Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
“I would love to say yes,” I told her honestly.
“So say yes,” she offered with a teasing grin.
“I would love to, but honestly I don’t have the time to keep up with another schedule, not with all our traditional crops, the vertical garden, plus farmer’s markets and-,”
“I’ll do it,” Everest interrupted to volunteer.
I blinked and looked at him in confusion. “You will? Why?” Not that he wasn’t a very helpful child, he was, but this was unusual even for a good kid like him.
Everest shrugged. “It’s something that I can do easily and you need the help, don’t you?”
“Well yeah, but…,” my protest trailed off, because I had no viable arguments remaining. But I knew he was up to something, and it was my job to put a stop whatever that might be, unless it turned out to be a good thing. This side job might teach him some valuable life skills actually, and wasn’t that part of bringing up a valuable member of society?
“Let me do this Aunt Bella. If I screw it up, then the deal with Ms. Carlotta is off. That’s fair, right?” His grey gaze bounced between me and Carlotta in search of agreement.
He was such a good kid, despite all he’d been through over the past year, and even before that with his disapproving grandparents and vanishing father, not to mention living with the knowledge that his mother was dying.
“Okay, I guess that means I’m in, well we’re in, me and Everest.” I smiled at Carlotta and then turned to Everest. “I guess we have to get you a scheduler and some kind of phone number,” I said as I reached for my phone and added even more items to my never ending things to do list.
“It’s called a smartphone Aunt Bella. It has a calendar and a number, so that when I finally make friends,” he said with a sarcastic eyeroll and a smile, “I’ll have someplace store all those numbers.”
I couldn’t help it, I barked out a laugh. “Well played, Everest.”
“Thanks.” He stopped in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders until our eyes locked. “I won’t screw it up.”
“I know,” I told him honestly. “Because it gives you another reason to avoid making friends.”
His quirk of a smile proved my theory right. “Yeah, yeah smarty pants. I have animals to feed,” he said and stepped around me. “It was nice meeting you Ms. Carlotta, thanks for the job!”
As I watched him amble off, I wondered if I could fold the new income into the farm income, since technically, it was using the land to make a profit. I’d figure it out later.
“Cute kid,” Carlotta said with a grin when Everest was clear of the house. “Helpful too.”
“Everest is the best kid I know,” I said, side-stepping the next question about Nicola. “His only flaw is that he’s thirteen going on thirty. How’s your family?”
She shrugged. “Good, mostly. My parents moved to Mississippi where Mama is loving her role as a society wife. My brothers are married with kids and having incredible careers, which means every other day I get calls to remind me that I’m getting too old to still be unmarried. You work when you don’t have to and put off finding a man as if you have time for that,” she said mimicking the uptight tone of her mother. “So let’s just say that I’m grateful for the physical distance between me and them. How about you, how is the York clan?”
“Good, especially now there’s a York back on the land. My parents are pleased about that. I haven’t really spoken to my siblings since I left Carson Creek, but according to my parents, they’re all good.”
“Too bad about your brothers and sisters, I remember y’all being so close when we were kids.”
We’d been best friends, at first out of necessity, and then because we liked each other. “We were. Until I decided to leave, breaking my parents’ hearts.”
She nodded slowly. “I have to admit I always thought you would take over this place.”
“Me too, but I couldn’t stay here. I needed to get away for my own sanity and well-being.” The teasing and bullying had become too much, and Derek Gregory’s antics had made it an emergency. “Now I’m back, and my parents are thrilled, but the other kids still hate me I guess.”
“Just do what I did. I started dating Chase Carson and now my parents are off my back, probably only for the next twelve months before they start talking about a wedding, but still.”
It was my turn to nod with a knowing smile. “He’s how you knew I was in town.”
“Maybe,” she said, drawing the word out. “That’s a whole drama that I would be happy to share with you one day over wine or lasagna or wheatgrass, or whatever you’re into these days. But now I have to go meet with an anxious bride and her overbearing mother for a consult. It was good to see you Bella, you look damn good girl.”