Farrah had always enjoyed eatingdinner with Darren. He’d never said a lot, which made what he did choose to utter ultra-important. She’d gotten his message about the farm:It’s mine.
She supposed he deserved something that was his, though a sting kept pricking her that he hadn’t told her about his relationship with the Bybees or about his time out on this beautiful land.
Meagan took over the conversation, talking about two miles a minute about how Farrah was going to come work at the farm the same way Meagan did. “She’ll cultivate the new fingerlings, and she’s already excited about the third row mushrooms we have growing.”
Jim, her father, narrowed his eyes and chewed. He swallowed and said, “Why do we need another person doing what you’re doing?”
Meagan’s whole face turned red, and she suddenly didn’t have anything to say. Farrah hadn’t realized she’d be taking over for Meagan. She shifted uncomfortably as she waited for Meagan to say something.
She had loved the two hours she’d spent in the aquaponics shed. She loved the symbiotic relationship between fish and plant. She’d heard of soilless growing, but she’d never seen it. And all those strawberry plants growing in water had taken her breath away. For the first time in years, she felt like she was where she was supposed to be.
That comfortable feeling evaporated as Corey said, “Meagan?”
“Luke and I are expecting.” Meagan’s smile grew and grew until Farrah thought it would crack her face.
Corey squealed and leapt from the table, nearly sending a plate full of butter into Darren’s lap. Audra gasped and then started laughing. “That’s why I had to wait for twenty minutes in your driveway today while you were ‘getting ready.’”
“I was sick,” Meagan insisted, standing to accept her mother’s hug.
Farrah felt like an intruder on this private family moment, but she supposed there were as many non-Bybees present as there were Bybees. Darren smiled, but he continued eating while the hugging and exclamations continued. While Corey asked Meagan when she was due. While Audra gushed about the baby shower she’d throw.
A writhing feeling started down in Farrah’s stomach. A writhing that spoke of lost opportunities and a life without children. Just another reason to find something she could fill her life with. Something she could feel fulfilled doing.
And she knew it wasn’t at Pinned, but right here at Bybee’s Botanicals.
“So I’ll train Farrah to do everything I do, so when the baby comes, the farm will carry on as normal.” Meagan spoke like she made the decisions for the farm. Maybe she did.
“So it’s just you and Audra that run the aquaponics shed?” Farrah asked.
“Darren volunteers,” Jim said.
Farrah whipped her head to him, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Darren did too. Oh, and the choking coming from his mouth was a dead giveaway that he was surprised to hear he volunteered in the aquaponics shed.
“Darren does all kinds of things around the farm,” Corey said.
He volleyed his gaze to her, but Farrah watched Meagan, who didn’t seem surprised or worried about what her parents had said.
“Yeah, Darren sometimes chops wood from the farm to keep the tilapia ponds the right temperature in the winter. He’s sapped trees. Cleared a road once. And he likes to hang out near the strawberries, same as you.” She grinned that mega-watt smile Farrah had been jealous of earlier.
“He likes his dipped in chocolate,” Farrah said, not quite sure when the words had entered her mind or why she’d decided to speak them.
Darren’s gaze flew to her now, and she almost laughed at the poor, whiplashed look of him.
“Whitechocolate,” Corey amended. “With graham cracker crumbs on top of that.”
“Like a shortcake,” Meagan said, glancing around the table for confirmation.
Farrah leaned back in her chair and folded her arms as an agonized look paraded across Darren’s face. She knew what he was thinking:Stop talking about me.
“So is the aquaponics job full time?” she asked, giving him what he wanted most. She knew, because obscurity in a crowd was what she craved too. And yet, somehow, they’d found each other.
“Definitely,” Meagan said. “And then some.”
Corey sat back down and nudged the lasagna pan closer to Darren, who took another piece and kept eating. “We’d love to have you, Farrah. Meagan mentioned something about an agribusiness degree?”
Farrah shot a sharp look at Meagan. “Not a degree. I went to two years of college. I’d barely started in the agribusiness…business.”
“She’s a thinker,” Meagan said. “I’m telling you, she’ll triple our vegetation production, and she’s already mentioned bringing in trout during the colder winter months.”
