“I am not having strangers in my fields, Mercer,” Joan interrupted.
I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Apparently, I—a non-Judd—was lucky I got to work in these fields at all.
“Okay. But maybe someone up at the Apple House or the refreshment stand. Surely you could trust other folks to sort and wash and run the press. Then your parents could cut back on their hours a little. Or we could stay open five days a week instead of four.”
Joan appeared thoughtful. She was a hard-ass but she loved Nick and Amy something fierce. She was always worried they were working too much and overdoing it.
“I’ll think about it,” she finally said.
“And talk to your family?”
Joan gave another put-upon sigh. “Fine. I’ll talk to them. But I’m not working the farmers’ market with Candy. Brady is bad enough. You can stay on the schedule with her.”
I never imagined I could get these sisters to reconnect. I wasn’t a miracle worker,after all. I was just a man who was tired of an awkward situation at a job I loved most of the time.
Maybe a part of me was more invested in helping Candace than I should have been. And maybe another little part of me didn’t really mind her being my booth partner at the farmers’ market.
“I can do that.” Before I thought better of it, I added, “But you know, it wouldn’t kill you to get to know your sister, Joan. She’s not?—”
“Jesus Christ,” she groaned loudly in frustration before striding off down the row.
Sighing, I realized I probably shouldn’t have pushed. My gaze caught on the twenty or so apple trees that still needed to be harvested, the giant apple cart half full and the tractor waiting to deliver it back to the Apple House for grading and sorting.
My day just got a whole lot longer. Shit.
Fifteen minutes later, Brady came tromping across the grass wearing a bright red picking bag.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.Lift,twist,pull.
“I felt a disturbance in the force,” he replied, grinning.
I stared.
Brady shook his head, obviously disappointed that I didn’t find him amusing right now. I was tired and I was hot, and Joan had bailed on our afternoon task, leaving me to handle it alone.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “Joanie told me you might need some help.”
My gaze strayed absently in the direction she’d stomped off, and then I huffed out an incredulous laugh. She’d been pissed enough to stalk away from me but still made sure I wasn’t busting my ass alone.
“You know, Brady, your family could really stand to work on their communication skills.”
He stepped over to the ladder and basket his sister had abandoned and started reaching for apples.Lift,twist,pull. “Tell me about it.”
“I couldn’t help but notice that you are back on the farmers’ market schedule with me,” Candace said, cutting me an amused glance before she’d even said hello. “What happened? Did you draw the short straw?”
She was, once again, already boxing up the produce we’d be hauling downtown to the farmers’ market this morning. I’d even woken up twenty minutes early to make sure I beat her here.
I smiled and joined her behind the worktable in the Apple House. “Just lucky, I guess.”
She laughed, her even white teeth flashing briefly before she focused back on her task.
I wasn’t about to tell her that her sister was still being a pain in the ass and refused to take a shift with her. So that left Candace paired with me every three weeks. September 1 was just around the corner, so we only had a couple more of these Saturday mornings scheduled together before the downtown market closed up for the season.
After a few minutes, Candace said, “Thanks for being willing to babysit the new hire.”
I closed up a box of Honeycrisp before replying, “It’s not exactly a hardship. You grew up here. You know what you’re doing.”
“It’s been a while.”
