A Farm Fresh Romance Series 1-3 (A Farm Fresh Romance Box Set)

by Valerie Comer

  Gabe’s jaw trembled and tears sprang to his eyes. Or it could be the rain getting to him at last. He leaned back against the trunk and closed his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. How I’m going to survive.”

  Zach leaned closer, wedging his shoulder tight against his buddy’s. “I know, man. It’s awful.”

  “My soul has been ripped out.”

  Please, dear God. Help Gabe. Help me. We need you here. “I know.” Zach’s own throat caught. “I know.”

  Chapter 28

  On Wednesday Claire drove Jo to Wynnton to have her cast removed. Jo averted her eyes as they passed the riverside park on the way into town. Horrible place, for all that it displayed God’s beauty. It also reminded Jo of Zach and words she wished she could take back.

  Across the highway a wrecking yard drew her attention through its chain link fencing. Two men in coveralls stood beside a little red car, hood accordion-folded clear to the doors. Jo knew that car. She stared, her gut rolling.

  “Claire.” Jo’s voice came out faint.

  Claire glanced at her. “What?”

  But they were already past. “That was Bethany’s car in that lot. I’m sure of it.”

  Claire glanced in her mirrors and hit the brakes, swerving to the side of the road.

  A truck blasted by, horn blaring.

  Claire backed up until the girls could see into the yard again. “Looks like it to me. It’s a Corolla about the same year as hers, anyway. And would match what we heard about the damage.”

  Jo stared at the crumpled car, trying to imagine being in the vehicle when it happened. “No wonder she didn’t make it through.”

  One of the men glanced up, noticing their car, as Claire pulled back out onto the highway. “Does anyone in town know it was Sierra’s dad that hit her?”

  Jo shook her head, tears burning. “Not from me. It’s not that I’ve been trying to keep it a secret, exactly. It just never seemed like the right time.”

  “Yeah, me neither. I don’t think Sierra has told anyone, either.”

  “It’ll come out sometime.” Jo shifted in the passenger seat, trying to get comfortable. “I mean, in the end Mr. Riehl only had a few bruises. It doesn’t seem fair that Bethany died. I wouldn’t want her mom or Gabe to blame us.”

  Claire shot Jo a look. “That’d be crazy. Why would they?”

  How could Jo explain to her that she’d been blamed for zillions of things growing up, most of them way out of her control? “People look for a target.”

  “I don’t really know Doreen, but Gabe’s our friend.”

  Jo’s gut said otherwise.

  **

  “Who was that, son?” Dad’s voice, stronger than it had been a few days ago, called from the living room.

  Zach stared at the cell in his hand, his mouth twisting as he mulled over the conversation he’d just ended. Not long ago he’d pushed his dad’s counsel aside, but this time he felt like he needed it. He shoved the phone into his pocket, walked through the archway, and plopped down into the recliner. “Albert Warren.”

  Dad’s eyebrows drew together. “Should I know that name?”

  Zach shrugged. “He owns East Spokane Vet Clinic. He’s the guy who offered me a job a couple of months ago.”

  His dad nodded, dark eyes obviously trying to read Zach’s mind.

  “The guy he hired then wants to take a leave of absence to go backpacking in South America. Doc Warren wants to know if I’m ready to come work for him now.”

  “Just to fill in? For how long?”

  Zach shook his head. “Nope. Permanent. He told the guy he wouldn’t be able to hold the position open for the six months he wants to be gone.”

  Dad’s voice flattened. “So you’re leaving us.”

  If only it were that easy. “It was my dream come true.”

  “Was?” A lilt of hope.

  Of course Dad would catch that. Zach leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and met his father’s gaze. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Dad nodded and relaxed against the sofa armrest. “Pros and cons?”

  Zach hesitated. “Well, the pro is that it’s the job I’ve wanted for years. Albert Warren respects me and wants me to work for him.”

  “Anything else in favor?”

  The museums and movie theaters flitted through Zach’s mind, followed by the city’s ethnic restaurants and specialty shops. He tried to hunt for more solid memories, like the church he’d attended with Gabe when they’d been in college together the first few years. It had been a big city church, running like a well-oiled social club. Nothing like Galena Gospel Church.

  “I need a job. Wally Taubin expects to be back in the saddle next week. Though how the man ever managed the workload on his own beats me. He’s way older than me and I could barely handle the hours.”

  “He might be willing to sell out.”

  Zach shook his head. “He’s not even sixty yet. He’s never said a thing to me about retiring early.”

  “A partnership?”

  “There’s been no indication that he’s thinking any such thing.”

  Dad appeared to contemplate. “Well, then. What are the cons?”

  Zach took a deep breath. “You’re not ready to start farming again yet, are you?”

  Dad swept a hand to indicate his body. “I wish.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. So the timing, while better than last time, is still a negative.” But that wasn’t all that prevented him from jumping at Doc Warren’s offer. Since the day he and Gabe had sat in the tree house, he’d been praying about Jo and how he could mend the rift between them. Was this God’s answer? That Jo wasn’t the right girl for him? Zach raised his gaze to meet his dad’s.

  “So. Anything else a negative for accepting the offer?”

  Besides Jo? Nearly everything. The smell of rain in the orchard and of fresh-mown grass. He’d miss Domino, Sadie, and Old Pete. He’d even miss the stupid sheep. The timing was still all wrong. He couldn’t leave unless he knew things wouldn’t work out with Jo. That God specifically wanted him at Warren’s clinic.

  Dad grinned. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with a cute snip of a girl from next door, would it?”

  When had Dad learned to read him again? “She seems pretty special, all right. But she won’t give me the time of day. Well, you saw.”

  “Those weren’t exactly the best of circumstances,” Dad said mildly.

  A sharp laugh came out of Zach. “True. But you’d be amazed. Any time Jo and I get together there are sparks. Not sparks in a good way, either. Sparks that are just shy of exploding the known universe.”

  His father chuckled. “Your mother used to be like that. Never me, of course.” He winked. “She was a ball of fire.”

  “Watch who you’re talking about in past tense,” Mom hollered from the kitchen.

  Zach hadn’t heard her come in. Had she been listening for long?

  “I like Josephine.” Mom leaned in the archway. “You better make an all-out effort to win that girl over, Zachary John, or I’ll never forgive you. She’s a wonderful young woman.”

  “When did you tell that veterinarian you’d have an answer for him?” Dad asked.

  “A couple of days.”

  Mom nodded briskly. “Better get off your backside and onto your knees. Make a plan, and start implementing it. You don’t have long.”

  Zach shook his head. “You’re both crazy.” But as for the praying, he’d already started in on that. “Something like this takes longer than a few days.”

  Dad grinned. “Not necessarily. Let’s start with this. You need a place to live after you’re married, right?”

  Zach choked. “What?”

  “I’m guessing you don’t want to live in Grandma’s trailer with all those girls, or in here with your old parents hanging around.” Dad’s eyes twinkled. “And Galena Landing is a fair commute from your apartment in the city.”

  Zach stared at his dad as heat rose in his cheeks.
Did he have to answer this nonsensical question? And besides, it was a long way from a done deal. “I’ve given notice on the apartment anyway.”

  “Better tell him what we’re thinking, Rosemary.”

  Mom crossed the room and sat down beside Dad, who took her hand. Both looked serious.

  Zach glanced from one to the other. Were they actually going to put the farm on the market? His heart sank. Not that. Please. Not when he’d just started to fall in love with it all over again.

  Mom spoke first. “Daniel and Arlene are flying into Spokane today to be here in time for the funeral.”

  Zach nodded. Gabe had mentioned his folks were on their way.

  “They’ve been after us to come see the work they’re doing in Romania at that orphanage. We’ve never been able to take the time.”

  Dad took over. “So, when they go back in September, we want to go, too. They say a gimped guy like me can do plenty to help. Those little kids need someone to be a human jungle gym. Somebody to spend time with them and read them stories.” Dad inhaled sharply. “I can still do that.”

  “What?” Zach stared in disbelief. “You’re going to Romania in two and a half months? How come you never mentioned that you were considering this?”

  “We just finalized things.” Mom patted Dad’s leg. “Or, I should say, almost finalized them. There’s still the question of what to do with the farm while we’re gone.”

  Here it came. He’d been half waiting for the other shoe to drop. He jerked to his feet.

  “Gary Waterman wants to lease the land.” Dad’s voice came like a knife to his back.

  Zach pivoted and stared at his parents. “What? Gary Waterman?”

  Mom raised an eyebrow. “You’ve made it clear you didn’t want it. Things aren’t settled yet, but that’s the direction we’re leaning.”

  “We thought you and Jo could live in the house, though.” His dad’s voice faltered. “At least until we get back next year. Unless you don’t want to.”

  Conflicting emotions ricocheted around Zach’s brain. He’d been wishing something would happen to break his folks out of this deadlock with the farm, only… Had he been too late? “Can I-can I think about this for a bit?”

  **

  Zach hauled an armload of boards through the wet woods. It would have been better to wait until things dried off a bit, but time pressed in around him. This evening he needed to be at Gabe’s side in the funeral chapel, and he’d set the timer on his cell so he wouldn’t be late.

  Even with his parents back in town, Gabe needed Zach. Tomorrow Bethany would be laid to rest. It seemed almost sacrilege to seek his own happiness when his best friend faced anguish and loneliness.

  Of course, Zach didn’t know if Jo would be willing to talk to him or not, willing to hear him out. That chat with his folks had infused him with hope, though he couldn’t have said why. It wasn’t like Jo had tossed him a bone of encouragement.

  Zach looped a rope over a high branch and began hoisting boards up to the platform. Besides fixing the railing, he’d had a couple of other thoughts on the drive to the lumberyard. It wouldn’t be that hard to add a proper roof over the lower platform. Maybe—if all went well—later in the season he could screen in the area so it would be welcoming even once the mosquitoes made their appearance.

  Whistling, he measured out the length of a needed board and began to saw. He blocked out the passage of time and immersed himself in the project.

  “I wondered if it was you making all that racket. What are you doing on our property?”

  The hammer slipped out of Zach’s hand and dropped from the tree house deck to the forest floor. He stared down at Claire, who’d appeared from nowhere. Thankfully the hammer had missed her by a mile.

  He had no words. Surely she could see what he was doing. He held out his hands to indicate the treehouse.

  Claire stared up at him, hands planted on her hips and a frown on her face. Didn’t look like she was buying his attempt at the silent sell.

  Zach worked his way down the knotted rope. That needed a more elegant solution, as well. Maybe a rope ladder like they sold for fire escapes. But first, Claire.

  “When are you moving back to Coeur d’Alene, Zach? When will you get out of Jo’s life?”

  He opened his mouth, closed it again. He’d known she didn’t much like him, but where had this much bitterness come from? “Claire, I-uh. What if I don’t want to get out of her life? What if I…want to be in it forever?”

  She laughed, a short, sharp bark. “Then I guess you’ve got some changing to do, buster. Because you’re not the kind of guy she’s looking for. The kind of guy that can make her happy.”

  Zach grabbed his hammer and tossed it up to the platform. “What makes you an expert in what is best for her?”

  Claire raised her eyebrows. “Maybe I got it from Jo herself?”

  Please, God. Help me out here. “I’m not sure what I ever did to make you dislike me so much, but I’d like to point out that it’s not so much a guy that can make her happy.”

  At her look of protest, he held up a hand. “Hear me out, please.” A couple months ago, he’d never have believed God words would come out of his mouth again. Whew. He’d had a close call.

  She pulled her lips into a sullen line and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. Talk.”

  “When I came home, I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to stay in Coeur d’Alene and live the easy life. I only came back because I was between jobs and my dad was sick.”

  Claire gave a crisp nod.

  “But, you know, God brought me back here for a bigger reason.”

  Her eyebrows went back up, and Zach grinned. “I don’t know if that bigger reason includes Jo, I really don’t. But one thing I’m certain of. I needed to be here to get pulled back into a right relationship with God.”

  “Then what’re you doing about it?”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “If you’re walking all nice with God now, how is that changing your life?”

  Didn’t look much like she believed him. Fair enough. “God isn’t changing me like a tsunami, Claire.” Zach held out his palm and droplets splashed into it. “He’s working in me like gentle rain.” Except for… He grimaced. “Gentle rain with some thunderstorms, like Bethany’s death.”

  Claire studied his face, and Zach stood there, hands at his sides, waiting for the examination to be complete. She leaned in close. “Zachary Nemesek, if you hurt her, I will never forgive you. Not as long as I live.”

  He rocked back. How could she even think that? And yet he had hurt Jo already. More than once. He managed to keep his voice steady. “I have no intention of it. But Claire? What have I done to offend you?”

  She glowered at him. “We came here as a team, the three of us. We need Jo. If she left us for the city, everything would go wrong.”

  “I didn’t say anything about taking her away.” Just how would it work, anyway, if he remained in the valley? Would next door be close enough for Jo? Would he feel like he’d married a girl with too many sisters? Not that anything was sure. “Do me a favor, Claire?”

  “What?”

  “This may surprise you, but I want God’s will in my life. Also in Jo’s. Even in yours. I’ve tried to control my own life. That didn’t work out so well.” And oh, how it hadn’t. But if Jo hadn’t told Claire about Yvette, he wasn’t going to bring it up now. “I’m done trying to manipulate things the way I want them. My plan is to pray, to do my best, and to trust God for the outcome He wants, even if it’s different than the one I thought I wanted.”

  Was her face softening any? “What do you want from me?”

  He set his hand on her shoulder, and she didn’t shrug it away. “I just want you to pray, too. Not with me, not for me, unless you want to. But for God’s will to be done. For all of us.”

  Claire stared at him a moment longer, then gave a sharp nod. “Fair enough.”

  Chapter 29

  Aft
er the funeral, Doreen sat in a corner of the church basement near the stairs, twisting a tissue and refusing the plates of food people offered her. When she was alone for a moment, Jo slipped into an adjacent chair.

  Not that she had a clue what to say. She didn’t know Bethany’s mother well. Hadn’t even known Bethany well. “I’m so sorry.”

  Doreen glanced at Jo from red-rimmed eyes then focused again on the crumpled tissue in her lap.

  Mrs. Humbert’s words came back to Jo’s mind. Words about forgiveness, acceptance. “I-I hope you and Bethany were close.” Jo’s voice trembled. How painful for Doreen if her last memory with her daughter was of angry words.

  Bethany’s mother looked at Jo strangely, her jaw quivering. “She was my sunshine,” she whispered.

  Jo nodded. Would fewer regrets make it easier? Or harder?

  “The last thing she said to me was that she hoped she could be as good a mom to her baby as I was to her.”

  Words that would never come out of Jo’s mouth. Did that say anything about her as a daughter, or only about her mom’s parenting skills?

  “Th-that means the world to me.” Doreen blew her nose into her sodden tissue.

  Jo snagged a fresh one from a nearby box and handed it over.

  “Thanks.” Doreen dabbed her eyes. “Tell your mom how much you love her. Don’t let the opportunity be lost.”

  “She drives me crazy. We have nothing in common. All we do is argue. Fight.”

  The grieving mother grasped Jo’s hands with surprising strength. “Talk to her, Josephine. Don’t let one of you d-die with this between you.”

  Jo blinked back tears. “That’s what I’ve been thinking the past few days. I’d hate myself forever.”

  “And if the unthinkable happened—” Doreen buried her face into her hands for a moment. “If you should go, she wouldn’t be able to bear it. There’s something about mothers that daughters don’t understand.” She blew her nose and searched for a fresh tissue.