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

by Valerie Comer

  He turned, his blue eyes blazing. “Don’t you think I know that? I spent three years in Romania working with abandoned kids. Contrary to what you think, I didn’t spend all my time moping and whining about my hard lot. I found work to do. Good work. Hard work. And I did it.”

  At least he was talking.

  “Sure I thought about Beth and our baby. She’d be nearly three now, you know that? But being there helped me heal.”

  He didn’t sound healed.

  “It’s Galena Landing that’s so difficult. You say to leave the past behind. Well, maybe that’s just what I should do. Sell my store and go someplace else. Someplace that doesn’t shackle me to painful memories.”

  Her head was shaking before Gabe stopped speaking. He couldn’t mean it. “Bad idea.”

  “Says the not-a-psychologist.”

  Touché. “There’s more than one way to deal with the past. You can run from it, or you can face it and heal. You ran once, Gabe. Now it’s time to face it.”

  He straightened, the seat belt seeming to be all that restrained him. “I did not run. My parents are missionaries there. I joined them in their work.”

  “It was okay to run. Everything was fresh and raw. But it’s been three years. It’s time to face reality.”

  “I’m not a fan of reality.” Bitterness oozed from his voice.

  “Then why didn’t you just stay in Romania forever? Why come back at all?” She kept her gaze on the road but could feel the burn from his eyes. Wait. He’d already said. “To liquidate?”

  He gave a terse nod. “I didn’t mean to tell anyone yet. Please keep it in confidence.”

  Sierra’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. Anything she could think of to say was bound to be wrong. Oh, God, please. This guy needed a hug from heaven or something.

  Gabe glanced her way. “Maybe you’d like to buy it. You’ve been working with Doreen, so you know what it entails. It’s right up your alley.”

  He couldn’t be serious. “Me?” She turned a shocked face to him. “No, I have no desire to own a store.”

  “Then why did you start working there?”

  “To help Doreen out. She needed someone to make sense of it and get some income happening, so I leased the upstairs until I could get my clinic built. I’m happily out of the building by the end of the week.”

  “But you’d be perfect.”

  Sierra’s teeth clenched. She’d wanted to be perfect in his eyes, but not as someone who helped him escape. Even if she wanted Nature’s Pantry — and she didn’t — she wouldn’t make it that easy for him. “Not interested.”

  “You don’t think it’s a viable business? You and Doreen proved it is.”

  He needn’t sound bitter. “That doesn’t mean I want to own it.”

  “Do you think I grew up telling everyone I wanted to own a health food store one day? Not a chance. I was a normal boy, dreaming of being a pilot or a cowboy or a pro basketball player.”

  Endearing. But she couldn’t let him think he’d win this one with nostalgia. “Your point?”

  Gabe shrugged. “The opportunity came along, and I took it. It was a good choice.”

  “Then keep it.”

  “Sierra, I—”

  “Don’t make any hasty decisions, Gabe. Really. Give it six months. Get to know the business the way it is now. Make sure if you sell out and move on that it’s what God wants you to do.” She glanced at him. “Have you asked Him to guide you on this?”

  He stared straight ahead, a tic pulsing in his throat.

  She didn’t stand a chance of winning his love. She might as well go for that jugular she could see. “Or are you determined your way is best? I don’t have to be a psychologist to know you’re hurting. Running won’t help, Gabe.”

  By chance she glanced his way just as he turned to face her. The pain in his blue eyes crashed over her. Good thing traffic was sparse.

  “Six months? I don’t know if I can manage that long.”

  Sierra’s heart lifted. He was actually considering her challenge? “I’m willing to bet it will do you a world of good.”

  “You’re the betting kind?”

  She laughed. “Not really. It’s just a saying.”

  “How about if you buy the store in six months if I can’t find another buyer and still want to leave?”

  “I bet that won’t happen.”

  * * *

  Galena Landing couldn’t appear fast enough to suit Gabe. They’d managed a few random sentences since Sierra’s challenge, mostly about the weather and politics. Anything, so long as it was far removed from his personal situation.

  Yet he couldn’t get her words out of his mind. Could he do six months? Every cell in him screamed that it was five and a half months too long. Somewhere underneath, he knew he was trying to bolt again. Did that make it wrong? Did he even care what God had to say about it?

  The tic-tic-tic of a signal light pulled him from his reverie as the car slowed.

  He blinked, catching a glimpse of a sign for Cottonwood Road. He sat up straighter.

  “Ah, you’re awake?” Sierra asked. “Sorry, I forgot to mention I need to pick up the remaining boxes of honey jars from Tyrell’s extraction shed. It will only take a few minutes.”

  She could’ve come back for it. They were only a couple of miles south of town. Oh right. The Green Acres girls used as little fuel as possible. Amazing Burke had managed to convince Sierra to drive all the way to Spokane. Maybe he’d paid for the diesel. But the way Gabe understood the girls’ philosophy, it wasn’t so much the money as the environment.

  Besides, Burke was on his way to California. “Yeah, whatever.”

  This was about the last place Gabe wanted to see. But if Sierra married the guy, at least she’d be taken, and Gabe could remove her from his thoughts. Not that she was in them, of course. He’d do well to remember he didn’t want to remarry.

  Sierra pulled into a tidy farmyard. A 70s style split-entry house nestled in a mass of flowerbeds. Beyond it, a red barn sat surrounded by corrals. Sierra turned left just before the barn and backed up toward a low concrete building partially hidden behind some trees. She popped the hatch on the car before opening the door. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”

  She came out of the building carrying a cardboard box. It thunked as it hit the car deck. She slid it forward before turning back to the building.

  The box looked heavy. How many of those things did she have anyway? Gabe pushed his car door open.

  By now she was back with another one.

  “Let me give you a hand.”

  “Thanks. Everything in that corner is mine. Or rather, belongs to Green Acres.”

  The little hatchback sat considerably lower on its springs when they’d finished loading the last box.

  Gabe couldn’t help but be interested. “All this honey is from your hives?”

  “Yep. We have twenty. We doubled the number this year because of the demand at Nature’s Pantry.”

  “Cool.” Gabe peered further into the dimly lit building. “How much do you get from a hive?”

  She shrugged. “Anywhere from seventy to a hundred pounds, depending.”

  The bulky equipment in the room beyond made no sense to Gabe. He pulled the building’s door shut behind them. “That’s a lot of honey.”

  Sierra slid into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition as Gabe climbed in. She flashed him a grin. “Well, you know that everything tastes better if it’s sweetened with honey.”

  “Everything?” He raised his eyebrows. “How about fried chicken?”

  “Okay, not everything. How about, if a sweetener is needed, honey does it better?”

  “I’ve done just enough cooking to know you can burn honey faster than sugar.”

  “But why burn it at all?” She shot him a mischievous glance.

  It was a temptation to get to know this Sierra better. One who didn’t badger him to get on with his life but could banter with ease. Except he wasn’t
ready to think of a woman again that way just yet. Probably never would be. To say nothing of driving past her boyfriend’s house while he thought it.

  Gabe’s jaw clenched and he jerked it toward the house. “How many hives did you say he operates?”

  “Phil? None. He used to have around one hundred until Tyrell bought out his business last year and tripled it.”

  That wasn’t Tyrell’s house? Then what… where…?

  “Oh, you mean Tyrell. Over three hundred. It’s big business compared to what I do.”

  So they’d said at Sunday dinner. And weren’t they, as a group, against big agriculture?

  “Sorry, I thought that was his house. His parents live here?” Then where did Burke live, if he ran his business from his parents’ farm?

  “His dad and step-mom. Tyrell has an apartment at the back of the extraction shed. I’m not sure how he’s planning to proceed.”

  “I thought you guys were an item?”

  Her face flamed.

  “It sure looked like it there in the airport.” He suppressed a surge of jealousy again just at the thought. What was up with that? He remembered a fable from when he was a kid, a little story about a dog who barked and harassed the cows wanting to eat hay from their manger, even though the dog didn’t eat hay himself. Why should it matter whether or not Sierra hooked up with Burke? It wasn’t like Gabe wanted her.

  “I took a beekeeping course from Phil, and that’s how I met Tyrell. Of course, I also see him at church sometimes, but we’re really just starting to get to know each other.”

  That kiss had looked mighty possessive in that case. But maybe Burke had been more aware of Gabe’s presence than Sierra had been. Could the display have been for Gabe’s benefit?

  Like the guy had anything to worry about.

  Chapter 6

  Did these gals do everything together? Even after they were married?

  Gabe couldn’t very well reject the Sunday dinner invitation from Jo he’d already accepted, even though he’d managed to skip church. It hadn’t crossed his mind she meant a group meal at the straw bale house with Claire and Noel. And Sierra.

  No Doreen this time. No Steve and Rosemary. Just a cozy group of six adults and a toddler who made his heart ache.

  “You’re in charge of the salad.” Zach clapped Gabe on the shoulder and steered him past the plank table and into the fully equipped kitchen.

  “Me? I don’t remember volunteering.”

  “Noel made the pasta sauce before church. He’s adding fresh herbs now, right, bro?”

  Noel looked up from the butcher-block island. “You got it. But you ought to give the poor guy a hand, Zach. Cooking the pasta doesn’t take that much focus. Even for you.”

  Gabe jabbed at Zach. “Trying to make me do your work? Not fair, Nemesek. Not fair.”

  “Garlic toast, remember? Not just the pasta. I know my place.”

  The aroma from the heavy pot on the stovetop smelled like heaven. And to think he’d planned to live on pasta from cans. Were these guys really going to make him learn how to cook? He supposed he should embrace it.

  “When did you turn into such a kitchen boy, anyway?” he asked Zach.

  Zach filled a pot with water at the sink. “Who, me?”

  Noel snickered.

  “Pretty sure you once thought it was women’s work. Don’t forget I roomed with you in college.”

  Zach carried the pot to the stove and turned the burner on. “Well, Jo’s a lousy cook.”

  A voice from the other room hollered, “I heard that!”

  So the women were within earshot. Good to know.

  “You misunderstood, Jo! I said you were a lucky cook. Lucky girl to have me cook for you.”

  The women laughed. “I’d starve,” said Jo.

  “Hey, now.” Zach tossed a bag of salad greens at Gabe. “These have been washed, so just rip them into that bowl. Even you can hardly mess that up.”

  It was an education seeing his best buddy as a long-time married man and father. Gabe had left the country before Zach and Jo returned from their honeymoon.

  Something gripped Gabe’s pant leg. “Dada!”

  He looked down into a cherub face that quickly grew confused then puckered and cried.

  Zach scooped the toddler up and planted her on the island. “Hey, Maddie. Daddy’s here. You got Uncle Gabe by mistake.”

  She sniffled.

  “Rule number one.” Noel chopped a pile of fresh herbs. “Don’t wear the same color pants as Zach. That’s as far up as Madelynn looks.”

  Gabe dumped the bag of greens into the bowl and began tearing them into smaller pieces. There must’ve been half a dozen different kinds.

  “This cooking thing is all Noel’s fault.” Zach handed the crust of French bread he was slicing to Maddie, who gnawed it happily. “I was mostly getting away with staying out of the kitchen until he came along, but he put me in a bad light.”

  Gabe glanced at Noel. “You’re a chef, too? I knew Claire was.”

  “Hardly seems fair to lock all that talent into one family, does it?” Zach asked.

  “I heard that, too.” Jo settled on one of the stools on the dining room side of the peninsula.

  “No, I’m not a chef, but I was on my own a lot of years and took to cooking. Puttering in the kitchen relaxes me.” Noel dumped the herbs in the pot and gave it a stir. He tousled Maddie’s hair on his way back to the workstation.

  “When they dragged me into this big happy family, they led me to believe Sunday dinner was Zach’s responsibility. By the time I found out he didn’t know which end of a knife to hold and couldn’t cook his way out of a paper bag, the rules had morphed. It was guys’ day in the kitchen. Period.” Noel dipped his head and looked Gabe in the eye. “You better believe he had stuff to learn. The quicker the better.”

  Gabe chuckled, remembering all the wrappers, bags, cartons, and cans littering their student apartment. He’d done a bit of the cooking during his marriage to Bethany. She’d worked long hours as a nurse, after all. But he’d had a few default meals to rely on. Easy stuff.

  “Chunk in some of those tomatoes, man. Over on the counter.” Noel started peeling cucumbers, giving a piece to Maddie.

  It didn’t take long until dinner was on the table. The rich aroma of tomatoes, basil, and garlic filled the air. This time Gabe ended up around the corner from Sierra, with Noel on his other side. There was just no way to avoid her in this gang, was there? And he’d have to touch her hand again during prayer.

  After grace, chatter resumed and serving dishes passed.

  Gabe took a bite of the pasta slathered in sauce. The stuff was crazy good, better than he’d ever had. Maybe his taste buds had been reawakened after being dead for years. If they’d ever been alive. “You need to teach cooking classes.”

  Noel laughed. “I think that’s a compliment?”

  “Man, yes.”

  “You his first paying customer?” Zach set more cucumber pieces on Maddie’s high chair tray. The kid was already smeared with tomato sauce. No wonder her mother had stripped her to the cloth diaper before lunch.

  Gabe sobered. “Might need to be. Otherwise it looks like a long bleak future.”

  “Oh, you’ll meet someone and get married, Gabe. Not saying that knowing how to cook isn’t still a good idea.” Jo gave a pointed glare at Zach.

  Claire chuckled. “A guy who cooks can be a powerful attraction to a woman.”

  Noel slid his arm across the back of Claire’s chair and nuzzled her hair. She wrinkled her nose at him.

  Gabe’d had it all and lost it through no fault of his own. But to open himself up again? He shot a quick glance at Sierra, remembering her challenge.

  She stared at her plate, fork slowly twisting pasta in circles.

  What, she wasn’t going to join in ribbing him?

  “Thanks.” He tried to smile. “I don’t see it happening, but I appreciate the advice.”

  “Wasn’t advice.” Jo glanced h
is way. “Advice sounds more like, ‘Gabe, you should get out and meet someone and get married again’.”

  She’d never been one to mince words, had she? Seemed she hadn’t changed much.

  * * *

  Sierra couldn’t believe Jo’s words to Gabe. They lingered in the air. So long as Jo didn’t follow up with something like, “And oh, look, Sierra’s still single.”

  Thankfully the silence held until Madelynn demanded “noo” and made the hand signal for more.

  “Noodles,” enunciated Jo as she forked pasta onto the high chair tray. “More noodles.”

  “Moh noo.” Madelynn nodded enthusiastically. “Tank.”

  Sierra dared a breath. It was one thing for her to tell Gabe to move on and remarry, and entirely something else for Jo to say it in front of everyone. But why was it different? Jo had known Gabe better than Sierra had before.

  Before.

  The defining words for Gabe.

  She couldn’t do Gabe. She needed someone with less baggage. Somebody ready to lean into the future.

  Or she could embrace the single life herself. No, she’d tried that after Claire and Noel’s wedding. She’d moved into the apartment above Nature’s Pantry to get away from all the starry eyes on the farm. While it was true the newlyweds didn’t need her living in the same house as them, she’d bolted more out of selfishness than consideration.

  But Galena Landing had proved to be either too far from the farm, or not far enough. She’d missed the day-to-day life at Green Acres. She’d missed doing her part. When the gang decided the next building to go up should be a home and clinic duplex for her, she’d conceded.

  Definitely a cozy space, with only the tiniest of kitchenettes. The girls had always planned to keep cooking and living communally even after they were married. Not that anyone expected marriage at the beginning.

  Not that Sierra’d expected to be the last woman standing.

  She shook her head and became aware of Jo’s quizzical look. She blinked and refocused on the group around the table. This looked too much like three couples enjoying time together, but it wasn’t. She and Gabe weren’t a couple. He wasn’t ready to consider a relationship, and no amount of daydreaming on her part was going to change that.