13

For the next couple of weeks, Madison occupied herself with getting everything set up for tree cutting. The youth group crew had showed up the weekend before, and Madison had supervised the whole thing. And now the preordered wholesale trees were all cut and wrapped and stacked alongside the driveway, but it would still be a couple days before they could be picked up. The goal was to have them out of there the day before Thanksgiving.

Madison was eager to see them gone. Oh, she knew the Christmas tree business was all about harvesting and selling trees—and hopefully making a profit—but seeing the tightly wrapped trees stacked in tall piles filled her with an unexpected sadness. Kind of like an evergreen graveyard. Of course, each one of these trees would be freed from its twined bondage and gloriously displayed on Christmas tree lots throughout the northwest. People would purchase them, and each one would eventually grace someone’s home and hopefully fill the new owners with pine-scented Christmas joy.

As she pushed a wheelbarrow of mulch between a row of mature spruce trees in the U-cut section, she heard the sound of a dirt bike approaching. Suspecting it was Lily, though the engine noise sounded different than her usual bike, she paused to look.

“Hey, you,” Lily called out. “Come here.”

Madison smiled and waved, pushing the barrow toward the recently planted trees where she’d been mulching today. She waited for Lily to stop on the road that separated their properties. “What’s up?”

Lily pointed to the machine beneath her. “My new bike arrived today.”

“It’s quieter than your old bike.” Madison peeled off her gloves, shaking the mulch off.

“I thought you might like that. It’s an e-bike.”

“Nice!” Madison ran a finger over a shiny blue fender. “Good-looking too.”

“Yeah, but it’s not as powerful as my gas bike.”

“Oh?”

“But that’s okay. E-bikes are more polite for riding public trails. You know, where there are hikers or horses or dogs. Doesn’t upset anyone. Dad got an e-bike too. So we can go on rides together. You know, off the property. Like along the river trail into town.”

“What a great idea.”

“Really?” Lily got a slightly sly look. “You think so?”

“Sure. A nice quiet ride down an interesting trail sounds fun.”

“Great.” Lily grinned. “Because I have something to show you.”

“To show me?”

“Yeah. You busy right now?”

“Not really. I thought about making some more wreaths, but I think you and I got enough to keep us in business throughout the upcoming weekend.”

“Yeah, they look so cool hanging on the barn.” Lily pointed to the barrow. “What’s that for?”

“Just taking it over to mulch the seedlings we planted.”

“Wanna come over to our place for a minute? I want you to see something.”

Madison shrugged. “I guess.” Part of her wondered what was going on, but the other part felt nervous. She hadn’t really spoken to Gavin since the harvest party.

“Great. I’ll meet ya there.” And Lily took off.

Curiosity getting the best of her, Madison dumped the last of the mulch, then strolled over to the trailer. To be neighborly, she told herself as she approached the camping trailer and new outbuildings.

She spied Gavin emerging from their storage shed. He looked extra handsome in his denim coat and cowboy hat. “Hey, Madison.” His expression was hard to read, but she sensed he felt as uncomfortable as she did just now.

“Hi there, Gavin.” Madison shoved her hands in her jeans pockets as Lily disappeared into the storage shed. “Uh, Lily . . . said she wanted to show me something.”

“Yeah. She’s getting it.” He came closer but kept his eyes on the shed. “There it is.” He nodded toward Lily as she wheeled out a red bike. It looked very similar to the new blue one. Maybe a bit bigger.

“Another e-bike?” Madison tried to sound more interested than she felt. “Is that your new bike, Gavin? Pretty nice.”

“Actually, it’s yours,” he told her.

Madison’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“It was Lily’s idea.” Gavin suddenly looked sheepish. “It’s, um, our way of being good neighbors.”

“No way.” Madison felt her eyes growing wider.

“Yep.” Lily rolled it over to her. “I picked red ’cause your Jeep is red. I thought you’d like that.”

“I do like the color, but I—”

“We want you to enjoy riding as much as we do, Madison. Then maybe you’ll see why we wanna make the dirt bike camp here.” Lily’s smile grew hopeful. “Don’t you like it?”

Madison was speechless.

“And we want you to be safe.” Gavin picked up a shiny red helmet that had been sitting on the picnic table. He looked slightly uneasy as he handed it to her.

“But I—I don’t even know how to ride one of those things,” Madison stammered.

“Do you know how to ride a regular bike?” Lily asked.

“Well, yeah, sure, but—”

“This is even easier,” Lily assured her.

“But I’ve never been on anything like this. I mean, with a motor.”

“That’s okay.” Lily grinned. “I’ll teach you.”

“But I can’t just accept this. It’s too much and I—”

“Come on, Madison,” Lily pleaded. “You have to accept it. Just give it a try, please. I know you can do it. Trust me, you’ll love it.”

Gavin held up his hands, backing toward the trailer. “Okay, I’m going to step out of this. It’s between you ladies now. I’ve got a Zoom meeting in a few minutes.” He shot a nervous grin Madison’s way. “Good luck.”

Madison bit her lip, trying to think of a gentle way to reject Lily’s unexpected generosity, but seeing the longing in the girl’s eyes, she knew she couldn’t. “Okay then . . . when’s my first lesson?”

Lily clapped her hands together. “Now!” She pointed to Madison’s work boots. “You’ve even got the right footwear.” And just like that, Madison’s first dirt bike lesson began. To Madison’s surprise, Lily was a good teacher, going through each step on how to start the bike, control it, brake, and a few other tips. Before long, Madison was on the bike and moving—at a snail’s pace—around and around the trail that Lily had been establishing on the perimeter of their property. She went a little faster each time until she began to get the hang of it. This really was easy. And it was fun!

“You’re doing great,” Lily told her when they finally paused for a break near the boundary between the two properties. “Do you really like it?”

Madison’s smile widened. “I really do.”

“I knew it!” Lily beamed at her as she unsnapped her helmet strap.

“But I still don’t think I can keep this bike, Lily. It’s too much to—”

“You have to keep it,” she insisted. “We can’t return it now. And I really want you to go riding with me. Especially when Dad’s busy. We can take the river trail when you get more experienced.”

Madison considered this. “That might be fun.”

Lily pointed over to the Christmas tree property. “And just think how handy it can be. You can use it to get around over there. A bike’s narrow enough to fit between the tree rows. Better than your ATV.”

“You’re probably right.” Madison slowly nodded. “But I need to get better at steering first. Don’t want to run down trees.”

“We’ll keep practicing,” Lily told her. “Anytime you want.”

“Okay. I don’t really know what to say. I mean, I guess I should say thank you. Thank you very much, Lily. It’s a very generous gift.”

“You can thank Dad. I wanted it really bad, but he totally agreed.”

“Well, please thank him for me.” Madison noticed a silver car pulling down the long driveway toward her house. She recognized the Mercedes. “Uh-oh.”

“Who’s that?”

“My mother.”

“Is that bad?” Lily squinted toward the sedan now parking in front of the house.

Madison shrugged. “Not really. I knew she was coming for Thanksgiving, but I didn’t know she’d be here today. And my mom can be, well, difficult sometimes.”

“So can my sister.” Lily snickered. “And we have to pick her up tomorrow. And all her junk too.”

“I thought she wasn’t coming until winter break.”

“Apparently Lucy already dropped out of college.” Lily rolled her eyes. “Now she wants to come home. I mean, to stay here with you. Didn’t Dad tell you?”

“Uh, no. But that’s okay.” Madison wondered if her new dirt bike was some kind of thank-you for taking in Lucy. She watched as her mom emerged from her fancy car. As always, she was dressed impeccably. She tossed a long white scarf over her shoulder as the lid of her trunk opened.

“Man, I’m sure not looking forward to that long drive to Seattle.” Lily sighed. “Stuck in the back seat since Lucy will probably take over the front. Plus, she’ll have all her junk to pack in.”

“Why don’t you stay here on the farm with us?” Madison said absently.

“Seriously?” Lily’s eyes lit up. “That’d be okay? I mean, it’ll be overnight.”

“Sure. Why not?” Madison started her bike’s engine like an old pro.

“Thanks so much!” Lily beamed at her.

“I better go see about my mom.” Madison settled into the seat and reached for the throttle. “Thanks again for the bike.”

“Sure! And I’ll give you another lesson after school tomorrow,” Lily called as Madison carefully took off.

“See ya then,” Madison called back. Concentrating on the things she’d just learned, Madison rode her new bike, perhaps a bit too quickly, over to the front porch.

“My goodness.” Mom looked shocked. “What in the world are you doing on that thing?”

Madison turned off the engine and removed her helmet. “Hi, Mom.”

“I didn’t know my daughter was a motorcycle mama.”

Madison forced a smile. “It’s not a motorcycle, Mom.”

“It’s got a motor and wheels.” Her mom paused next to the open trunk.

“It’s an e-bike.”

“An e-bike? How utterly charming.” Mom’s voice seeped with sarcasm. “Why on earth are you riding it?” She struggled to tug out a large Louis Vuitton suitcase, then dropped it to the ground like a load of bricks.

“Let me get that.” Madison was tempted to give her mom a welcome hug, but they’d never really been a huggy sort of family. Instead, she moved the large suitcase out of the way, then extracted a slightly smaller one from the trunk.

“I can get this.” Mom pulled a small, third matching bag out.

“Welcome to the farm,” Madison said as they went up the steps. “I didn’t think you were coming until Wednesday.”

“Didn’t Addie tell you I called yesterday?”

“No, but I was pretty busy with tree cutting.” She wasn’t about to mention that she and her baby sister were still barely talking. Let Mom figure a few things out for herself.

“I saw all those tree piles along the road. Did you cut them all yourself?”

Madison laughed. “Hardly. But I supervised.” She set a case down to open the door. “I wish I’d known you were coming sooner. We might’ve coordinated your trip with our neighbor’s daughter. She’s been in school up your way. She’ll be staying with us too.”

“Oh? A full house?”

“It’s a big house, Mom. And if Addie knew you were coming, I’m sure she got the master bedroom all set. She mentioned moving back to her old bedroom upstairs while you’re here.”

“Well, I don’t want to put anyone out.”

“No one’s put out, Mom.” Madison waited for her mother to go inside, where Addie was running down the stairs and, although they’d never been openly affectionate, she embraced her mother. Madison stared at them, wondering how and when these changes came about.

“I’m so glad to see you, Mom. Did you have a good trip?” Addie picked up her smallest bag.

“Traffic was awful. I thought I’d avoid some of that by coming earlier, but it seems everyone and their aunt Martha is on the road today.”

“Well, I’m so glad you’re here. You get Grandma and Grandpa’s room.” Addie linked arms with her, leading Mom down the hall. “I cleaned it really nice for you.” Madison followed with the two larger bags.

“I know it’s not what you’re used to,” Addie said, setting the bag on a bench by the bed, “but it’s the best we have. And the bathroom is just a door down. Madison and I can use the upstairs bath while you’re here.”

“And your other guest?” Mom sat on the edge of the bed. “Where will she stay?”

“The spare room upstairs.”

“And all three of you will share that little bathroom up there?” Mom frowned. “Cozy.”

“Well, if it gets too cozy, I might use the downstairs bath with you.” Addie smiled. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Mom chuckled. “Like old times.”

“I’ve got soup in the Crock-Pot,” Madison said. “I better check on it.”

“You cook now?” Mom sounded surprised.

“It’s nothing new. Grandma taught me a few tricks when I was a kid. Then I had to cook a lot in Mongolia. No easy fast food there.”

“Yes, Madison is quite the little culinary queen.” Addie smirked. “Although our tastes differ some.”

Madison resisted an eye roll as she moved toward the door. “Well, it’s just veggie and rice soup, if anyone’s interested. And I could make some muffins.”

“Or you can come out with me, Mom,” Addie eagerly suggested. “It’s about a twenty-minute drive to some good restaurants but well worth the drive.”

“Do you mind, Madison?” Mom’s finely plucked brows arched.

“Not at all. Do as you like. I always make a big pot of soup just to have leftovers the next couple days.” Madison tried to appear casual but had mixed feelings as she headed for the kitchen. If she had known she was dining alone, she would’ve added chicken to the soup! Sure, she was relieved to escape their chitchat reunion, but she felt left out too. Better get used to it, she thought as she peeled off her hoodie to hang by the door. It was a good thing she had plenty to keep her busy between now and Christmas. The barn could probably use a few more wreaths.