Veronica woke up to the sun shining in her eyes. She blinked and very quickly remembered where she was. She sat up and brushed her black hair away from her face. It was 7:15am and she remembered that Matthew had told her breakfast was at 7am. Just as she jumped out of bed to get ready she heard a knock on the door.
"Yes, I know I'm getting up right now. Give me two minutes."
"O.K. just wanted to check on you."
Veronica dressed quickly in jeans and a t-shirt and then went to the washroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She ran down the stairs into the kitchen. She was a little out of breath but noticed that Matthew wasn't that concerned.
"How did you sleep?"
Veronica served herself eggs, bacon, toast, and then sat at the kitchen table.
"Fantastic. It's so much quieter here then at college."
"I bet. All the drunk parties and loud music right?"
Veronica smirked, knowing he was teasing her. They ate in silence and once finished she instinctively got up to do dishes. The rule at the Johnson Farm was: if you didn't cook you had to do dishes. If you didn't cook and weren't fast enough to do dishes you had bathroom duty. Veronica always remembered that rule from the summers she had stayed here.
"So today the front lawn needs to be mowed, but don't worry. I still have the ride along lawn mower. I need to fix some of the fences along the pigpen and the garden needs to be weeded. If you mow the lawn and I fix the fence then we can weed the garden together before lunch."
Veronica nodded and, after finishing the dishes, went out to the shed to get the lawnmower. The morning went by fast and she changed from jeans to shorts and a tank top before starting the weeding. Matthew was pretty quiet all morning and she assumed he was just used to being alone and didn't really feel like talking. After lunch, they cleaned the house from top to bottom. As the typical bachelor, there were parts of the house that hadn't been cleaned in a while and after some instruction, Veronica was actually able to help with the cleaning. Right before dinner, she went for a shower and Matthew started dinner. As they sat at the dinner table, he looked at her.
"You're a hard worker and catch on fast. I know your mom never let you do any hard labor, but I'm happy you are willing to help out. I really appreciate it."
"Yeah, I know. I sort of wish she hadn't sheltered us from so much. I was so lost in college you have no idea."