Chapter 99

Jodi's phone beeped. It was a text from Finn saying he was nearby.

"Hey guys, I just remembered I had a piece of mail I wanted to send. I want to get it out today, if I rush I can just make it. Can you guys handle it without me for a bit?" asked Jodi.

"I guess, what's so important?" asked Tess

"It's something for, for uh, Grace. Gotta go!" lied Jodi as she rode off at a full gallup.

"That was weird," said Claire.

"Yeah, especially because she knows Grace is on her way to Gungellan right now to surprise Jaz." Tess said

"She is? I didn't know that! That's great news!" said Kate.

"Yeah Regan is coming too, but Jaz knows about Regan, only Grace is the surprise."

"Why didn't anyone tell me this! I knew about Regan, Jaz told me, but not Grace. We have almost a complete Drovers Run reunion on our hands! This is amazing!" said Kate.

"Yeah, that was the point, for Charlotte's birthday party. The women of Drovers Run welcoming Charlotte as one of us," explained Tess.

"Who is still missing? asked Kate

"Well Moira is coming to the party with Phil, and Tayler is obviously coming with Patrick. Ingrid will be there with Marcus. The only person I couldn't find was Becky Howard. She was before your time. She was an awesome farm hand though. She had a rough childhood, but she really blossomed here. Her boyfriend Brick died in an accident, but no one knew it. He was supposed to get off a bus to meet Becky and he just didn't. It was like he vanished into thin air. She searched for him for months, and finally found his body not far from here. He had gotten off the bus a stop early to surprise her and slipped and fell off a bridge. It was super sad. Jodi was with her when she found the body. Becky managed to rebuild her life though. She ended up winning a scholarship to Higgins at the young farmers competition and then left to run a farm with her new boyfriend Jake. I tried the only contact information we had, but it got nowhere. I even searched her name on social media, but I couldn't find her. She and Jodi had been especially close, but Jodi never heard from her again after she left. We were all surprised she didn't come for Claire's funeral. They had been close. It honestly was sort of like she had never even been here. We never mentioned her again. I think Jodi was pretty hurt that she never heard from her again. I hope she is doing well somewhere," said Tess.

"Well all but one is still pretty good." When is Jaz's surprise? Where are Regan and Grace staying?"

"Regan and Dylan are staying at Wilgul with Jaz. Grace will be staying/hiding at Killarney with Stevie."

"When are they surprising Jaz? What is the surprise?" asked Kate.

"Well Ben's proposal didn't happen as he had planned. He had a really adorable, mounted scavenger hunt planned with different important places and people in Jaz's life all around here. She would ride from one place to the next and along the way each of us would join the party. Eventually, they will end at a really special place to the two of them, out on the far edges of Wilgul, and Ben will be there with Kelly and will propose, again with all of us there. It should serve as an engagement party of sorts. Grace will be the last stop on the scavenger hunt before Ben and Kelly. You weren't here for all of the proposal stuff. I'm sorry you weren't included in his plan." said Tess

"Oh no, it's fine, Jaz and I don't know each other very well. She didn't come to stay at Drovers until after I left. I've only met her in passing while I was visiting here, and the first time she showed up, when you found out you had cousins. I'm excited to get to know her and hopefully, be her neighbor. I consider Jaz a future very close friend. It sounds like a lovely surprise for her." said Kate

"We are going to do it Saturday morning, before Charlotte's Party. Grace will stay low at Killarney until then, but I'm sure you could go and visit her." said Tess.

"We are planning on using Killarney or Wilgul as our base for the drone flights, so maybe she can come check it out with us. I doubt we would run into Jaz out on the border fences. If everything goes well with the test flight today, we are going to try to do an early flight tomorrow before we head to town for the rodeo and demo derby."

Jodi rode out to the mailbox. She knew she had made a crappy escape, but she didn't really care. She just didn't want to tell Tess that Finn was here or have her accidentally run into him.

She made it out to the mailbox right as Finn pulled up. He didn't look good. It didn't look like he had slept much and he definitely had bloodshot eyes. Jodi felt badly for him. It was pretty obvious that Finn and Tess were in love with each other and whatever they were going through wasn't good for either of them.

Jodi dismounted and walked up to his window.

'Hey Finn, How was the drive?

"It was fine. I have the papers here. Take a moment to read them please," he said.

Jodi took the papers and read them over. It just said that Drovers Run was voluntarily removing themselves from the chances of the contract and that they couldn't later accuse Blue Apron of any unfair business practices or sue for not being awarded the contract. It was very straightforward.

Jodi signed it.

"Here you go. Thank you for getting this taken care of so quickly. Tess and I didn't want any business obligations to come between whatever else might be happening between the two of you."

"I don't want that either. I didn't want anything to come between us, but I get it. This whole thing has been crazy. It's just so much, so fast. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking about this stuff with you. You're Tess's confidant, not mine. Well, here is your copy of the paperwork. I'm heading out. I'll give Tess a call in a few days. I know you have a big party coming up, and I won't disturb that. I'll be spending my time trying to play tourist in Adelaide. Thanks for handling this, Jodi. You mean so much to Tess. Anyway, I'm off for now. I hope I get to see you again." said Finn.

"Bye Finn."

Poor Finn. He seemed more far more afraid of losing Tess, than he was of how strong his feelings for her were, realized Jodi. Maybe Tess will get there too, she wondered.