Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

11. Bartlett

CHAPTER 11

Bartlett

A week with Abby and my life has changed.

She makes me feel like anything is possible. And that may sound corny, but only if you've never been in love.

"Love?" Lemon says, shaking her head at me. She's brought in muffins from Home Made, the bakery across the street, and hands me a blueberry one. "You can't be in love with someone after knowing them for a week. That's ridiculous."

I shrug. "When you know, you know."

"Have you told her this?" she asks me with a frown, eyes narrowed.

"Not yet, but I plan on telling her after family dinner this Sunday."

Lemon groans. "That's so romantic. Let me guess. You're going to take her out behind the house, up to the old treehouse, and point out a star, and–"

"Hey," I say. "That was my plan."

"Oh, my God," Lemon says. "You are such a boy."

"I was trying to be romantic," I say.

She laughs. "Well, I think it's ridiculous."

"I just think you're jaded. Why aren't you more optimistic?" I ask. "If memory serves me correctly, your best friend, Juniper, met her husband, Jacob, in the most random way in Alaska not even two months ago."

Lemon takes a giant bite of her muffin to avoid answering my question. I laugh. "Exactly," I say. "When they came home for Christmas, I don't think I've ever seen two people more in love in my life. They were all heart eyes and lovey-dovey. It was cute. And Juniper deserves to be happy. That girl has had a hard life and Jacob makes her happy."

"True," Lemon says. "I am happy for Juniper and Jacob, and they are happy together. Happy, happy, happy.” She groans. “But that's one in a million. What are the chances of you falling in love equally as fast just one month later? Not statistically possible."

"You're not even good at math, woman," I tease as Plum comes into the store with her dad, Rueben.

"Hey," Rueben says with a smile. "What are you joking about?"

"Oh, I'm just giving our big brother here a hard time," Lemon says, wrapping her arms around Plum. "He thinks he's in love."

"With Abracadabra," Plum says with a grin.

"Abraca-what?" Lemon asks.

I press a finger to my lip. "Shh," I say. "That was our secret, Plum."

Plum giggles. "Sorry, Uncle Bart. But I have big news," she says.

"What's the news?" Lemon asks.

"The circus is coming to town," Plum says, jumping up and down. "Look." She shows us a flyer and sure enough the Big Top Circus is coming to town this weekend. Today is Thursday.

My stomach drops.

"What kind of circus performs in the middle of winter?" Rueben asks. "Kind of weird, right?"

This is more than weird. This is downright messy.

"Well," Lemon says, looking at the flyer more closely, "they're setting up at the Burly Fairgrounds. That's under cover and heated. That makes more sense. Are you guys going to go tomorrow?" she asks Rueben.

"Please, Daddy. Please, please, please," Plum asks, jumping up and down as Abby comes into the store.

She's smiling, having no idea that her whole world is about to come to a halt. "Hey guys," she says. I walk right over to her and give my girl a kiss. Damn, I like that. My whole world has expanded with her in it. My eyes? They're hearts too. Juniper and Jacob, Lemon's friends, aren't the only ones who are head over heels.

"So, I've got great news," she says. "I heard that Home Brew is hiring. And I think that they might call me later for an interview. So, fingers crossed." She's been looking for a job the last few days. And while we haven't said anything about where she's going to be living because, well, I want her to live with me, nowhere else, we are talking about employment, which seems like a safer subject.

"That's awesome," I say. "Of course they'll hire you. They'd be lucky to have you."

Lemon nods. "Yeah. And I'm totally tight with the owner. Griffin and I were in 4-H together for years. I can totally give her a good word if you want."

"Of course," Abby says. "That's super nice."

"Abby," Plum says, jumping up and down and reaching for her hand. "Did you hear the other good news?"

"What's that?" Abby asks.

"The circus is coming to town tomorrow," she says. "Look." She hands Abby the flyer. "Dad says he's going to take me. Do you want to come? Daddy, can Abby come with us?"

Abby takes a flyer from Plum's hand and she takes a step back. Her face goes completely white as she takes in the news. "Oh God. Oh God," she says. "This is bad."

"Bad," Lemon says. "What's going on?"

"It's my family. This is my family's circus."

Rueben frowns. My family is a big family. So even though I filled my parents in on the situation with Abby and her parents, not all my siblings know because there's a lot of us and it's a complicated story. And like Lemon has explained over and over again, it’s only been a week.

"Well, if it's your family, that's a good thing, right?” Lemon says. “Maybe they could come over to Mom and Dad's on Sunday for family dinner and–"

"No," Abby says, cutting Lemon off. "They're not coming to your parents' house ever," she says. "You don't understand. This is terrible. This is like..."

Plum begins to cry, looking up at her dad. "Daddy, why is the circus bad?"

Rueben picks Plum up. "It’s nothing, honey."

"I'm sorry," Abby says. "Plum, the circus is fine. I didn't mean to scare you. I just, I used to work in that circus," she says, blinking back her tears. “And it's just not the best place." She shakes her head, feeling trapped, stuck. I see it.

"You don't have to explain everything right now," I say. "What we actually need to do is call Graham down at the station."

Rueben's eyes widen as he takes in the seriousness of the situation. "Hey, Lemon," he says, "why don't you take Plum home? I'll come get her in a little while."

"Of course," Lemon says, realizing what's going on. "We're just going to go upstairs for a minute and grab a few things. I have my purse and my jacket up there."

"Actually," I say, "Abby, why don't you go with them, all right?" I give her a kiss on the cheek. "Rueben and I, we're going to go talk to Graham and we'll be right back, okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I say."I'm sure. All right?" I give her another kiss and then I watch her and my sister and Plum go upstairs to the office that is above the hardware store.

Rueben looks at me. "What in the hell is going on?" he asks.

I run a hand over my beard. "Her parents trapped her, kept her basically a prisoner for years. And if they're coming back into town, they're coming for one thing and one thing only."

Rueben nods, understanding. "They're coming for her."