That Certain Summer

Chapter 27- The City Boy and The Farm Girl against their own fears

Chapter 27— The City Boy and The Farm Girl against their own fears

"Go away!"

                That was Heather, yelling at the top of her lungs, and waking up Kevin in the process. He groaned in frustration as he peeled his eyes open. The clock on his nightstand said it was already nine o'clock in the morning. That's odd, he thought. Heather usually woke him up at around seven in the morning.

                As he debated on whether he should get up or enjoy this rare moment of just lying in bed until he got bored of it, he heard unfamiliar voices coming from downstairs, probably down the porch.

                "Ms. Williams, we need to speak to your grandfather," someone, a male, said.

                "No! Just leave us alone," Heather insisted. By the sound of it, she was beyond angry.

                "Heather, we understand that—" a female was talking, but she was interrupted by Heather's frustrated shriek. A shriek so high and loud, that it jolted Kevin to sit up. But he didn't stand yet. He didn't want to intrude on what was happening downstairs.

                "Go away! We don't need your shitty offer, okay?" Heather yelled then slammed the door on the two guests.

                Kevin gave Heather an hour to calm herself down before he went downstairs to check up on her. In his mind, he imagined Heather sitting at the counter, drinking iced coffee, and just staring at the kitchen walls. That's what she does whenever something is bothering her. And that was exactly what she was doing the moment Kevin stepped in.

                "Why didn't you wake me?" he asked. He knew he sounded a bit rude, but if he didn't do that, Heather would get suspicious of him, thus hiding more details about what happened earlier that morning.

                "You have an alarm clock, go use it," she replied monotonously as she stirred her iced coffee.

                "Can you make iced coffee for me too?" Kevin asked as he sat across her.

                Heather looked at him directly in the eyes. "Go get your own. There's a pitcher of it in the fridge."

                The two of them got engaged in a starting battle, and neither of them wanted to lose. The longer Kevin stared at her, the more he got lost in her forest green eyes.

                But he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to know what happened earlier. "Okay, I give up," he said, looking away. On the corner of his eyes, he saw Heather smirking at him, as if to say 'I win, loser!'

                "What happened earlier, Heather?" he asked. There was no point of beating around the bush if he wanted to know something.

                Heather's smirk faded and a frown stepped in its place. She looked down and sipped her iced coffee, until half of it was remaining. She took a deep breath then finally spoke. "So you heard, huh?" she chuckled. "Not really surprising, considering I just screamed at the top of my lungs earlier."

                She sipped once more. "Those guys," she sighed, "they have been trying to buy this land for the last three years. Why? I don't really know. But...it's just that they're really annoying!" she groaned in frustration and ducked her head on the counter top. "They come every summer, and each year the money they offer gets larger," she said. "And Grandpa is even considering to sell this off!"

                "What? Why?" For some reason, Kevin's heart dropped. Even though he'd spent only a month on this land, he began to fall in love with this place. Maybe it was a place that he could consider as a home away from home.

                "He said that he's getting old and he might not be able to take care of it," Heather answered with a broken voice.

                The two of them didn't speak for a few moments. Kevin just played with Heather's hair, pondering the things that she said.

                "This farm really means a lot to ya', huh?" Kevin said. She nodded, but didn't say a word. "Why?" he asked.

                He heard Heather sigh, then lifted her head up. "Because, this is my home. This is where I grew up. Where I belong."

                They stared at each other for a moment. "You know, you'll have to let go of this land someday."

                Heather looked away. "I know. People expect me to. They expect me to graduate from a prestigious school. They expect me to take over my parents' company. They expect us to be our parents."

                "Do you want to take over?" Kevin asked.

                Kevin thought for a minute and asked himself the same question. Did he want to take over his dad's company? Of course, he does. Not because of the money, but because it was his family's legacy; because he had grown into loving the company ever since his father started to teach him on how to run the company.

The real question was: did he deserve the company? He knew himself that he was a selfish, careless jerk. He was smart, yes. But sometimes, he forgets to use his brain, and just faced his problems by shouting, and running away. And the way he acted right now was not a good quality to have when dealing with clients.

Not only that, but the way he treated his parents. Did he even deserve everything they have given him, seeing that all he did was complain and throw fits?

If Heather's fear was losing the farm, Kevin's was the thought of him being unworthy to inherit the company.

"Of course," Heather said, interrupting his train of thoughts. "I don't know why, but I love our chain of restaurants." She smiled dreamily. "I love the idea of managing it and being open to the possibilities in the business."

Kevin smiled too. He and Heather shared the same thoughts about running his family's company.