Chapter 174

Tessa’s POV

“Oh, my God! Ruby, wake up,” I said, shaking her until Ruby’s eyes finally opened.

My heart was racing rapidly against my chest and my entire body trembled violently. I still clutched my phone in my hand. It’s been about an hour since I sent that text message to Joseph and my entire world felt like it was crumbling down around me.

I couldn’t believe I sent that text message to him.

“What happened?” She asked while she yawned.

“I texted him…” I managed to sputter.

She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Texted who?”

“Joseph,” I said in a loud whisper.

She gasped loudly.

“What?!” She exclaimed, grabbing my phone out of my hand. “What did you text him, Tessa?”

She paused when she read the text and then her eyes shifted to me.

“Do you think he saw it?” She asked in a whisper like she was afraid he could hear us.

Knowing Joseph, he probably could.

“I sent it over an hour ago,” I groaned, wanting to slap myself in the face.

“An hour ago?!” She shrieked.

I nodded, feeling regret boiling in my chest.

I was so confident in that text message; it wasn’t until much later that I started to feel this regret. I don’t know what came over me. He didn’t respond to it, which made me feel even worse.

He truly doesn’t care.

“Okay, maybe it’s not that bad,” she said, trying to see the light in this dark situation. I appreciated her for that. “Maybe he will delete it before he reads it. Or maybe his phone is broken, and he never receives it at all. Anything could happen, Tess. I wouldn’t worry about it right now.”

I wanted to believe that she was right, but I had a nasty feeling tightening in the pit of my stomach. I glanced at my phone again and saw that we were about 20 minutes away from arriving.

I tried to take steady breaths to calm myself down.

I glanced at Ruby who was smiling at her phone; she was chuckling.

“Is my cousin that funny?” I asked, relieved for this little bit of a distraction.

Her face reddened.

“I was just telling him that we are heading to your father’s farm for the weekend,” she said, making my heart fall deep into my stomach. “He told me to scoop lots of cow poop for him.”

If Carter knew where we were going, that means Joseph does too.

Could this weekend get any worse?

Ruby looked at me and I realized she had gone pale.

“What?” I asked, frowning.

“You aren’t going to make me scoop cow poop, are you?” She asked in a hoarse whisper.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her expression.

“I won’t,” I assured her. “But I can’t promise that my dad won’t.”

Her eyes widened in alarm, making me laugh again.

I spent the next 20 minutes scrolling through social media and trying to take my mind off Joseph and the life that seemed to be falling apart around me. Ruby spent it texting Carter and chuckling like a schoolgirl.

At least one of us looks to be getting their happy ending. I just hope Carter doesn’t break her heart like Joseph broke mine.

If Carter and Ruby got married, would I have to see Joseph at the wedding? No doubt that Joseph would be Carter’s best man and I would be Ruby’s maid of honor.

They always pair the maid of honor and best man together.

As my mind began to spiral once again, I didn’t realize the train had stopped moving. The familiar country scenery was clear in the window. Not a building in site and I couldn’t have been more at ease. Ruby on the other hand was staring out the window with large and alarmed eyes, making me smile in her direction.

This was going to be a lot of fun, I thought to myself.

Peggy walked down the aisle with her cart, asking if anyone wanted anything while we were stopped. As she walked by, I quickly rolled down the window.

“Hey, Peggy,” I said, stopping her.

She looked at me and gave me a kind smile, but then she frowned and glanced at her clipboard questionably.

“Box 5 is scheduled to leave the train during this stop,” she said. “Did you want to buy something before you left?”

I nodded.

“Do you have any raw carrots?” I asked.

“We have them in small snack-sized bags,” she said, rummaging through her cooler. “It’s $2.”

“Perfect, thank you,” I said, handing her a couple of dollars.

Ruby was watching me questionably as I put the carrots in my bag.

“What are those for?” She asked. “I have never seen you munch on carrots before.”

I chuckled.

“They are for Ivy.”

Her frown deepened.

“There’s that name again… and you still haven’t told me who Ivy is.”

My smile widened.

“You’ll meet her once we get to my father’s farm,” I told her. “But trust me, you will love her.”

“Okay, but I hope she knows that I’m your best friend,” Ruby said, folding her arms across her chest, and making me laugh again.

“Oh, she knows.”

The train moved forward, and we entered the train station before it stopped again.

Not before long, the train conductor spoke on the loudspeaker, announcing that we had arrived at our destination, and we may exit the train now.

Ruby and I stood and followed the crowd that was also leaving the train.

We went over to the man who was taking our luggage out of the undercarriage of the train and once we got our luggage, we made our way through the train station. This train station here wasn’t much different than the underground one in the city. There were still homeless people lurking in the corners and harassing others for money.

I stopped walking when we passed by one of them and much to Ruby’s shock, I placed the rest of the money I had from my train expenses into their little cup. Then we continued to walk; Ruby was hesitant at first, but then she started to follow closely behind me.

As we walked up the steps that led outside the train station, I noticed Ruby wasn’t behind me anymore. I frowned and went back down the stairs only to find her near another homeless man and rummaging for the rest of her change in her handheld bag.

He looked just as surprised as I did.

She finally accumulated a few bills and a handful of coins, and she dropped them into his cup.

“T…thank you, miss,” he stammered in a raspy tone, wide-eyed.

She surprised me even more by smiling at him and then turning to join me on the stairs.

“That was so unlike you,” I teased as we walked up the stairs together.

She shrugged.

“Might as well have the full experience while I’m here.”

We made our way outside and into the warm country air. There were a lot of dirt roads and plenty of grass. The air smelled like hay, mulch, and farm animals. There were a couple of cabs parked out front and a few running cars.

I also saw some horses nearby, waiting for their owners to return.

Ruby looked wide-eyed at the horses like she had never seen one in her life.

“Tessa!” I heard my name being called from a short distance and I saw my father getting out of his black Subaru to walk toward us.

My father was a tall gentleman and firmly built. The farm requires a lot of physical labor, so he has the muscles to show for the work that he does. I’ve been told I look a lot like my father when it comes to our features, but I don’t really see it. We have different eye colors, and our noses are different shapes. Maybe we have the same full lips and brown hair, but that’s about it.

He’s in his 60’s, but he looks much younger. Woman around this small country town finds him to be “eye candy.”

I had to hear about how “hot” they found him all throughout high school.

I hadn’t seen him in over a year and seeing him now, I realized that I truly did miss him.

“Dad!” I said in return as he wrapped me in his arms and lifted me off the ground to twirl me around.

“How was the train? Must have been a long ride,” he said as he released me on the ground.

“4 hours,” I told him. “It was exhausting.”

He gave me a faint smile and then his eyes flickered to Ruby who tensed.

“Oh, Dad. This is my best friend, Ruby,” I introduced. “She’s never been outside the city before.”

His smile grew and his brows rose.

“Oh, you’re going to love the country,” my father said. “You’ll actually be able to see the stars at night.”

Her eyes widened.

“That actually sounds nice,” she said in return. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Campbell.”

My father laughed and shook his head.

“Please, call me Rick.”

“Rick,” she repeated like she was testing the name on her tongue.

“Let me grab your luggage,” my father said as he grabbed both our suitcases with ease.

I motioned for Ruby to follow me as we went toward my father’s car. She sat in the back seat, and I sat in the passenger seat. Once my dad finished putting our things in the trunk, he slid into the driver’s seat and started to drive away from the train station.

“So, how’s Penny?” I found myself asking after a few minutes of silence.

“She’s good. She’s excited to see you,” my father said, making me roll my eyes. “She’s cooking a roast for dinner tonight. Hope you girls are hungry.”

“Starving,” Ruby said before I could say anything.

“Good because she’s making all the fixings too,” he replied.

We drove through the small town and up the dirt path that led to my father’s farm. He owned one of the biggest farms in the country and he gets a lot of business from locals and grocery stores.

My father lived in a large house on the farm that he built with a few of the local contractors. It was made from oak wood, and it was 3 stories tall. There are 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. There were also 3 stables, where he kept horses, cows, goats, and sheep when they weren’t roaming around the large acres of fenced-in land. There was a hen house, a chicken coop, a pig pen, and a small pond where the ducks and geese hung out.

My father always kept the grass perfectly trimmed and it was beautifully green. I knew the business had picked up over the years and he has a few hires that help him maintain the farmland and animals.

As we drove up the dirt road that led to the front of the house, I could already hear Cami barking.

I couldn’t help the smile on my face as the Collie dog ran into view, making my father stop the car before he hit her.“God damn it, Cami,” he muttered as he turned off the engine. “Guess we walk from here.”

I quickly got out of the car and allowed Cami to jump on me and try to lick my face. I laughed as I ran my fingers down her long, soft, marble coat of fur.

“Hey, girl,” I said to her, rubbing behind her ears. “I’ve missed you too.”

Ruby got out of the car hesitantly and Cami went straight for her. I burst out laughing as she shrieked and nearly fell over.

My father laughed too as he grabbed our luggage from the trunk.

“Oh my god!!” I heard from the front door, making my entire body freeze. “Tessa? Is that you??!”