Layer after layer, Chad spread the alfalfa back over the field.  He’d considered using the yard, the driveway, and every other closer area but decided he should stick with what he knew would work.  When Willow heard of the problem, she’d burst into irrational fits of weeping.
Chad heard snatches of words like failure, shop, make it, and the worst, “maybe Bill was right.”  Unsure of whether to comment or just comfort, he took the safe route, patted her shoulder, handed her napkins, and prayed.  Now remembering it as he spread hay in the sun to dry, Chad wondered if there was more to her tears than he’d first imagined.
At noon, Chad came inside and scrubbed his hands, arms, and face in the kitchen sink.  He downed a small pitcher of cold water, refilled it, and shoved it back into the icebox.  The sound of Willow thumping across the living room floor sent him to help her.  “Here, let me-”
“I can do it,” she growled.
“What do you want for lunch?  I’m famished.”
His kindness killed the fire in her.  “I’m sorry.  I’ve been in a bad mood all morning.  Can you fill up on a salad?”
Chad didn’t have the heart to tell her that a salad was the last thing he thought was filling.  “I’ll go see what I can find.”
“There’s chicken in the freezer.  It’s in the top door shelf to the left.  Labeled chicken pieces.  If you put them in warm water they’ll defrost, I froze grilled cubes individually so they’d defrost quickly.”
While in the kitchen, Chad made a sandwich with lettuce leaves for bread and made a mental note to buy a loaf or two.  The last thing she needed was to start baking on that leg.  The sandwich would keep him going until he could get into town and get bread.  And a burger.  Definitely not in that order.
***
“So I got a call from Rockland yesterday,” Willow began.
“How is Bill?”
“Fine- but that’s not who I was talking about.”
“Oh?”  Chad picked at his salad trying to remember how good for him the green piles of vegetation were.
“That store I went to?  You know the one where I bought a few things?”
“Yeah.”
She swallowed.  For reasons she wasn’t sure of, Willow wanted Chad’s approval.  “They want me to design a children’s line similar to the women’s clothes and help manage a new store just for the children’s line.”
He said nothing.  He wasn’t sure what to say.  The idea horrified him.  Willow would smother in a place like that but how did he say that without interfering.  “Is that something you want to do?”
“I don’t know.  Bill seems to think it’d be good.  He mentioned that I’d be closer to the physical therapists at the hospital and I do like the idea of designing the clothes but-”
“But what?”
She shrugged.  “It seems like a lot of change just so I can make a few cute outfits and some fabric decisions.”
“Why don’t you counter offer?”
“Huh?”
Chad stood and carried his plate to the sink.  He pulled his gloves back on and turned to face her.  “I just meant that I don’t see why you can’t design the children’s clothes, pick the fabrics and stuff, but not manage the store.  J.C. Penney buyers don’t have to manage their stores.”
With a wink and a smile, he hurried out to the barn.  There was more hay to be spread.  Much more hay calling his name.
Sickened by her news, Chad left the house in a rush.  He’d grown to like working around her place.  Even undoing his work from Saturday was satisfying.  If she left, what would happen to her farm?  Would she give away the animals?  Would she stop growing the vegetables and quit processing the fruit?  Would she sell the farm?
Maybe she’d let him rent it.  He had a better understanding of her financial situation.  Living in Rockland would be expensive but she’d have a salary- Bill wouldn’t let anyone take advantage of her.  Maybe she’d marry him.
That idea grew a hard stone in his gut.  He felt horrible.  He had no right to an opinion but something about Bill didn’t fit.  Something about Bill just was not right.
***
Seated on the couch, her leg resting out in front of her, Willow painstakingly stitched her fabric pieces together.  Autumn was rapidly approaching and she felt like bringing a little bit indoors.  If she couldn’t wander through her flowerbeds and pick pumpkins, she’d create fall from the inside out.
Once her quilt blocks were finished, Willow grabbed her cell phone and called Chad.  “Can you help me?”
He was inside before she could tell him what she needed.  “You ok?”
“I’m fine you goof.  I just didn’t feel like climbing those stairs.  I spent twenty minutes after lunch stepping onto that first step with this bum leg and I’m tired.”
Chad climbed the stairs shaking his head.  She was determined to get back into shape and just as determined not to do it with the help of a therapist.  On the bottom shelf in the craft room, he found the pile of shrunken wool sweaters and carried them back to her.  “What are you doing with them?”
“Potholders.  I’ll hang them in the kitchen and bring a little fall indoors.”  She paused thinking.  “Oh, wait.  In the closet by the door, top shelf there is a box marked red/orange.  Can you bring that too?  I’m going to make a few pumpkins.”
“Why don’t I just bring in a couple of them from the garden?”
“That too.”
As she sewed, Willow dreamed up charming clothing designs for children.  She didn’t know what kind of clothing options the store had in mind, but occasionally she scribbled a drawing on a notepad.  Several she wadded and tossed at the garbage basket in the corner but occasionally she had an idea that she knew was perfect.
Under her skilful fingers, potholders and pumpkins grew.  Every minute that passed, she forced herself to relax and enjoy the chance to do some of the things she rarely had time for in summer.  When she needed green for pumpkin leaves, Willow decided to get it herself.  Her leg wasn’t throbbing, her pain medication was working, and she needed all the exercise she could get.
***
When he returned from town, bread in tow, Chad found Willow feeding the chickens.  “What are you doing?”
“You know, what I always do?  I’m feeding the chickens.  I can’t milk Willie but I can at least give them a snack and roll them in.”
“Roll them in?”
Willow grinned.  “Well, when things get nasty fast, we don’t have time to chase them in so we just push the yard back.”
Chad watched amazed as she clicked locks off wheels he’d never noticed and slowly pushed the yard back.  The chickens were forced to climb into their coop or be squashed.  “How did you ever-”
“Mother hated chasing chickens when I was little so she created this for nighttime closing.  I like shooing them in.”
Chad moseyed into the barn with her words ringing in his ear.  “…I like shooing them in.”
Grinning, he quipped to himself, “She likes shoeing them in.  She’s not going to get the same satisfaction corralling kids into dressing rooms.”
Willow climbed the back steps painfully slowly.  Inside, two brown sacks with the most wonderful smelling food sat on the table.  She peeked inside and the tantalizing scents overwhelmed her.  It reminded Willow of her mother’s chili but something seemed different.
She pulled the containers from the bags and opened them.  “Do you like enchiladas?”
Willow’s eyes met Chad’s over the bag of food.  “I don’t- yes.”
“What?”
“I’ve never had them but they smell too good not to love it.”
“You’ve never had enchiladas?”
She shrugged.  “I’ve had sushi!”
Over dinner, Chad marked down his current work schedule on a notepad.  Working around his need for sleep and what she thought she could do, they sketched out a plan to ensure the fruit was harvested and processed and the fall garden wasn’t wasted.  By the time they finished, the plan was in place.
Chad’s phone rang.  Seconds later, he grinned.  “Just in time.  Lee Wu is coming in a while.  She has tomorrow off at the salon so she’ll stay tonight and tomorrow night.  Well, and of course all day tomorrow.”
“We can start on peaches then!”
Chad glanced at his watch.  “I’ve got an hour before dark.  I’ll go get what I can.  I have to be at work by ten tomorrow morning but I can pick quite a few before then.  Lee can pick too.
A huge grin lit up her face.  “This is going to work, isn’t it?”
“It’s going to work just perfectly.”
“Go pick peaches.  I’ll change my sheets.”
“Why?”
“Well, Lee would probably prefer sleeping on fresh sheets.”
“Where are you going to sleep?”
“The couch.”
Chad whipped out his phone.  “I’ll tell her to bring an air mattress and she can have the other bed.  I’ll sleep down here.”
“Perfectly,” she agreed.  “This is going to work just perfectly.”