“It’s the best pizza in America,” Akira says, before she heads back to the kitchen.
I raise my eyebrows as if to say,I told you so.
“I’m ready to be impressed.” Jack pulls out a slice, the stringy cheese holding on to the other slices like the arms of babies being pulled from their mother. I watch as Jack takes a bite. His eyes go wide in shock as he chews, and then they close on a moan. Finally he swallows.
He’s speechless.
I pick up my slice. “Told ya.” I take a bite and grin at him.
“I’ll never doubt another word you say,” he says, taking a second bite.
“Let’s rewind to the bit where you talked about surprises when I go back to New York. I have no plans to visit the Big Apple again until next September.”
Jack chews as he looks at me. Then he swallows. “Because you don’t want to? Because it’s too painful?”
I pull in a breath and think. “I hadn’t thought about it. But maybe because of the memories. Maybe because…” I don’t say because I can’t afford another trip, because I know Jack will just dismiss that particular obstacle. But that’s what I’m thinking. The fact is, I don’t want someone who pays for everything. It’s another reason we’re entirely incompatible and last night was just… and tonight is just… we’re just getting this out of our systems.
Or something.
“I want you to come and see where I live. Meet my mother. I want to take you out to restaurants and to the ballet—every ballet in New York.”
My insides seize up as he talks. Doesn’t he realize he’s being ridiculous? There’s no way I can just take off. “I have work,” I say.
“Okay, let’s take New York off the table for now. You’re going to need to show me around Star Falls. I want to see it all. Your high school. The first tree you climbed. Is there a lake nearby?”
“You want me to show you the sights of Star Falls?” I ask.
“Seems only fair after my tour of Central Park,” Jack says.
He smiles, and I feel my resolve melt. I wonder if there’s anything Jack couldn’t get me to do.
Apart from go to New York.
“I’m going to stick around for a bit,” he says. “I’m enjoying being at the farm. I had lunch with Bray and we were talking about the business.”
“You and Bray had lunch?” I ask, heat chasing up my face. Oh god, the last thing I want is Bray and Jack getting cozy.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy. Protective of you.” He smiles. “It’s good. Anyway, he was saying you never use the Wilde’s Farm brand on anything.”
“No, because the customers want their own brand on the packaging. But it’s more than that. I’d like to be using the Wilde’s Farm brand. It makes sense. Branding our fruit, making it a sought-after brand, it’s the dream. But we’re a small farm. And we’re dependent on the crops. What crops we get depends on a lot of things, but the biggest variable is weather. We can’t control that. We can’t create a brand that people rely on and then be hit and miss with what we produce. That’s why the big, branded producers have farms in different locations—to hedge the weather risk.”
He leans back in his chair and nods. “You’re smart. And I’m turned all the way on right now.”
I roll my eyes, but squeeze my thighs together at his confession.
“You’re right. It’s a big obstacle. If you could control the supply better—hedge bad weather. You could do that by having farms in various locations?—”
“Jack! You think we’re going to start opening farms across America? You’ve lost your mind!”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m thinking aloud. There are obstacles, and I want to see how to knock them down. That’s all.”
“You’re going to ride in on your white horse and solve all our problems?” I ask him. Is he trying to fix me?
He shrugs. “Maybe I’m just looking at things with an outsider’s perspective. If I can help improve things a little, that would be amazing, but I’m not going to interfere. You don’t need to be worried.”
“I’m not worried. Not about you interfering, anyway.”
“What are you worried about, then?”
