must want more than what you
had here, just in the way of— the way that people think about certain
things.”
That was what made Christina so different. She really listened when
people told her things. She remembered. It mattered to her.
“I sometimes wonder if I made a mistake. She really misses this place.
When the business is up and running and I don’t have to put weekends in,
I’ll try and come out here more regularly. I was gone for too long. I think
that made it worse. If she could visit every other weekend, I think she’d
have the best of both worlds.”
Christina nodded her agreement. She pushed back yet another dark
strand of hair that the soft breeze had tugged loose from her ponytail and
grabbed her bag. “I’m super excited to see everything. And— and it’s good
to be here.”
Taylor hung onto that soft statement like she’d just picked up a gold
nugget. To her, those words were worth even more.
“It was good growing up here. Especially when I was younger. A farm
is a great place to be. It can also be dangerous, if you’re not careful, but my
parents always taught me about all of that. There are so many amazing
things to see, just, like, how life recreates itself. Calving season was always
the best. And I loved looking after the other animals. We always had a dog,
some cats in the house. Animals have always been a part of my life and I’m
really excited that I can bring a little bit of that to the city for people who
never got to experience it.”
“People like me.” It was clear that wasn’t said in an I’m offended kind
of way.
“I guess so.” Taylor stared off into the distance where the shapes of the
cows could just be made out. “I kind of feel bad that you had the childhood
you did. I mean, not just kind of. I do. I feel like maybe you really didn’t