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I throw up.
And I feel a big hand grasping my hair, holding it back.
And after my stomach empties and I suck in a deep breath, it hits me that Torin is here.
I lift my head and blink.
“Hey,” he says with a grin.
“Oh my God!” Immediately I cover my mouth with my hand.
He hands me a bottle of water.
I look around but am horrified when he takes the bucket from my hands. He sets it down by a large bin and a coiled water hose. I take in more details. We’re around the corner from the front section of the farm where there are placards explaining the farm and displaying a map of where various crops are planted. Then the farm starts about fifty feet behind that with common plants like tomatoes, peppers, and leaf lettuces.
Where we’re standing now seems to be a storage area where fertilizers, implements, and hoses are kept. Along with buckets. Lots of different sizes of buckets.
I twist off the top of the water bottle, take a mouthful and swish it around, then swallow. I take two more long drinks.
Then Torin hands me some gum.
I take it from him wordlessly, before moving to clean the bucket I got sick in. I dump it out in a big trash bin full of weeds and mud, then use a hose to wash it out. I place it by the others of the same size.
Finally, I face him.
“You’re here?”
“Are you really surprised?”
I start to say that yes, of course I am. By all of this. But now that I know he’s behind this farm being built, no. Of course he’s here. I prop a hand on my hip. “You’ve been hiding? I haven’t seen you until now.”
“I wanted you to enjoy it without me taking up the spotlight.”
That should sound arrogant, but it doesn’t. It’s a fact. Torin basks in the spotlight. He naturally drifts to the center of any room or group. And here, he’s the man funding the project. The one really leading it from the sounds of it. Of course, they would have been talking to him and including him.
But since the mayor and Brady and everyone else didn’t know he was here, they gave me the VIP treatment.
“Thank you,” I say. “It’s…” I take a breath. “Incredible. Perfect.”
His smile is so bright, and so genuine that it takes my breath away. “I’m so glad.”
“And you have to build farms in Cara, Torin. You said it would enhance your agricultural systems and improve your economy, but from what I’ve read, you have almost no agriculture. Your climate and terrain make it impossible to grow almost any crop.” I start gesturing with my hands, my stomach completely settled now. "You import everything. Your economy is kept alive by fishing, which is also being threatened by climate change, and your attrition rate of youth to larger, more stable countries in Europe and the United States is alarming. But these farms can help all of that. Especially if you’re willing to start some programs where students can become a part of green energy engineering. Because powering these farms is the biggest hurdle, and we need to keep working on those alternatives. But yes, you definitely need these farms.”
He’s staring at me.
And my God, he looks good. He’s in blue jeans, and a casual blue button-up that brings out the blue in his eyes. It’s even a little rumpled. He looks like…a guy. Any other guy on the street. Except that he wears his confidence and power and passion like a cologne or something. Something that just floats up around him and fills the air. It's an aura. He just oozes charm and I-can-do-anything. And I’m so drawn to that. Because as much IQ as I have, I don’t have that.
My sisters have it. My grandmother has that. But I don’t. I know I’m good at things, but I’m happy to just do my thing, quietly, in my little bubble. I’m not the type to tell people that they must listen to me. I’m not the type to sell people on my ideas. I’m not the type to proclaim…anything.
I need someone like Torin to do that for me.
He swallows hard. “Abigail.” Then he just reaches for me and cups my face between his hands. “You are?—”
“No!” I shove him back. Oh my God! He can’t kiss me right now!
He stares at me, his hands suspended between us.
“I just threw up,” I remind him, my eyes wide. I slap my hand over my mouth. “I…want to kiss you so badly,” I say from behind my hand. “I want you to kiss me so badly. And we should definitely do that before you actually get engaged to anyone. But not now.”
