“Good,” Candace said with a grateful smile. “Plus, I’m sure Joan still hates being away from the fields, and I’m sure Brady here is thrilled to have another warm body to man the booth.”
It was true. Joan hated dealing with the public and answering questions about the farm. And while Brady was personable and a natural salesman, he did get bored easily and often looked for ways to keep himself entertained. Usually, by messing with a certain dark-haired employee at the Grandpappy’s tent.
Candace’s presence on the farm would be a help. I just hadn’t anticipated it, was all.
“You’re right about that,” her brother agreed without looking up from his phone.
“It’ll be nice to have another pair of hands around.” Then I offered her a small grin that she readily returned.
“Have you seen some of these comments, Candy?” Brady asked abruptly, blue eyes wide.
“What comments?”
Then Brady started laughing, which was never a good sign. “Holy hell. These women are thirsty.”
His sister straightened and moved quickly to his side so she could see his screen. “Oh, no,” she muttered a moment later.
Frowning, I wondered what the hell was going on. “What’s wrong?”
But then both Judds raised their heads and met my gaze. Candace looked pained while Brady appeared ridiculously pleased.
“Candy asked if she could help out with social media and post some photos she’s been snapping around the farm this week, and, let’s just say, some posts are more popular than others.”
“I’m really sorry, Mark,” Candace said. “I was just trying to help.”
I looked between them, not getting it. “What are you talking about?”
“She posted a thirst trap of you, and now the ladies—well, mostly ladies—of Instagram are taking notice,” Brady explained, then laughed again. “God, these comments. They are ridiculous.Is that an apple in your pocket or are you just excited for apple picking? He puts the spice in pumpkin spice.Oh, listen to this one by CeCeSlater. Man, that’s a great username. Anyway, CeCeSlater commented,Lumbersnack material?and then tagged some friends to weigh in. And someone else said you could handle her apples any day.”
“Geez,” Candace said, reading over her brother’s shoulder, expression mortified.
There was a picture of me on one of the farm’s social media accounts? Attention was literally the last thing I wanted. I moved forward and snatched the phone out of Brady’s hand.
“Hey!” he protested, but I didn’t care.
As I scrolled up to find the image in question, I heard Candace say, “I didn’t post your face, Mark. I wouldn’t do that. I respect your privacy. But I was sharing photos from around the farm. I had some of Joan and Brady and Mom and Dad. I just wanted you to be included too. You’re an important part of Judd’s Orchard. I didn’t want to leave you out.”
My fingers swiped through the photos, distantly aware that she was telling the truth. There was a shot of Nick and Amy in the Apple House, smiling with their Judd’s Orchard tee shirts on. Another image showed Brady from behind while he picked apples and balanced on a ladder. Then there was Joan driving the tractor, gaze forward and focused as she hauled the giant apple cart out of the fields. With the light behind her, Joan was basically a dark silhouette.
The last picture in the carousel was of me holding an apple. Candace must have taken it when I wasn’t paying attention, right here in the Apple House. I was sorting and washing the fruit we’d harvested earlier in the week.
The image was cropped in such a way that you couldn’t see my face, but my torso was clearly visible. My shoulders bunched, my biceps flexed, and the hard planes of my chest were on full display beneath my white tee shirt. I must have splashed water on myself at some point, because my stomach was wet, abs shadowed beneath the fabric of my cotton tee.
I got through reading three of the top comments before I felt a fierce blush climbing up my neck. When I raised my head, I saw Candace looking remorseful and wringing her hands while Brady held his stomach and laughed some more.
“I’m really sorry,” she repeated. “I didn’t realize it would, um, go that direction.”
Her brother rolled his eyes. “You can practically see his happy trail, Candy. Jesus. You knew it would get good engagement. Don’t lie.”
Before she could object or apologize again, I cut in, “It’s okay, Candace. I knowyou didn’t mean any harm. And you’re right. You can’t see my face. No one will know who I am.”
“Yeah, maybe they’ll think it’s me,” Brady offered with a grin. He hopped off the table and took the phone from my waiting hand.
Candace snorted. “Yeah, right. No one would mix up the two of you in a wet tee shirt contest.”
Surprise had my lips parting, and I turned to see her face go aggressively pink.
As if realizing what she’d said, Candace backpedaled. “I just meant that obviously you two are very differently shaped.” She made motions with her hands as she spoke, separating them and going from large to small, before stopping abruptly and hiding them behind her back.
