It had been a family tradition each year come late summer at the Carson farm, the canning of the excess tomatoes as well as the preparing of the various jellies and preserves that Ellie Carson had been known for all around the county.
This year would be a bit different, with the matriarch of the Carson clan having passed away the previous winter at the age of 65, but Hank Carson was a creature of habit, and found himself doing the planting the following spring as if his late wife was still there nagging him to do it.
Their daughter Whitney had encouraged her father to do it, with the promise that when it was time to process what didn't get sold at the roadside stand and at the farmers market in town, she would do the canning and everything else her Mom had always done.
Daughter Whitney had brought her only child with her to help. Tabby had just graduated from high school and was undecided as to whether to go the community college or get a job, so instead of having her mope around the house her mother insisted that Tabby join her at her grandparents farm.
Hank Carson was happy to have the company, because after sharing a home with his wife for nearly 50 years, a few months alone made him realize just how big and empty the old farmhouse was, so having the girls around for a week or so was something he looked forward to.
***
The first day...
"Gonna go to bed - maybe read for a while," Tabby said, giving her mother and grandfather a kiss and excusing herself from the kitchen table.
"A lot like you were at 18," Hank said to his daughter, trying but failing to keep from looking at his skinny granddaughter's rear end as she went to the guest room at the other end of the house.
"No way Dad," Whitney chuckled. "She's a lot more introverted and not as - you know. I was a wild one, if you recall."
"Oh, I recall," Hank said as he looked at his daughter, who was now closer to 50 than 40, but he could still remember her as a wild and rebellious teenager, her flaming red hair an indication of her personality as well as her other... tendencies.
Whitney's curly red hair was now augmented with a few strands of grey, and she had filled out a bit as women tend to do, but most of it was in the right places, Hank noted as he tried to change the subject.
"Great of you two to come out and help me out, Whitney."
"Love being out here," Whitney said. "Besides, at least out here I've got a man to talk to."
"Care for a cup of coffee?" Hank offered.
"Got anything stronger, Dad?" Whitney asked, and then got up. "I bet you do, and I remember where you used to keep it too!"
Hank watched his daughter reach around the back of the bread box to pull out the bottle of Jack Daniels that he always had stashed back there.
"Let's go outside, Dad. It's stuffy in here," Whitney said.
"How about glasses?" Hank asked, but Whitney was already out the back door.
Hank walked out back with his daughter, watching her take a swig out of the Jack before handing it to him, and when he took a swallow his throat burned while his mind raced, thinking that while maybe it was his imagination, he sensed that something besides humidity was in the air.
"Lot of memories here Dad," Whitney said as they went back toward the barn.
"Yeah, she's been a good farm for the family," Hank said, walking slower as if to avoid the barn.
"I meant the barn, Dad," Whitney said. "The barn. Behind the barn. Down by the creek. Summer of 1978, and I remember it like it was yesterday."
"Whitney..."
"Come on inside, Dad," Whitney said as she opened the door and held it open.
"Look honey," Hank started to say, but his daughter cut him off.
"I need to talk, Dad. We need to talk. It's been almost thirty years," Whitney said, closing the door after clicking on the dim light that shone in the back. "Please? You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'll do the talking."
"Whitney, I'm sorry. I was sorry then and I'm sorry now," Hank said, his voice betraying his feelings.
"I'm not sorry Dad. I know that I made you feel guilty, but it wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was."
"No. I made you feel that way after you ended it, but that was just to hurt you. I wanted you. I seduced you, even if you didn't realize it. I played the innocent but I always wanted you to fuck me, and I usually got what I wanted back then."
"Honey..."
"You fucked me Dad. In every way and in every place, and it was my fault, if there is any fault at all," Whitney snapped.
"I know you were teasing me, but I was your father," Hank said. "Fathers don't do that to their daughters, no matter how attractive and seductive they are."
"I was pretty hot back then, wasn't I?" Whitney said with a wink, taking another belt of Jack and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and when her father said nothing she went on.
"I miss having guys look at me like they - and you - did back then," Whitney lamented. "Of course now, I'm just a dumpy middle-aged broad."