Addicted

Chapter 18 The Hiatus

Friday morning came with angry red letters on Shane's alarm clock in the small ranch house bedroom. Shane yawned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and knocking the bedside lamp over with his elbow in a stretch. He was expected to still be at work this morning, so it was time to get up with the droning tune of country music playing from the alarm clock. He let out another yawn as he pulled his clothes from his still unpacked duffel bag, swearing that he didn't own that many clothes before he left the ranch. He pulled on the days clothes and sauntered out of his room towards the front door. As he slid on his boots, bending down to tie them, and letting out an involuntary groan, suddenly missing the feel of Maree's fingers running through his hair early in the morning.

The walk from the ranch to Burnt Farms was relatively warm compared to the weather they had been facing, the feeling of the sun on his thick jacket caused Shane to sweat. Jake was waiting for him next to the tree line, picking up sticks and snapping fallen branches. He nodded when seeing Shane and pointed to the trees. "We've got fruit gonna start popping soon, so we gotta get rid of all the super dead branches." Jake continued his work as Shane joined him, neither really saying anything but nodding back and forth at questions about how the next weeks' work was going to be divided between the two of them.

The morning passed quickly, giving way to a very warm lunch time, in which both men had already shed their jackets. Maree had been out and around the farm, tending to the shed mostly, bringing out box after box of newly scraped material. Shane watched curiously as Jake called for a lunch break, inviting him in for a sandwich and some water. He stayed in his spot, waving Jake on as he watched Maree moving quickly between the garbage bins outside and the shed, her face fixed in its usual stoic position. Her last box was the one she brought out as she saw Sam walking up the road towards her house. She dropped the box by the shed door and ran to Sam, grabbing the sleeve of his denim jacket and pulling him up the porch stairs. The front door closed with a slam as Maree and Sam disappeared behind it, Jake opening his front door in the same moment. Shane looked to him with puppy eyes, his heart dropping at the sight of Maree aggressively pulling another man into her home. Jake frowned mockingly towards his sister's house then waved his hand in a 'fuck her' manner. "I don't think I'll be able to handle the answer, but what the fuck is Sam doing here?" asked Shane, his voice broken and whispered.

Jake eyed him for a second, feeling the jealousy and sadness radiating from Shane. "I've been asked specifically not to talk about her personal business with you. She said and I quote," Jake scrunched his nose in the same way Maree did when mocking Emily, "Jake, 'don't be talking about nobody else business but your own, if you know what's good for ya.' Honest, that's what she said to me." Jake put his hands up in surrender as he watched Shane's face fade into a deeper sadness. "If it helps, I know she aint fuckin him."

"I can't keep standing here, man. I need something to do." Shane turned his whole body away from Maree's house.

"You can go work on the shed. I guarantee that it's enough work for the whole day. You won't even have to see her," Jake gestured towards the shed that he had left Maree in. Walking towards it, Shane let out a long sigh. Jake opened the door for Shane to step in, immediately hearing the crunch of glass under his foot as he flipped on the lights in the shed. He looked around at the damaged and destroyed machines, various holes in the wall from Maree's small fist or the machines colliding with the wood paneling. His mouth agape as Jake stepped in and stood next to Shane. "All the new machines are already being shipped here, just puts production on hold until Monday, but today is the only day of work and then we're off the weekend so it should be fine, right?"

Shane turned to Jake with his mouth still open. "What happened in here?" he asked, not sure if he should even want to know as he picked up the broken off handle of a beer bottle. He moved broken parts across the floor with his boots as he checked the labels of broken glass on the floor.