Noel stood beside her and stared for a moment. Then he reached down and shook out the blanket. It fluttered beside her as he bundled it up. He grabbed her arm. “Come on! We don’t want to be on the mountain top when the storm hits over here.” He threw the blanket into the truck’s back seat.
She stumbled behind him to the vehicle where he hoisted her into the passenger seat then slammed the door.
Claire’s eyes found the flames again as another tree caught fire.
Noel shoved the truck into gear.
She clutched at his arm. “Look!”
“I see it. Can’t do anything about it from up here, but I’ll call it in when we get off the mountain. Hang on, I’ll be going fast, at least until we’re down into the forest.”
The truck jolted down the rutted road, rivulets of water already finding a twisted path down, racing the vehicle.
Thunder rumbled, closer now. Lightning split the darkening sky again and again.
Claire cowered in her seat, waiting for it to strike nearby. A fire further down could block them up on the mountain, recklessly devouring everything in its path.
“Claire? Talk to me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I-I’m afraid.”
“Hey, it’s going to be okay. Nothing to worry about.” Silence for a moment while the truck jounced about. “Really. That was just a little fire, unlikely to get much bigger. Maybe the rain will even put it out without a crew.”
Such a man as this — how could she let him go?
Chapter 20
“I thought you’d like to know the fire up the mountain is under control.” Noel paused as he dished up his plate the next evening.
Claire pushed her hair off her forehead with her wrist, but didn’t meet his gaze. “That’s good. I was worried about it.”
“I could tell.” He watched her pensively. “Anything you want to talk about?”
“Not really.” She turned away to refill the vegetable tureen.
He couldn’t let her walk out of his life like this, could he? How could he convince her of all the fun things they could do in other places? She just didn’t know, didn’t understand. It wasn’t that she didn’t care for him as much as he did for her. That had been pretty obvious yesterday on the mountaintop.
“Hey, boss. Some of the guys have a few questions for you.”
Claire’s back stiffened at Jess’s voice.
Noel swallowed the lump in his throat. “Be right there.” He watched Claire a moment, but she didn’t turn. “Claire?”
At that, she did turn, pain evident in her eyes. “Yes? Is there something wrong with your meal?”
His meal? He glanced at his half-filled plate then back at her. “No . . .”
“Good. Then finish dishing up, because you’re holding up the line.”
He reached for the next scoop mechanically. Who could ever have thought things would go downhill this quickly? He’d always known it was dangerous to date an employee, but his hands had been tied. Not on the dating, he supposed, but the employee part. And they hadn’t even been dating. Just one beautiful drive to the top of the world. Two kisses he’d never forget. One plea that had come from the bottom of his heart. One heart-wrenching discussion about the will of God.
And one rejection.
He didn’t get it.
“Noel! Over here.” He followed Jess’s voice to a small table with several of his experienced planters present.
He’d known better back when he’d felt that flare of attraction for Jess a few years back. She’d been dating his best friend then, and by the time they’d broken up, Jess was his new best friend and his crew’s foreman. After some rocky weeks, they’d decided to remain friends no matter what. And it had worked.
Why hadn’t he kept Claire at arm’s length until he’d gotten used to the position with her? He set his tray on the table beside Jess, where he could keep an eye on Claire behind the serving counter.
“Hey, guys. How goes it?” He met each pair of eyes in turn as he swung his legs over the picnic bench.
“There’s some bear sign not far up from our current planting site,” James said.
Noel nodded. “Griz?”
“Nah, probably a black.”
“How fresh?”
“Few days maybe.”
“Make sure your gun’s ready when you’re up there. Take a bit more time to ensure everyone’s safety. Everyone have a can of pepper spray?” Thirty noisy planters ought to be enough to scare off any bear, but if one went rabid and attacked, it wouldn’t be on his watch. “Show me tomorrow, okay? We’ll do a bit of scouting.”
James nodded and dug into his meal.
“Good food,” Wade said. “Thanks for getting rid of Polly and finding us a real cook.”
Jess’s elbow found it’s way into Noel’s ribs. He shifted slightly away, not wanting to respond. If Jess hadn’t noticed the strain between him and Claire today, he wasn’t going to point it out.
“A woman of many talents,” Jess said, teasing evident in her voice.
Noel buttered his dinner roll and had a bite. Somehow it reminded him of that baguette yesterday. Suddenly the roll tasted like sawdust. He set it down and picked up his fork to dig into the pork stew. At least it was nothing like fried chicken or potato salad.
He still had all the picnic leftovers in the fridge in his trailer. If he couldn’t face it in the next day or two, he’d turf it in the garbage. He hated the waste, but . . .
Jess’s elbow dug his ribs again.
Startled, he looked up. “Pardon me?”
“Just talking about how dry the spring has been,” Wade said.
“Been great for planting. I hate getting rained on.” James glanced sideways at his friend.
Wade shrugged. “Me, too. But I’m worried after yesterday’s storm. This whole area is like a tinderbox, ready to explode into flame, and there wasn’t enough rain to make a difference.”
“We’ll be out of here before the fire season gets underway. It’ll be some other crew’s problem, not ours.”
He became aware of Jess’s eyes on him and glanced her way. “There’s been more rain on Montana’s eastern slopes than here.” Not that his words would deflect her any.
They didn’t. “I agree with Wade. Could be a big issue this summer. Think things will be as green as your sister would like for her wedding?”
Noel’s eyes sought Claire, but she was focused on Tony as he set out desserts. He still had a lot of times he’d need to deal with Claire, but once Amber’s wedding was over, so was he. If he couldn’t win her back by then, he’d be done. Forever.
“Boss?”
“The spring Green Acres gets its water supply from runs deep. Zach doesn’t think they should have any water shortages.” He turned to Wade. “Yesterday’s strike — they did get that burn contained, didn’t they? That’s what I’d heard.”
“They’re water bombing it. It’s a bit steep for a ground crew, but if there’s no wind, it should be okay.”
Maybe his assurance to Claire was premature. If that fire did take hold, it was still miles away across the river and across the valley. Thousands of acres of farmland stood between it and Green Acres.
James elbowed Wade. “Rhubarb bars for dessert.” Both guys jumped off the bench, overturning it, then rushed the counter.
“Hey, boss, what’s up?”
Noel should have known Jess was paying closer attention than it seemed.
“Something feels off between you and the chef. Dreamboat didn’t like your picnic yesterday?”
Why did he tell Jess so much? It became really annoying when he wanted her out of his business, but he had no one to blame but himself. “We barely started eating before the storm hit.” Didn’t have to tell Jess which storm, did he?
“Pretty nasty up top?”
She had no idea. Well, maybe she did. “You could say so.”
The guys wended their way back but stopped to visit at another table.
Noel t
urned to Jess. “Look, she really infatuated me. But I’m over it. Things between me and Claire could never work. We don’t have the same goals in life, and besides, she can’t stand me.”
Her kiss had said otherwise.
Laughter played in Jess’s voice. “Really?”
Noel frowned. “Yes, really.”
“Then why does she keep watching you when you’re not looking?”
Noel jerked his head up but Claire was focused on scraping out a pan.
Jess doubled over with snickering. “Gotcha.”
**
It had been the longest shift of Claire’s career. Okay, maybe not the longest. Some of those nights at The Sizzling Skillet compared with many years ago when she was an apprentice. But still, tonight ranked right up there if one counted a dragging clock.
“Got the lunches packed up?” she asked Tony.
He pointed at the coolers stacked on the west side of the mobile kitchen’s door, where they’d still be in the shade as the crew loaded up in the morning. “Breakfast is prepped, too.”
“Thanks, kid. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He flashed her a grin. “It’s a lot of fun helping you. I only wish this job wouldn’t be over so soon.”
Yet the season couldn’t end fast enough for her. “There will be other options for you at some point.”
“I suppose.” Tony took a deep breath. “I’d like to go to culinary school.”
She mustered up a smile. “That’s awesome. You can probably start applying early in the New Year, but don’t narrow your options too soon. Keep up all your grades.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You sound like my mom.”
Today she felt old enough to be the mother of a teen. She felt positively ancient. If she let Noel go, would she ever find someone else, or was her biological clock ticking so rapidly that he was her last chance to have kids of her own?
She needed to stop that line of thinking. It wasn’t if she let Noel go. She’d already told him in no uncertain terms they had no future. She’d even meant it, though the entire conversation had replayed all night long. Whenever it could shove over the memory of that blissful kiss. There she went again.
A few minutes later she let herself into the straw bale farmhouse just down the road. Jo and Sierra sat curled up in opposite ends of one love seat and looked up as she entered.
“How are things going?” Sierra asked.
Why did they have to be curious now? Why not two days ago, when everything floated by on silver clouds? Or next week, when she had regained her composure?
Claire shrugged and padded into the kitchen.
“Teapot is full,” Jo offered without moving.
How well these two knew her. They’d been there for each other through thick and thin.
Claire poured a cup and sniffed. Mint. Should help soothe her. Maybe tonight she’d be able to sleep. She set her cup on an end table, sank into the easy chair, and plopped her feet on the ottoman. How could she ever admit to her closest friends what a fool she’d been, falling for a guy that was completely unsuitable?
“I hear you went out for dinner with Noel yesterday,” Jo said.
No preamble? With Jo, that wasn’t much of a surprise. Claire cut a glance at Sierra, who wiped polish remover across her purple-streaked nails.
“Sort of. He packed a picnic and took me to the top of the mountain behind Green Acres.”
“Up where they’re tree planting?” Jo cradled her mug of tea.
“Further. The planting site is only about halfway up the mountain where it had been logged last year. There’s actually quite a fantastic view from the very top, clear across the valley.” If one could handle heights.
“Tell me about Noel.”
A fierce pang pierced Claire’s heart. “There’s nothing to tell.”
Sierra glanced up for a second then returned to her fingernails.
Jo watched Claire over the rim of her cup. “Nothing? That’s not the tale I hear.”
“Okay, so he’s a guy.” A totally hot guy. “He’s Amber’s brother. He owns Enterprising Reforestation. He’s my boss. He likes to travel all over the world in the offseason. And there’s nothing to tell.” She may have said that all a little too forcefully to be convincing.
“I’ve heard he’s cute and funny.”
Claire barked a laugh. “You shouldn’t pay attention to rumors like that. You’re a married woman.”
Sierra snickered.
“Nice one, Claire.” Jo cracked a grin. “So there’s nothing to the way you two have been eyeing each other?”
Claire opened her mouth to deny everything but her conscience stabbed. “I could fall for him if we had more in common.” There, she’d said it.
“Could fall? Not, as in, have fallen?”
Claire recrossed her ankles the other way. “Whatever there was, whatever there might have been—it doesn’t matter. It’s over.”
Sierra screwed the cap on the nail polish remover and set it aside. She tucked her knees up under her chin and eyed Claire. “Have you been praying about it?”
Claire narrowed her eyes. “Yes.”
“So you’re saying there’s enough there to be praying about.” Jo leaned forward.
There couldn’t possibly be a need to answer that, so Claire didn’t.
“A year ago I never thought things would work out with Zach, in case you don’t recall.”
Claire remembered. “That was different.”
“It’s always different.” Jo shrugged. “He was fixated on returning to the city to be a pet vet. Didn’t want to spend his life doctoring cows and horses.”
“But he grew up here.” In fact, the girls had bought their farm from Zach’s grandmother, who was now in a nursing home, and his parents owned the property right next door, where Jo and Zach were living at the moment.
“He did, but he didn’t want to move back here again. Not only that, he wasn’t walking with God.” Jo glanced at Sierra, a little smile peering out. “And besides, I thought he’d gone and fallen for Sierra.”
At least Noel was only fixated on her, Claire. No doubt about that. But how long would it last now that she’d turned him down? “It’s still different. Home for Noel is Missoula, but he’s been living in his little vacation trailer for years, traveling from job to job. Zach wasn’t established anywhere yet.”
“You’re saying Noel’s more settled in his unsettledness?” Sierra asked with a laugh.
“Something like that. And where Zach had been an active Christian as a teenager, Noel wasn’t. Oh, he says he believes in God, but figures there’s plenty of time to think about religion later, when he’s old.”
Jo leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “The thing is that God answered prayer about Zach, making him willing to stay right here and take over Doc Taubin’s practice. Calling him back into a closer walk with God.”
“Yeah, well, that’s great. I was really happy for you then, and I still am. I just don’t think we can expect God to work the same kind of miracle again.”
Jo’s eyebrows arched. “Why not? Doesn’t He want His children to be happy?”
Those words again, the same way Noel used them.
“Every good and perfect gift comes from above,” Sierra mused, staring at the ceiling as though a gift-wrapped box would drop in her lap any second. If anything fell, it would likely be a spider.
“It’s like I told Noel, our happiness isn’t God’s main goal. You know that.” Claire surged to her feet. “He expects our obedience, and the peace He gives when we’re walking in His will is worth everything. It’s better than happiness.”
Jo cocked her head to one side. “That’s what you said to Noel?”
“All that and more. Trust me when I say we don’t have a future.” She drew her lips into a pensive line. “A long time ago I said I’d be content to be Auntie Claire to you guys’s kids. I still mean that.” Okay, content might be the wrong word, but if that was her destiny, she’d trust that
God would give her the grace — and yes, the peace — to be the best aunt those children could ever have.
“Well, that’s good at least.” Sierra stood and stretched. “Though I’m less likely to have kids than you, for what it’s worth.”
Halfway to the kitchen for another cup of tea, Claire turned back. “Why would that be?”
Sierra grimaced. “Not seeing any guy looking my way. You at least have something to patch up.”
“Patch up.” Claire snorted. “It needs more than a patch, I’d say.”
“Well, I’m glad you two are up for it. You’re getting the chance to be aunties.”
Claire pivoted on her heel and stared hard at Jo.
Jo looked like a cat presiding over a puddle of spilled cream. “Zach and I are expecting a baby.”
Chapter 21
Barely awake, Noel fumbled his ringing cell phone. “Hello?” Not even a hint of daylight peered through the trailer’s mini blinds.
“Son?” The voice slurred.
Noel lay back against his pillow. “Dad. It’s the middle of the night.”
“Don’t wanna talk to your old man?”
No answering that one honestly. “I have to get up and go to work in a couple hours. What’s so important at —” he squinted at his watch “— two a.m.?”
“Need a few bucks and thought you might be willing to help me out.”
Not again. Noel closed his eyes. “What happened?”
“I just don’t have any more. It’s gone.”
“You mean you gambled it away.”
“I nearly had it that time. I was winning.”
He’d heard it all before. “And then you went double or nothing?”
His father’s voice took on a sour tinge. “I said I was winning.”
“You didn’t call me to borrow money because you’re ahead of the game.” It wasn’t precisely borrowing. He’d never seen a nickel returned for all the times he’d bailed Dad out.
Silence.
His dad was good at that guilt thing. Noel hadn’t ever figured out what exactly he was supposed to feel guilty about, but that didn’t stop the emotion from barreling through him. “What do you need, Dad?”
A Farm Fresh Romance Series 1-3 (A Farm Fresh Romance Box Set) Page 42