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to get an ideal spot, even as rural as it was. Most of the interns she’d worked with at Valerie’s farm had gone back to working normal jobs.
    Avery was so grateful for her property, she wished she had someone to share it with. She wished she had someone to share anything with. She’d only seen Lucien a few times in person. As connected as they were, he wasn’t there for her now. Whatever was keeping him away, she knew she could forgive him in the end. Her connection to him was just too strong to deny. She needed to be with him again. Nothing had ever felt so good or so right.
    The first customers to the farmer’s market began to filter in. A steady stream of customers flowed through the booth. Every type of person you could imagine strolled the aisles. She recognized a few hipsters from her college and waved hello.
    Two young men with beards and tattoos walked over to her, smiling. She remembered one was an art student who was a friend of a friend and the other was in her forest ecology class. The two men had already purchased a bag of hazelnuts and a package of local cheese between them.
    “Avery Miller. Is that you? Wow, you really did get your own farm,” said the guy from her ecology class.
    “I’ve got a great crop too,” she said, smiling.
    “Your greens look delicious. I’ll take a head of lettuce and a bag of salad greens.”
    Avery wrapped them up for him and passed him the bag as he pulled bills out of his wallet. After he paid, he and his friend promised to visit her for the rest of the season. Getting the support of her peers was so gratifying, but that didn’t keep her from almost having a heart attack when the next customer entered her stall.
    “Avery? What are you doing here?” her brother said.
    “Hello, Frederick,” she greeted him with distaste.
    “Are these your vegetables?” he asked in bewildered disbelief.
    He was wearing a windbreaker over a collared shirt and a pair of dark jeans. His perfectly cut hair, his perfectly polished skin, and his manicured nails. Her lawyer brother Frederick had always been the good child, while Avery was the slacker.
    “They’re great, aren’t they?” Avery said.
    “I suppose.”
    He pressed his fists to his hips and chewed on his upper lip, looking back and forth at her bounty.
    “You know, Mom and Dad had a right to part of grandma’s inheritance. You should have shared it with them instead of keeping it all for this project of yours.”
    “Freddy, Mom and Dad have plenty of money. Plus, Grandma left them the house.”
    “Do you really think this is the wisest use of that money?”
    “We’ve been through this,” she said, feeling as if she might burst into tears. Her parents didn’t need the money, by any stretch of the imagination. Why did he have to stomp all over her dreams?
    “Do you want to buy some spinach? Greens are good for your blood,” she said.
    “Nice, Avery. No, I don’t need any of your spinach. I’m meeting people.”
    “Well, bye,” she said with a dismissive wave.
    “Avery. Really. I’m just trying to help.”
    “I know. That’s the worst part.”
    He made a frustrated sound at the back of his throat and turned toward the exit.
    “See ya, sis,” he said, walking away.
    “Wouldn’t want’a be ya,” she muttered under her breath.
    Why didn’t anyone understand?
    Her brother wanted her to put all her money into the stock market and get a regular job. Unless she was willing to give it to Mom and Dad. Those were the only acceptable things to do. He didn’t understand her life goal, and he didn’t care. “That’s what you do when you retire,” he’d told her once.
    The rest of the day, she tried to forget about her brother. Just because he didn’t understand her didn’t mean she had to let it get her down. At the end of the day, she’d made a tidy sum and had sold all of her harvest for the week. It was a definite success for her first market and she reminded herself she should be proud of what