Past Forward- A Serial Novel: Episode 15 (17 page)

By the time Chad ushered Josh into the kitchen, Willow and Becca were assembling the modified pizzas
,
ready to pop them into the oven.
Willow noticed beads of perspiration on Chad
’
s forehead and a growing line of them across Josh
’
s upper lip and groaned inwardly.
It might be time
move to the summer kitchen already
.

“
Chad, why don
’
t you go get one of those tables and some of the chairs from the barn and put it
all up
on the back porch.
We can eat out there where it
’
s cooler
.”

The look of relief in Chad
’
s eyes told Willow she
’
d made the right move.
“
I
’
ll do that.
” Before he left, he turned to
Josh
.
“Oh,
this is Becca Jacobs.
She
’
s here visiting a friend on the farm that backs ours
.”

Becca rinsed her hands, dried them on her apron, and turned to greet Josh
and froze
.
“
Oh, I
’
m sorry
.”
She extended her hand smiling.
“
It
’
s very nice to meet you
.”

“
It
’
s nice to meet you too
.”
Josh looked at their hands, his feet, back over at Willow
—
anything to avoid meeting Becca
’
s eyes.
Willow didn’t understand what was wrong with them.

“
Hey Josh, mind giving me a hand with the chairs?
”

Once the men were outside, Becca turned to Willow, confused.
“
I didn
’
t expect your friend to be
—”

“Be?”

The girl flushed.
“Well, I don’t mean to be offensive.
You just don’t expect to meet someone… like him out on a farm.” Her face went deep red. “Oh, that sounds just awful. I didn’t mean to be—”

Willow interrupted.
“
He
’
s a little girly, isn
’
t he?
Chad said something about him being more like my friend Bill than the Tesdalls.
Bill is kind of a sissy when it comes to the farm and
Chad thinks
Josh
will be
too
.”

“
Where did you meet
him
?
”

“
He was the one who helped me find the fabrics for the wedding.
He has amazing fabric and fashion sense.
I thought it was odd at first
,
but then I remembered mother talking about men like Monsieur Worth and more recently Christian Dior
,
and I realized that men have always been interested in women
’
s fashions and things
.”

A voice from the doorway interrupted them.
“
Thanks Willow.
Not everyone understands that
.”

“
Oh, Josh
—”
Becca blushed furiously.
“
I had no business discussing you like that.
Willow didn
’
t bring it up
—
”

“
I don
’
t mind.
People tend to find me a bit of an
enigma. I’m not what they think—”
he paused letting the words sink in and register.
“—
and I
’
m not like a lot of other men so they don
’
t know how to categorize me
.”

“
Well,
”
Willow said testily.
“
Perhaps people should quit trying to categorize everyone in the first place
.”

“
Perhaps,
”
agreed Josh and Becca in unison.
Josh continued with an
amused smile,
“
But it
’
s natural to want to know where you stand in relation to everyone else
,
so you categorize.
It
’
s just human nature
.”

Willow slid the pizzas from the oven and arranged them on a platter.
“
Ok, time to eat
.”
She tossed her apron
onto the counte
r
and
grabbed the platter and salad bowl
,
nodding at plates and silverware.
“
Can you guys grab those?
”

Willow and Chad said little during lunch.
Instead, they watched their guests. Becca and Josh joked, laughed, and, it seemed to her, forged a nice friendship.
Considering they both lived in Rockland, that seemed like a good thing.

“
So, we were going to try to card wool today,
”
Willow began after everyone declared themselves overfull.
“
What do you think Josh
—
too crafty for you?
”
An excited look grew in her eyes.
“
You and Chad could go out with the paintball guns!
”

“
I think
—”
Josh began giving Becca and Chad amused glances that left Willow in a state of utter confusion.
“
I think I
’
d rather see how wool carding works
.”

Willow jumped from the table eagerly.
“
Let
’
s get the dishes
—”

“
I
’
ll do them
,
Willow, you guys go get your wool stuff and have at it
.”
Chad kissed her cheek and pushed her toward the door.
“
Go
,
woman!
”

“
I
’
m under orders
,
I guess
.”

While Chad washed dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and pulled the chic
ken from the ice
box
,
readying it for a slow roast on the grill, Willow, Josh, and Becca congregated in the living room.
She passed out towels, handed everyone a wad of washed fleece and referred to her notes.
“
Ok, it says pull the locks from the fleece.
You
’
re supposed to separate them into individual locks that aren
’
t interlocked with the rest of the fleece
—
I guess
.”

They all worked until Willow thought she had a large enough pile on the coffee table.
“
Ok.
Who wants to keep separating?
”

Josh insisted he do it.
“
I can
’
t mess this up.
You guys do whatever you need to do
.”

“
Ok
,
Becca, now we take these locks and we separate them.
The instructions say to pull them apart sideways.
We
’
re supposed to discard any really short
pieces or if there is any left
over
‘
dirt or debris
.
’
”

“
I can
’
t believe you
’
re just doing this without any kind of instruction
.”
Becca
’
s voice was heavy with admiration.
“
I
’
d be afraid of ruining an expensive fleece!
”

“
This is how the Finley women learned everything,
”
Chad called from the kitchen.
“
If they don
’
t already know it instinctively, they just teach themselves
.”

Willow shrugged.
It made sense to her.
She couldn
’
t understand why anyone would refrain from doing something just because they didn
’
t know how.
If everyone did that, no one would learn anything.
Seeing them waiting for her reply, she said as much.

“
Wow
.”

Josh grinned at Becca
’
s response.
“
I
’
ve come to the conclusion that
‘
wow
’
must be the most commonly used word around Willow
.”