Page 4 of Do It Yourself
My muscles were stiff from the cold as I dragged my body into my bed, my mind plagued with thoughts of the past, I piled every blanket I could reach onto my bed.
Sleep was fitful and Paul was gone by the time I woke up.
Mabel,
I’m okay. Going to hug Henry.
Thank you for being there for me. You are the best person I know
-PJ
I couldn’t be the best person Paul knew when I felt the attraction I had towards the man who broke my brother like that.
Someone who I barely knew existed until that day. I was barely aware of Jude before that meeting but only as a person who worked on the farm and came back year after year. Someone who I tracked down the next week, ready to tear him a new one and get to the bottom of what he did to my brother.
Instead, I found him and was stunned stupid and more turned on than I had any right to be. Arousal had hit me so hard, I turn on my heels and run to my workshop to freak out and hate myself for a few hours.
Walking into my workshop now, my heart is racing and my panties are wet. Heat curls in between my legs and guilt twists in my chest. The combination leaves me light-headed. I hate myself for not being able to control my reaction to this man.
Needing something to focus on, I gather up the supplies to make some of our best sellers for the markets next weekend.
The monotony of making honey sticks eventually calms me down enough that I can focus on my original pending panicattack. My little sister and owner of our family farm had sent me a message asking me to head over to her office for a meeting.
Lola didn’t request meetings. Lola sent you a quick text asking if you had a few minutes then popped over if you were free.
Never in my thirty years of living has Lola ever requested a meeting. My mind has been spiraling ever since I got the message.
I’ve chewed my lip raw and keep talking myself in and out of visiting Elle to see if she has any idea what Lola wants to discuss. As our resident paperwork princess, Elle usually has a good idea of what’s going on within the Farm’s operations.
Visiting Elle would mean going to the Education Center where her new office was located, which could possibly lead to running into Jude. He and Patrick had grown close since Patrick started working here.
Typically, there was a good likelihood that Patrick would be leading a tour around the farm but with school having ended last week, things have slowed down for a bit. And if Patrick’s not on a tour, there is a good chance he’s in Elle’s office teasing her. I really don’t need to be traumatized by those lovebirds today.
Chapter Three
MABEL
Outside of occasionally visiting Elle’s office, I mostly kept to myself when it came to the running of the farm.
I’d grown up knowing that working for the family was the plan but I’d never held any interest in the day to day running of things. Being the eldest, it had kind of ruined my dad’s plan of passing everything down.
Well, that, and being a girl.
My dad wasn’t a bad guy but he was stubborn as hell and struggled with changing his mind once it was made up.
Luckily, when Lola and Paul were born, he finally got a son and a child that wanted to step up to running the farm like him and his father before him, and his father before him. It just so happened that they were two separate children.
It took me a long time to find my place within our not-so-little family business but eventually I became comfortable with running the booths at various farmer’s markets across the state.
The markets were never going to be our biggest revenue stream but Mama and Lola always said as long as we were doing something we loved on the farm, that was all that mattered.
I was happy enough.
I liked getting to meet new people and introduce them to something that my family had worked hard to share with the world. Making honey sticks and various honey soaps was usually fun. I didn’t have to worry about a uniform or asshole bosses.
Most importantly, days when I didn’t have a market scheduled, I got to be around my family. If something unexpected came up for Paul, I was always available to help out with his son Henry. I could help Mama cook for the employees, I could bother Elle or try to talk her into letting me help with wedding plans.
If the weather was right, I occasionally got to plan hikes to Timpanogas with my siblings and any interested employees.
