Chapter 157 Working on the Land
The next summer, Byron’s half-brother Mateo came to Vancouver to take a summer course at one of the local prestigious cooking schools. Of course, Emily was pretty sure the real reason was to see Katie.
The two had really hit it off last year, and Emily knew from Katie that they had kept in touch ever since. She also knew that Katie still thought of Mateo only as a friend, but secretly she hoped Katie would change her mind. Mateo was such a kind, talented and funny young man that Emily thought he would be good for Katie and would never break her heart.
They hadn’t grown up together, but Byron thought of him as a brother, and he was always proud of his accomplishments. Mateo had his own online cooking show that was getting a bit of traction.
To celebrate the reunion, they decided to have dinner at Susie and Angie’s animal shelter. Byron and Emily had been spending a lot of time there helping to fell trees and clearing some space for an orchard. It would be an extra way for Susie and Angie to create income from the farm, in addition to charging people admission to see the animals.
They thought it might be nice if Mateo could come along since he had real farm work experience, and he was happy to join them.
They felled a tree and chainsawed it into smaller logs, packing them onto a wagon pulled by a tractor. Emily helped by chopping off the tree boughs. The physical work was quite refreshing after working in the studio and concentrating too hard on design problems.
In the evening, quite a crowd of people gathered on the picnic benches outside the farm house. Byron had invited his mother and a few of his cousins. Katie was also there since she liked to spend a lot of time with Mateo while he was in town.
“What are you going to do after you finish your studies?” Emily asked.
“I’m sure I’ll still have a lot to learn,” Mateo said, “I’m curious about different cuisines of the world, so maybe I’ll do a bit of traveling.”
“Do they let babies on planes all by themselves these days?” Katie teased.
“Katie!” Emily reproved.
“Yes, they do. I even get my own pacifier,” Mateo said.
“Mateo makes amazing pastries,” Byron chimed in.
Soon after this, Mateo stepped away from the table. Emily was lost in the exciting conversation, and it was only about an hour later that she realized Mateo wasn’t anywhere in sight.
She tried to call his phone, but cell reception was terrible in the area, so it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t answer.
“Is everything okay?” Byron asked, seeing her worried expression.
“I’m wondering where Mateo has got to,” Emily replied. “I haven’t seen him in a while. I’ll go check inside the house.”
“I’ll come with you,” Byron offered.
They looked inside the house and called for him, but there was no one in there.
Katie met them outside. “Is he not in there?”
“No,” Emily said, “and he couldn’t have left by car because our car is still in the parking lot. I wonder if he just wanted to be alone for a while.”
“Maybe it’s my fault,” Katie said, her eyes downcast. “I teased him about being a baby and then got distracted talking to someone else, but when I wanted to get back to Mateo, he was gone.”
“Young men have really sensitive egoes,” Emily said, “Maybe you should be more gentle with him.”
“If he gets offended so easily by being called a baby, then he really is a baby,” Katie pouted.
“Oh Katie, you’re too hard on him,” Emily said, “Yes, he’s still young, but he’s such a good guy.”
Suddenly Emily realized that maybe one of the reasons Katie was so obsessed with teasing Mateo about his age was that she was secretly attracted to him and it scared her. She couldn’t blame Katie for being apprehensive because she had already experienced a couple of failed relationships.
“I better check out the orchard area,” Byron said, “He might have gone back to work on it some more, and I want to make sure he’s safe.”
“Good idea,” Emily said, “I’ll come with you.”
Katie came along with them too, and they walked over a big tree-lined hill and through a copse of trees.
They were horrified to see when they reached the clearing that Mateo was lying on the ground and groaning in pain. One of his legs was pinned to the ground by the weight of the tractor, which must have tipped over on him.
Byron rushed over to the tractor and tried to lift it, but even with Emily and Katie helping, it was no use. The machinery was far too heavy for them.
“I’m going to call an ambulance,” Emily said, hurrying back to the house.
Byron followed her. “If we can find a big metal rod of some kind, I might be able to use it as a lever.”
Katie stayed with Mateo trying to comfort him, but it looked like he passed out.
