She slipped out the front of the house, wondering where everyone else had parked. The chair where Darren had been sitting when she arrived looked inconspicuous now, but she examined it. A few fine shavings of wood dusted the ground, and she wondered if he’d been carving.
She hadn’t even known he knew how to carve wood. Her emotions tangled until she couldn’t separate them to identify them, and she practically leapt down the stairs in her need to get away from this farm.
“Two weeks notice?”Guy frowned like he didn’t understand the words. “You’re quitting?”
Farrah tried to smile, but it came off wrong. “I found another job.”
Guy sighed and pulled out a package of frozen pretzels. “You’re the best manager I’ve had.”
She wasn’t sure if she should feel proud of that or not. And she really wanted something in her life she could be proud of. “A great opportunity came up with this aquaponics farm.”
“Aqua-what?” Guy arranged four pretzels on a tray and slid it into the oven.
“It’s soilless farming,” she said. “I went to two years of college in agribusiness, and this is something that actually interests me.” She realized how that sounded as the words left her mouth. “I mean, this is great and all, and I’ve been so grateful to have this job, but?—”
Guy waved her into silence. “I understand, Farrah. He moved toward the exit of the concessions kitchen. “I’ll get the word out that I need someone during the day.”
“I’ll help train whoever you get,” she called after him, adding, “Sorry, Guy,” in a much softer voice he couldn’t hear. But she couldn’t make her life decisions based on how someone else would feel. Not again.
So she worked her hours at the bowling alley, and she went out to the farm after that. She learned to park her car pastthe house, down the road around the bend, and next to the aquaponics shed. She’d learned about the ten varieties of lettuce the Bybees grew. She read articles on raising tilapia at night. She dreamed of monitoring water temperatures and segregating the huge, twenty-thousand gallon fish tank into the warmer climate the tilapia needed and the cooler water temps that trout would like.
She never saw Darren again, but she recognized the old truck she’d ridden in more times than she could count. She’d kissed him in that truck, and when she pulled into the farm after finishing her last day at the bowling alley, that truck taunted her with memories she wished weren’t quite so close to the surface. Or maybe she kept them there, the way her weaker tilapia lingered near the surface, so she could relive them at a moment’s notice.
She hadn’t once seen Darren in the botanical boutique, as she’d learned everyone called the aquaponics portion of the farm, but as she pushed her way into the greenhouse, she found him on a ladder, fixing a panel on the far end of the shed.
Her heart lurched and started tap dancing in her chest. Annoyance that the simple sight of him made her react like she could still kiss him if she wanted to.
No, she realized as she wandered down the aisle toward the mushrooms she’d been tending, her nerves and body reacted the way it did because they wereanticipatingkissing him again.
chapter
five
Darren workedto finish the repairs in the shed, very aware that Farrah had arrived an hour ago. He’d tried to get off the farm before she showed up, as he’d managed to determine her arrival time at five-fifteen each evening. She obviously came straight out to the farm after her shift at the bowling alley. But tonight, Meagan had asked him to fix a few broken panels in the greenhouse from last night’s windstorm.
He couldn’t say no to her, and he’d been circling an idea for the past two weeks. Circling Farrah so their paths didn’t cross. Always circling.
Sam and Bonnie had gone back to Wyoming, and though Ben lived in town with Rae, they hadn’t come out to Steeple Ridge for Sunday dinner like they usually did, citing that Rae was ill. Which was just fine, because neither Darren, Cody, nor Wade could cook much more than a grilled cheese sandwich.
Missy usually brought food, and Rae and Ben usually came, and Darren usually made it through the week by living on the promise that he wouldn’t be alone on the Sabbath. But none of that had happened, which had left Darren feeling vulnerable and irritable at the same time.
So he’d kept his eyes on his work though Farrah’s scent teased him as it got caught up in the air filtration systems and reached him from his position atop the ladder.
By the time he’d replaced the glass and put the ladder away, he didn’t have any willpower left. If he ran into Farrah, he wasn’t sure what he would do. So all he could do was pray she’d already left.
He stepped out of the massive botanical boutique, practically running over her as she tried to enter. He grunted and reached out to steady her. Somehow, though, his arm swept around her and held her against his body, the way he’d done dozens of times before.
She righted herself and he steadied, a zing of attraction and desire cascading through him. “Sorry,” he muttered as he released her and stepped back. He dipped his chin to his chest and moved to the side to let her in.
“You’re not staying for dinner?” she asked.
“Are you?”
“Corey is a good cook.”
Darren looked up, betrayal filling his chest. He hadn’t been staying for dinner, because he left before it was time to eat. Again, because of Farrah. He’d already lost so much because of her, and a fire entered his bloodstream he hadn’t felt in a while.
“As good as you?” he asked.
