“Trout take twice as long to rear,” Jim said. “We can do two tilapia harvests in the time it takes to raise one batch of trout.”
“I know, Dad,” Meagan said like they’d had this discussion before. “The point is, she thinks. She doesn’t just look at what we’re already doing and go, ‘Oh, okay. Sure, just let me show up and keep this lettuce alive.’”
Well, thatwassort of how Farrah had been thinking. Actually, she’d been so overwhelmed with the sheer size of the shed, the number of plants growing, and the wonder of the system that she hadn’t given much thought to anything else.
Fine, Darren. She’d thought a lot about Darren.
Seeing him sitting on the porch like he belonged there had sent a heated shock right through her. She hadn’t been able to tell what he’d been doing, and Meagan had whisked her away so quickly she hadn’t been able to say a word to him.
She found herself wanting to be alone with him, just for a few minutes. Just to explain that she wasn’t here to take anything from him. Wasn’t here to torture him.
The conversation continued, and Farrah fell silent. Darren finished eating long before everyone else, but he had an easy way of being so no one seemed to notice that he was done when they weren’t.
Farrah had always marveled at his physical strength. His stamina for working long hours on a horse farm. She knew what that took, and it wasn’t easy. She hadn’t been quite as prepared for his spiritual power, or that he was simply a nice guy. In her experience, a man never came with the whole package. Concessions always had to be made.
But it seemed like Darren Buttars had broken that mold. No, he didn’t talk much. He was pushy. And sometimes impatient, especially when he didn’t understand the reasons for something. But simply sitting around a dinner table with him was easy, casual, fun.
Everything Farrah wanted in her life.
She questioned herself for the tenth time that day. Questioned why she’d broken up with him and cut off all contact.
He stood first, long before usual if the panicked look on Corey’s face was any indication. “I should go.”
“Let me get you a plate for tomorrow.”
“It’s—” He watched Corey rush into the kitchen before he could protest. Fondness entered his eyes, and Farrah’s chest clenched tight. He’d confessed to her that he really missed his parents, and it was obvious he viewed Jim and Corey Bybee as the mother and father figures he didn’t have in his life.
“I’ll get that basket for Sam and Bonnie.” Jim tossed down his napkin and stood, ambling off in the same direction his wife had gone.
Audra whispered something to Meagan and the two of them stood. Farrah caught the words, “…not my boyfriend,” from Audra, but the blush riding in her cheeks indicated that whoever she and Meagan were talking about was definitely more than just a friend.
Farrah inhaled, and she was alone with Darren. He gripped the back of his chair with both hands and kept his head down. She couldn’t see his handsome face through his cowboy hat.
“How long have you been coming out to the Bybee’s farm?” she asked.
“A while,” he said.
“While we were dating?”
He lifted his eyes to hers, and she sucked in a breath at the beauty of him. “Yes.”
Farrah nodded while a knotted weight settled behind her lungs. She hated this feeling, and it wasn’t fair to blame him for finding a place of safety, a place to have the relationship he craved. It wasn’t his fault she hadn’t told him about her family.
“Are you really going to work here?” he asked.
Farrah nodded, employing his method of saying less.
“You do realize they have a whole stable full of horses, right?”
She couldn’t tell if he was trying to make her mad, just letting her know, or something else entirely. Darren held everything so close, shuttered off behind closed doors, and she’d had to get him alone, hold his hand, and smile at him before he’d open up. Once she got him talking, though, the man could spill a lot of secrets.
Farrah missed the sound of his voice. Missed the tenderness in his touch. Missed the warmth of his embrace, and the taste of his mouth.
She held him behind such a tall wall, and it was exhausting.
“How many horses?” she asked.
Darren blinked and chuckled. “Guess you’ll find out.” He turned his back on her and walked into the kitchen. She heard the low murmurs of his voice mingling with the Bybees, and she couldn’t bear to stay in the dining room alone.
