“You’re going to be very impressed. Let’s start here,” she said, ladling some of the thick cream soup into a paper cup and garnishing it with a parsley sprig. “You know how long a pumpkin stays fresh? Forever, that’s how long. My great-grandmother used to leave a couple on the vine as long as possible, at least until there was a danger of frost damage. Then she’d put them in the cool, dark cellar…”
“Let me guess. This isn’t pie filling out of a can?”
“I beg your pardon. I rarely ever open a can! I steamed and pureed.”
He smiled, swirled it to study the texture, then took a little sip. His eyes grew round. “This is amazing!”
“That soup is not pumpkin pie in a bowl, sir,” she said.
“It is not,” he agreed, finishing his small cup. “Kelly, you have such a gift.”
“I do, don’t I?” When he pitched the paper cup in the large trash can beside her table, she said, “Now the pie. I don’t very often try to improve on my grandmother’s recipes, but I did have a pumpkin pie I liked better than hers. That sort of thing rarely happened,” she said, wedging him out a very thin slice.
“Come on,” he complained.
“Lots of people here today, Mr. Holbrook,” she said, giving him the slice.
He took a bite with the plastic fork. Again he made an ecstatic sound, and his eyes rolled back in his head. “That’s no ordinary pumpkin pie!”
“It’s more of a pumpkin cheesecake.”
“Please, please, please marry me!”
She laughed. “We’ll have to get permission from your little goblin,” Kelly said.
“We better hurry while she’s still sucking up for a puppy,” he said between bites.
“I want to stuff her with muffins,” Kelly said.
“Rest easy,” Lief said. “Her mother was very slight. I think Courtney is going to be a late bloomer, height-wise.”
“Is she a picky eater?”
“Pretty much,” he said, biting into a muffin and then moaning in ecstasy. After he swallowed, he said, “Fourteen. Picky everything.”
And just then the teens were beside Lief. “Courtney and Amber, this is my friend Kelly.”
“So, you’re the girlfriend,” Courtney said.
Kelly lifted one blond brow along with one corner of her mouth. “Not really. I haven’t accepted that position yet, and who knows, I might not.”
“Aw,” Lief said under his breath.
“Here, have a muffin,” she said, holding a plate out to the girls.
“What’s in ’em?” Courtney asked.
“What do you like?”
“Pork chops, potatoes and gravy.”
“What a coincidence!” Kelly said. “You’re going to love them!”
“I think I’ll pass,” she said, hands going behind her back.
Amber plucked one right off the plate and took an immediate bite. “Mmm,” she said. “Very good. Thank you.”
“You’re so welcome. Want to try some pie?” Kelly asked Amber.
“Yes, please.” And to the pie, Amber also said, “Mmm.”
“I’m getting a hot dog,” Courtney said, turning from them to patronize Preacher’s barbecue instead.
Kelly had the brief thought that if Courtney decided to dunk for apples, she might hold her head under water. Just for a while. Then she cringed to think she could match the kid for meanness.
Amber finished her pie and pitched the paper plate in the trash. “Thank you,” she said. “Nice meeting you.”
“And nice meeting you, Amber,” Kelly said. And when they were both out of earshot, Kelly turned to Lief. “That went well.”
He just laughed and shook his head.
“Was that Courtney finding me tolerable?”
He chuckled some more.
“What are you grinning about? That was borderline rude!”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Nothing can put me in a bad mood today. Courtney is spending the night at Amber’s so she can bond with her puppy. She’ll probably sleep on the mudroom floor next to the litter box, but I don’t care. I’m going to take them out to the farm, drop them off and come back here. And stay very, very late. Like a grown-up.”
“Oh,” she said with a smile and tilt of her head. “I see.”
Kelly had thought they’d surely run out of pumpkins, but there were even a few left behind. Many of the families who came had their own pumpkin patches, but didn’t want to miss a party. Everyone took away their stuff, from barbecues to ponies, as the sun was setting. Kelly cleaned up her kitchen with Lief’s help, Jillian changed out of her kinky witch’s garb, Denny changed clothes and headed out for a date, and Colin made sure all the trash was in the back of Preacher’s truck to be taken to the Dumpster in town. Keeping garbage away from the bears was a matter of importance.
When the fall weather had started to cool and the leaves had begun to change, Colin had bought a small portable fire pit with a dome-shaped screen top. It wasn’t exactly big enough to keep people warm, but the ambiance was nice. He set it up for Lief and Kelly, but, pleading exhaustion, he and Jillian headed for the second floor. “If you want to stay outside, light the Duraflame I put in there. I’m shot. I’m going in,” Colin said.
“Going to bed?” Kelly asked.
“I’m probably going to the sunroom to put on the TV where I’ll fall asleep in fifteen minutes…”
“And then I can wake him and steer him to bed,” Jill said.
“I like the idea of a fire,” Kelly said. “Lief?”
“Let’s do it,” he said, setting the Duraflame alite.
They brought a couple of chairs off the porch into the yard, placed them very close to each other and snuggled up in front of the fire.
And talked.
The conversation began with Kelly saying, “I’m kind of alarmed by how awful I was with your daughter. Not to her, with her. I have no idea how to communicate with a fourteen-year-old.”
“Don’t overthink it—she was rude. She’s often rude, and while there might be a million logical reasons, she pisses me off all the time. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“But how do you deal with it?”
“Many ways. Sometimes I get angry. Sometimes I’m very logical and enforce the consequences. Today, while we were in the car, I merely mentioned to her that I noticed and it didn’t make me feel very good. And God bless Amber, who piped up and said, ‘Really, Court, you could be nicer.’ I also have her talking to that counselor, taking riding lessons, spending time at the Hawkins farm where, apparently, she’s charming, and—believe it or not—we’re actually making progress.”
“Oh?”
“Seriously. She’s brought her grades up a little. A puppy and riding lessons depend on it. Plus, in helping Amber with her math, they’ve been working on homework together. It might be hard for you to imagine, but Courtney is very intelligent. Up until her mother died, she was always in accelerated programs. And every day wasn’t Halloween.”
“I think I get everything but the riding lessons,” Kelly said.
“Well, I had a horse….”
“Yes, I know. It led to your father, Sam, going down in a hail of bullets…”
He chuckled. “Yes, I lost my horse to an injury, everything else in the Deerslayer story was pure fiction. But riding can be so good for a kid. I tried to convince Court to just check it out, just see if it could appeal to her, with the secret hope that it might give her something that would take her from grief and anger to confidence and responsibility. But, as it turned out, my idea didn’t sway her at all. However, the instructor’s stepson, about eighteen years old with broad shoulders and a braid down his back to his waist, appeared at the stable and Courtney decided she’d give riding a shot.”
Kelly laughed. “So under it all, a normal girl.”
Lief put his arm around her shoulders. “That’s what I’m hoping.”
“I bet you were hoping I’d know exactly what to say to a surly fourteen-year-old with h
air in several colors…” Kelly said.
“Well, I don’t, that’s for sure,” he admitted.
“I hope you’re not too disappointed…”
He grabbed her chin in his thumb and finger, turned her face up and looked into her eyes. “Nothing about you disappoints me, Kelly. I wasn’t attracted to your mothering skills.”
“Lucky for you. I don’t have any.”
“That’s not what I’m after. I’m not looking for someone to take care of Courtney for me—I’m going to do the best I can with that. In fact, I wasn’t after anything. You took me by surprise. I saw you and something started to happen to me…”
“Yeah, and I started to pass out on the bar and needed help getting home…”
He smiled at her. “I’ve been off the market a long time, so it was unexpected, but the minute I saw you I needed to kiss you. When Colin lifted you out of the truck to carry you upstairs, I wanted that to be me. You turn me on like mad. And I know I have a lot more on my plate than you ever bargained for, but try to remember it’s my plate, not yours. Now, I don’t get many nights off and I don’t want to spend this one grousing about my teenager.” He took a breath. “Come home with me.”
She was shocked. “But what about…your teenager!”
“She can’t drive. The Hawkinses wouldn’t leave her on the doorstep if she needed to come home—they’d call me. I’d go get her. Go write a note to Jill. Come home with me.”
“Seriously? Because I’m not sure I’m ready for that. Quite yet.”
“I was sure the minute I met you.”
Oh, she wanted to. She knew what it was like to be off the market, too—it had been a couple of years that she’d been unable to see anyone but Luca in her vision. And she felt the pull with Lief. Like him, she’d felt it almost immediately. It would feel so good to slip into his bed, feel his arms around her, experience him. She had the craziest idea that with him she wouldn’t feel she’d just wasted her time… But…
“I’m sorry, Lief. That’s not going to happen tonight…” She took a breath. “And believe me, I am sorry…”
He kissed her brow. “Just not ready yet?”
She shook her head.
“I think I could get you ready…” he said, kissing the corner of her mouth, her neck, her ear.
“I’m not really old-fashioned, either. And I’m not going to kid you—you’re very tempting. But my life is a little unsettled now. And yours isn’t exactly—”
He tightened his arms around her. “I know. It’s cumbersome. It is what it is. I’m not going to apologize.”
“Then you’ll understand this,” she said. “Before I find myself in love with you, I’d better make sure I’m up to it.”
“Perfectly understandable. Maybe I should have waited, too.”
“Waited?” she asked.
“To fall in love.”
Nine
Kelly was up long before the sun, burrowed into the kitchen, chopping, dicing, cooking, boiling jars. Thinking.
Jillian was an early riser, and by the time she came into the kitchen, there were already two dozen filled canning jars lined up on the counter and another large pot simmering with a new batch. Jillian looked in the pot. “Nana’s peach chutney?” she asked.
“And spicy peach and tomato,” Kelly said.
“Good lord, what time were you up?”
“I’m not even sure. At least three hours ago.” She gave her pot a hearty stir.
“Did Lief leave right after Colin and I turned in last night?” Jill asked.
“No. He stayed late. We pulled a second Duraflame out of the shed.”
“And you’ve been awake for hours? What’s up with that?”
Kelly looked at her sister and shook her head. “I didn’t sleep well at all.” She banged the spoon on the side of the pot, laid it in the spoon rest and leaned against the counter. “I always saw myself as a good planner. Real sensible and logical and not overly emotional.”
“Pragmatic, I would say,” Jill agreed. “But sensitive. You’re very sensitive, Kelly. What’s the matter? Did he hurt your feelings?”
She shook her head again. “He told me he loves me.”
“Get out!” Jillian said. “Love? Really, love?”
“What a fool, huh?” Kelly asked, wiping her hands on a towel. “He must be crazy.”
“Well… I wouldn’t call him a fool. I’d just call him quick and to the point. And obviously someone who doesn’t need a lot of time to know what he wants…”
“Honestly, my ridiculous romantic situations lately make your romantic foibles look like kid’s stuff.”
Jillian perched up on one of the stools at the workstation. “I’ve given all that up since I met Colin. He is my last impulsive act.” Then she smiled sentimentally.
Kelly took the chair opposite her sister. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I had a real boyfriend? I mean, a reasonably available, totally single, relatively normal boyfriend? Over two years and that was a brief one. Since then I’ve fallen in love with a married man with five grown kids and the wife from hell and a single father with one of the most…interesting teenage daughters I’ve ever met.”
“At least you didn’t sleep with the married man…”
“I haven’t slept with the single father, either! And trust me, I’m not feeling any more calm because of that decision!”
Jillian smiled. “Love talk didn’t lead to sex talk?”
“No,” Kelly said, clearly disappointed. “I couldn’t let that happen. I don’t think I’d better get any closer to him right now. He has a complicated life. Issues with his daughter.”
Jillian grinned. “I met her. She liked my costume.”
Kelly lifted a brow. “Did she ask you to black out a tooth for her?”
“Hey, I liked her.” Jill laughed. “She’s a smart aleck.”
“Well, clearly you’re no threat to her. She wasn’t all that nice to me.”
“Oh, that’ll probably pass. When she gets used to you.”
“Jill, yesterday was pivotal for me in some ways. While we were hosting the town I fell in love with Virgin River. A person just won’t grind their molars flat in a place like this—there are too many good souls around to shore you up, lend a hand, make you laugh, make you feel like an important part of something. And here’s a perfect man, too—gorgeous, sexy, sincere, strong and ready. But I’m not equipped to take on a teenage girl who lives to press the edges of the envelope. And no one takes on Lief without taking on the daughter. She wasn’t dressed up for Halloween, you realize. That’s her look!”
Jill laughed. “What about the dad?”
Kelly thought for a moment. “I adore him,” she said after a moment. “He’s everything a woman could want in a man. And for as much as I think his daughter is too much baggage for me, I admire him so much for refusing to make her less than a priority. He’s completely devoted to her. And not out of some weird obligation—he really understands what she might be going through since losing her mother.” And then she went back to stirring her pot again.
“He sounds pretty perfect.”
“Yeah. Everything that makes me love him also makes me keep him at arm’s length. I’m just not ready.”
“And you’re trying to cook your way out of it?” Jill asked.
Kelly shrugged. “That’s what I do. Cook my way through the problems.”
“And what are you going to do with this stuff?”
“While I’m waiting for permits and licenses, I’ll keep giving it away as free samples, see if I can get anyone interested. Then when I’m legal, I’ll know where to take my stock.”
“Excellent idea!” Jill agreed. “Have you thought about selling on the internet?”
“I have absolutely no idea what that involves!”
“Let’s look into it,” Jill suggested. “Might be a good idea. If not, we move on.”
“We?” Kelly asked.
Jill put her elbows on the work island and l
eaned toward Kelly. “I love that you’re living here. I love having you use this beautiful new kitchen. I love that you can use what I can grow. We’ll make a great team. The longer I can keep this little love fest going, the better I like it.”
Just a few days after that conversation, Colin came into the kitchen while Kelly was up to her elbows in Nana’s sweet relish. It hadn’t taken her long to have a thousand jars of canned gourmet specialties stacked up and out of the way in the unfurnished dining room.
“This is just amazing,” Colin said. “You’re like a factory.”
Kelly shrugged off the compliment. “I’m pretty efficient. And it doesn’t hurt to have a nice big six-burner gas stove. While the relish simmers, I chop and mix. While the relish cools, I simmer a new batch. I probably produce over a hundred jars a day.”
“Have you heard from the health department yet?”
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “With the economy struggling, restaurants closing and growing in the off-season, they’re not busy. I’m going to have an inspector any day now. And this kitchen is going to get an A-plus.”
“And you,” he said.
“I’d better. I already have my state food handler’s certificate.”
“I have something for you to look at.” He put his sketch pad on the work island. “If I’m overstepping or none of this appeals, you won’t offend me by just saying so. I was fooling around, that’s all.”
She flipped through the pictures with captions. “What is this?” she asked.
“Possible labels for your canned delicacies. I know—you didn’t ask me to do this and I got involved on my own. But Kelly, you could use something besides a Magic Marker. Seriously. And if you have a something in mind, just say so. I can have labels printed for you in no time.”
She glanced through the pictures, from baskets of vegetables to images of her face, logos, slogans—they were fantastic. There was one that really caught her eye. On the top it said “From Jilly Farms.” Right under that it said, “Spicy Peach & Tomato Chutney.” On the right side was a picture of Kelly, on the left a picture of Jillian. On the bottom—“All Natural, All Organic, All Delicious.”