Unclaimed

Chapter Seventeen- Working Still

I'm brushing my teeth as I get a knock on the door.

"I'll be done in a minute!" I shout through the door. But it opens and Yazmin steps through. "Yeah, totally come inside! It's not like the bathroom is the one place in the house that I'm entitled to some privacy." I spit the mint foam into the sink.

"Someone named MaryAnne is here to see you." She says and I turn to face her only to see her shrug. I pace towards the door and turn the corner to find MaryAnne standing in my living room with my mother and Judas.

"What's up?" I ask, mouth still lathered with foam as the toothbrush hung from my mouth.

"Here to debrief you on the way to the wine house." She nods to me.

"Was it bad?" I ask.

"Only the first two days into your coma, then we got the hang of it." She says. "No one is left without a roof over their heads, which is good."

"Give me ten minutes." I say and resume brushing my teeth. Hoping into the shower blasting myself with cold water as I could already feel the heat of the day set in. Dressing comfortably in grey haram pants and a grey t-shirt, I head down stairs to meet MaryAnne.

"You're not going out without breakfast are you?" My mother stopping me.

"It's a habit I've been trying to get her to break for as long as I've been here." Judas says over the rim of a coffee mug.

"I have to do my rounds at the farm, the vineyard, the valley, both the wine and cheese house, and after that I have to come back and dig myself out of a mountain of emails." I say tying my hair back with a hair tie. "This will take me until eight maybe nine this evening, so I don't know if I'll be able to make it to your dinner."

"And you do all of that on an empty stomach?" My mother crossing her arms and glaring at me from the kitchen island. "Absolutely not. Come here and eat something." My mother zooming past me and grabbing MaryAnne by the arm, dragging her into the living room. "MaryAnne here can tell me all about your apparent million dollar business." She puts on the fakest smile I've seen as she offers MaryAnne a cup of coffee.

I move to the kitchen as they fall into low conversation, and I question if whether or not my 'open door policy' should continue.

I grab a pancake from the table and dip it in the small serving cup of maple syrup. Taking a mean bite as I pour myself a cup of coffee.

"You slept like a baby last night." Judas says. Moving closer to me, leaning on his elbows against the kitchen island. His tattooed arms on full display as he grabbed his own pancake. "I've never seen you fall asleep faster. Usually there's some tossing and turning-"

"Okay, you're being weird." I say as I gulp down the bitter, hot liquid.

"I'm saying. I've never seen you more exhausted, and you're on your feet almost everyday from sun up to sundown. Don't you ever...Y'know stop?"

"Nope." I shake my head. "Everyone in this town works day in and day out to provide for themselves and their families. I've got no right doing any less than them."

"Beau you own-"

"Judas drop it." I cut him off giving him a passive look. Our eyes connected, as I silently urge him to drop the conversation. I grab a piece of bacon from the plate in front of me and stick it into my mouth as I head to the sink to wash my hands. Shaking my hands clean as I wave to MaryAnne. The both of us speeding out the door before my mother could intervene again.

We are well on the path to the farmlands as MaryAnne begins explaining everything that's happened since I've been asleep.

"Once word got out that you'd been wounded, the town went into a frenzy. Also becoming acutely aware of the direct pipeline you have to their livelihood." MaryAnne walks beside me as I we make it to the farmlands. Both of us grabbing woven baskets slinging them onto our backs, then grabbing gardening gloves and woven sun hats. She trails behind me as we make our way to the root vegetables.