They drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence and when they pulled up to the farmhouse Marcus didn’t immediately get out. He sat there looking at his home and Nathan knew he was seeing how empty it was about to feel. “Come on,” Nathan said. “Let’s go inside. I’ll make dinner.” “You’ll burn dinner, you mean.” “Probably. But at least we won’t be alone while I do it.” Marcus smiled small but genuine. “No. At least there’s that.”
One year later Nathan stood in the middle of Marcus Hill’s cornfield on an October afternoon watching the harvest crew work. The farm had grown significantly over the past year. Marcus had leased two additional adjacent properties and expanded his operation with Nathan’s quiet financial backing. What had been a struggling twenty-hectare farm was now a thriving regional operation that employed three full-time workers and provided seasonal work for a dozen more.
But the real harvest Nathan thought wasn’t measured in bushels of corn. His phone rang. Alicia, right on schedule. They’d fallen into a routine of Sunday afternoon calls where she’d update him on her classes and research while he told her about the farm and Marcus’s latest projects. “Hey, kid. How’s the brilliant college sophomore?” “Exhausted,” she said but she sounded happy. “I just finished a presentation for my biomedical engineering class. We’re designing a low-cost prosthetic arm prototype. It’s so cool, Nathan. We’re using—” She launched into a detailed technical explanation that Nathan mostly didn’t follow but loved hearing anyway.
“That’s amazing. Your dad’s going to be so proud.” “Is he there? Can I talk to him?” “He’s in the barn. Hang on.” Nathan walked across the field watching Marcus direct the harvest crew with easy authority. Over the past year Marcus had transformed from a man barely hanging on to someone confident in his own success. He’d started mentoring young farmers in the area sharing the techniques that Nathan’s investment had allowed him to learn. He’d become a respected voice in the local agricultural community but more importantly he’d become Nathan’s best friend.
“Your daughter’s on the phone,” Nathan called out. Marcus grinned and jogged over taking the phone. “Hey, baby girl. How’s school?” Nathan walked away to give them privacy but he could hear Marcus’s laughter could see the way his whole face lit up when he talked to Alicia. She’d been home for Thanksgiving and summer break and she’d return for Christmas in a few months. She was thriving at Columbia had already connected with a research lab that wanted her as an assistant for next year. She was going to be fine, better than fine. She was going to change the world just like she’d always planned.
Marcus finished the call and handed the phone back. “She sounds good.” “She is good.” “You did well, Marcus.” “We did well.” Marcus gestured at the field the barn the farmhouse in the distance. “All of this. It’s not just me. It’s you, too. It’s us.” Nathan felt that familiar warmth in his chest the feeling that had become so common over the past year that he almost took it for granted now. Belonging. Being part of something that mattered.
“You got any plans for Thanksgiving?” Marcus asked. “Because Alicia’s bringing her roommate home with her. The girl from California who’s never had real Thanksgiving dinner and I figured we’d do it up right. Turkey all the sides the whole thing. You should come. Hell, you should stay for the whole weekend. Help me make sure Alicia doesn’t spend the entire break buried in textbooks.” “I’d love that,” Nathan said.