he complained to someone in the background. “That hurt.”
“Sounds like some pretty energetic hanging,” Jacob observed.
“Don’t let it fool you, she’s crazy about me,” Gabe confided. “So what’s going on out there? You left a message?”
Jacob’s grin faded. “Some things you ought to know about. We might have trouble.”
“Trouble how?” Gabe asked sharply.
“Some USDA plant health people are poking around looking for a bug that targets maple trees.”
“Targets as in kills them?”
“Yep. Hides in the bark, girdles them and transmits a fungus so that if the chewing doesn’t kill them, the fungus will. Reproduces quickly.”
“Sounds like a nasty customer.”
Jacob reached for his coffee. “It is.”
“Has it got any of ours?”
“They don’t know. They’ll be looking.” And Celie popped immediately to mind. He frowned. “If they find it, they could wind up taking down a lot of trees.”
“How many, a lot?”
“Like acres.”
Gabe digested this for a moment. “That would suck. What would that do to your income?”
“Do the math. We’ve got a hundred acres right now, forty-five-hundred-some-odd taps. Knock that down by ten percent, it’s going to hurt.”
“Will you and Ma still be okay?”
“I assume so.” Though the uncertainty had been a constant, nagging worry ever since the maple borer situation had turned serious. “It’ll cut the shares for you and Nick, though.”
Gabe snorted. “Like we care. I’ve got a job, Jacob, and so does Nick. You’re the one working your ass off on the farm. You’re the one who should get any money, you and Ma.”
“But it’s your land, too.” And he felt the responsibility every single day.
“As long as I can come and go to the farm as I please, I’ve got what I want. So with this bug thing, you worried?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what to think yet.”
There was a pause. “You feeling all right?”
“Yeah, fine. Why?”
“Because you’ve never in your life been short of an opinion. I thought maybe you were sick or something.”
“You’re a regular laugh riot, you know that?”
“Yeah,” Gabe said modestly. “Seriously, though, what’s up?”
“Don’t know yet. Celie’s coming out on Monday with her team to look the place over. I assume we’ll know more once we see what they find.”
“And then you’ll know if you’re going to lose trees?”
“I’ll know if we’re going to lose trees. They belong to all of us, Gabe. I don’t forget that.”
“And we appreciate it,” Gabe said. “So how’s Ma taking all this?”
“She seems okay. I haven’t gone into huge detail just because we don’t know enough yet and I don’t see the point in getting panicked. Anyway, I think she’s distracted right now.”
“Yeah,” Gabe said quietly. “We’re getting close to a year.”
“Month after next.” This time a year before, Adam Trask had still been around, striding through the maples with his rogue’s grin. This time a year before, Jacob had still had a father and business partner, and Molly had had a husband. And then one morning, out in the sugarbush, everything had changed….
“How’s she doing?”
“A little rocky, when she thinks no one’s looking.” He stared moodily at his coffee. “I caught her crying one day.”
“Crying?” Gabe echoed uneasily.
“Yeah.” Easily one of the most unsettling experiences of his life. “You know Ma, she was fine two minutes later but things are hard for her right now.”
“She needs us around,” Gabe said, in answer to his brother’s unspoken comment.
“Yeah.”
“Listen, I’ve got business in Montpelier next week. I figured I’d drop in at the end of the day, maybe for dinner.”
Trust Gabe to come through. “I think she’d like that. Bring Hadley, if you can.”
“She won’t be around. She’s got to go to New York for the week to close on some corporate business and see about her condo.”
“Oh yeah? She selling?”
“The place in New York, anyway. She’s got a flat out here in the manager’s house at the hotel.”
“The same manager’s house you live in?” Jacob asked innocently.
“Might be.”
“So what’s hotel ownership going to say to the two of you shacking up together?”
“Considering she’s hotel ownership, not a whole lot. Besides, we’re not shacking up.”
“No?”
“Nope. She’s still got her flat, I’ve still got mine.”
Jacob stretched, amused. “You losing your moves, little brother?”
“I’ve learned to be patient. When it’s right, we’ll know.”
“Good luck on that.”
“Yeah.” Gabe paused a moment. “So who’s this Celie?”
Chapter Four
“Okay, let’s get started.” Celie looked across the Institute conference room at the team of foresters who’d been recruited for the inspections. A half dozen of them were from the Institute—not just Marce but Bob Ford and several others. The rest were either from APHIS and the forest service or the state. Nearer at hand, Dick Rumson glowered at her from a ringside seat, arms folded over his chest.
“Good morning, everyone,” she began. “First of all, thanks in advance for your help. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. It’s essential that we get through the inspections by the end of March, before the borers hatch. If the situation’s not under control by then, we’ll have worse trouble on our hands.” She picked up a stack of sheets and handed them out. “This is a summary of the project to give you an idea
