At two minutes to ten, Jessup heads over to the barn with his mom and David John and Jewel. The church is almost full, and it feels like every man and woman sitting there is staring at him as he works his way up the aisle. It’s only when they are already halfway up the aisle that Jessup realizes there’s an empty space in the very front pew reserved for him and his family, right next to Brandon Rogers. The choir sits off to the left.
He sees Wyatt’s girlfriend, Kaylee, sitting with her parents and her older brother, Peyton. Kaylee smiles and Peyton just tips his head. He’s finishing up an associate degree in sustainable farming and food systems. He’s the one who got Mr. and Mrs. Owen to take the farm organic, back when he was just a freshman in high school: he argues that the premium prices are worth the hassle and organic farming is the future if you want to make a living.
Some of the other faces are people he knows—old Mrs. Holland, who was old even when she was Jessup’s first-grade teacher—but there are others who look familiar but he can’t place, four years’ absence enough to wipe the slate clean.
He sees Mr. and Mrs. Dunn seated with Wyatt’s two younger brothers and his sister—she’s a year younger than Jewel, and while they aren’t besties like him and Wyatt, the two girls get along okay—but no Wyatt. And across the aisle from them, Leanne Gray, who’s only two years older than Jessup, nineteen, but already married and, by the looks of things, about ready to pop out a baby. He used to have a crush on her something fierce when he was in middle school. Still has dreams about her sometimes.
They sit down, Jessup next to Brandon, and Jewel hops up into Jessup’s lap. He doesn’t mind it. Likes it, in fact. She’s getting big, but he knows he won’t be able to hold her like this for much longer, knows she won’t want it soon, won’t be caught dead on her big brother’s lap in a year or two.
Uncle Earl comes out from the back.
Jessup’s mom takes his hand, gently squeezes.
The service starts.