“And have you found enough water?”
Eli lowered his eyes.
“Not yet.”
Sarah felt her heart tighten.
She wanted to tell him to stop.
To save himself the disappointment.
To avoid working all summer on something that might fail.
But then she remembered Ben.
The way he'd spend entire evenings fixing old equipment because he couldn't stand leaving a problem unsolved.
She remembered Daniel patiently measuring soil moisture while neighbors laughed.
And she saw both men in her son.
Sarah reached across the table.
“You can keep working on the North Bed.”
Eli looked up.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He grinned.
Then she raised one finger.
“But you don't borrow money for supplies, don't use equipment you're not trained to handle, and you tell me before doing anything that could affect the well or irrigation system.”
Eli nodded quickly.
“Okay.”
“And you take breaks. I don't want you collapsing in the heat because you're trying to prove something to those men.”
His smile faded.
Sarah noticed.
She took his hand.
“Eli, listen to me.”
He looked up.
“You don't owe Hank Barlow a successful harvest.”
The boy swallowed.
She continued.
“And you don't owe your grandfather a miracle.”
For a moment, his eyes filled.
Then he whispered, “I just don't want to lose his farm.”
Sarah felt her throat tighten.
She pulled him close.
“Neither do I, sweetheart.”
They sat together for a long time.
Then Sarah looked toward the notebook.
For the first time, she wondered whether Daniel had left more than memories in those pages.
The first watermelon seedling died on June eighteenth.
Eli found it shortly after sunrise.
The leaves were curled.
The stem had collapsed.
And the soil around the roots was warmer and drier than he'd expected.
He crouched beside it, staring.
For several minutes, he didn't move.
Then he opened the notebook and wrote down what happened.
He'd placed stones too close to the young plant.
The arrangement reduced exposed soil, but it also concentrated heat near the delicate stem during the hottest part of the afternoon. The seedling had been stressed before it developed enough roots to tolerate the conditions.