The Tenth Letter

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Theo's POV

I wipe away the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand, and tug on the sticky collar of my tshirt.

"Lemondade?" I hear a sweet voice ask. I turn to Avery holding up a glass of lemonade with a slice of lemon, and a pink straw.

"Thank god, I feel like I've been dragging bricks through the dessert. I need to drink something." I say, gladly taking the glass and chugging down the sweet, cold liquid.

"How is your first day of being a farmer?" Avery asks with an amused expression.

"Awful. I thought they made us work hard in prison but this makes that look like a joke." I say between gulps. Avery reaches out and sweeps back some of my sweaty blonde hair from my face. I catch her caring gaze and hold it, not taking my eyes away from her beautiful face.

"Ha, I'm sorry about this, we can just lay around after so you can relax." Avery offers.

"That sounds amazing." I say, feeling my mood immediately brightening.

"But today's work is done, go wash up for supper." Avery says, taking the empty glass. She wonders back to the house while I drift towards the barn. Noah, Lucas, and Jonah are in the barn, all three them rummaging around with tools, all sweaty from the long day of work.

"So how was your first day?" Jonah asks, stacking up bundles of hay. My eyebrows bounce at his question, and I try not to scoff.

"A lot harder than I thought farm work would be." I admit, stashing away pitchforks. They all laugh at my answer, these guys must have been doing this stuff since they could walk.

"Welcome to the farm life, city boy." Lucas says, patting me on my the shoulder. Avery's brothers soon leave after cleaning up, and after they left I stripped off my sweaty clothes and took a shower out back. My sore muscles breathe a sigh of relief after I get out of the shower. I quickly change into a fresh pair of clothes, a tshirt and grey sweats but freeze. This is my first dinner with Avery's family, I can't go looking like this. I quickly dig through the drawer holding the few things I own, looking for anything decent. Almost every shirt I own is a band tshirt, old and ripped except one. I find a red plaid shirt, the closet thing I have to a button down. With a groan I force the shirt on and tuck button it all the way to my neck. I pull at the collar, hating how uncomfortable and stuff it is. I tuck the shirt into my best pair of jeans with all the hate in my body. I comb my hair and pluck out every piercing in my face and ears. With a dirty look at my reflection I make my way to the main house. As I approach the house I see Avery in the kitchen window washing dishes and she catches my eye. A beautiful smile immediately grows on her face and she rushes out.

"Evening!" She greets as she walks across the lawn. She stalls to a halt gawking at me. "Oh... my..." She breathes.

"What... why are you dressed like that?" Avery asks.

"I, ugh... felt like dressing up." I say in a half lie. Avery gives me a warm smile with a pair of beaming eyes. Avery steps closer and clutches one of my hands.

"Thank ya." She says, squeezing my hand.

"... For what?" I ask feeling my stomach do happy flips.

"Ya know what for." She says and I just grin back at her. She gives my hand another squeeze and let's go, her hands crossing over her chest.

"But this is completely unnecessary, it's dinner and the best impression ya can give is being yourself." Avery says, looking over my appearance.

"Are you sure?" I ask and she nods with a smile. "Absolutely." Avery says confidently.

"Now..." She starts, uncrossing her arms. "This has to go." She says, untucking my shirt by fistfuls. Avery unbuttons my shirt, my body tensing as her small hands slowly graze up against my chest. She moves to my arms, her fingertips brushing over my tattoo skin as she clumsily rolls up my sleeves to my elbows.

"Did ya actually comb your hair?" Avery asks, her smile widening at the sight of my effort. Avery rises up on her tippy toes and runs her fingers through my blonde hair, and I bite down on my bottom lip, my eyes gazing at Avery.

"And some finishing touches," Avery mumbles to herself as she ruffles up my collar a little. "There," Avery says, pulling her hands away. Avery steps away, admiring her work.

"Now you actually look like yourself. Though I miss your piercings, they're attractive." Avery says. Immediately my eyebrows bounce up to my hairline and her cheeks flush red. I smirk at her as she looks back at me with wide eyes.

"So, you have a thing for piercings, huh?" I tease, my smirk grinning.

"We're pretending I didn't just say that." Avery says and I laugh.

"You actually think I'm going to let you live this down?" I ask and she gives me a sour pout.

"No." She sighs. I laugh, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her to the house.

"You know, I actually like you better as yourself." I hear Avery mumble. My heart clenches at her words and without thinking I lean over and press my lips to her temple. Avery looks up at me, her checks red and eyes clouded.

"You're such a flatterer." I say and continue towards the house. After a moment I hear Avery catch up just as I reach the door. The kitchen is large, white wooden cabinets and pristine concrete counters shine. The tile floor is a soft peach color and shines just like the all the steel appliances. A huge white wooden vent hovers over the modern eight burner steel stove and a huge square island sits in the middle of the room. Eight chairs and a high chair surrounds a table, which is crowded with plates of steaming food.

"Welcome, tenant." Mrs. Parker greets as she adds more plates of food to the banquet. A young blonde woman walks into the room, holding a blonde toddler in her arms.

"Ya must be Avery's penpal." The blonde girl says, lowering the little boy in the high chair.

"Yup." I answer.

"I'm Joey, the oldest sister." Joey introduces herself. "And this is my son Cody." Joey says in a baby voice, smiling down at the little boy, who smiles back up at his mother.

"Ah, I see ya meet my wifie." Blake says as he walks in and presses a kiss to Joey's cheek and Cody's forehead. Lucas, Noah, and Jonah walk in, all freshly cleaned and take their places at the table. A little girl with dirty blonde hair runs in and climbs up on a chair, grinning cheekily.

"That's Cassie, my little sister." Avery says.

"Right, the gang is all here, take a seat, all of ya." Mrs.Parker says, putting down two pitchers of ice tea. I awkwardly take a random chair next to Avery, not sure if I'm sitting in someone's spot. This is it... my official first dinner with Avery's family. I feel my nerves subside when Avery grasps my hand under the table, and I try not to smile to widely.

"So, my new farm hand, how ya adjusting to the field?" Mrs. Parker asks me, arching a brow.

"It's hard, that's for sure, but its good work." I answer. Mrs. Parker raises her glass at me, an amused look on her face.

"Good answer. Whiners don't work on my farm." Mrs. Parker says and I grin. So far, so good.

"He actually did really well, he's a natural with a tractor." Noah says. I grin to myself at the complement, seeing Avery beam in the corner of my eye.

"Just like you, Blake." Joey says, handing her husband a bowl of salad. Blake beams at me, an impressed glint in his eyes.

"Thank god, cause Noah was making zigzags and circles." Blake jokes.

"That was one time." Noah groans. I laugh along with every one else, feeling a buzz of happiness warm my stomach. I turn to Avery, catching her smiling at me. I can't help but smile back at her, my heart feeling light as air.

I really like it here. I'm glad Avery convinced me to move into her barn.

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