“Let me tell you what’s different, Jack. I came here to find you, thinking you were my father, thinking that meant I belonged here. I don’t belong here.”

“You do if you want to. I came here not knowing a soul and I dare you to argue I don’t belong here.”

“It’s different and you know it. I’m sorry. It was all a lie and I’m sorry.”

“Okay, I understand that you’re disappointed. Suck it up—we’re still good friends. You’re still important to the family, to the town, to a lot of people.”

“Yeah. Maybe, until they find out the truth.”

“I haven’t said anything to anyone about this.”

“You have to tell Mel,” Denny said.

“Of course I’ll tell Mel,” Jack replied. “But I don’t see why anything has to change between us. I don’t see why we have to alert the town. Give your mom a break here, kid. She had a dying wish. I don’t know if it was as much for you as for herself. She regretted that relationship. The only thing about it she didn’t regret was you. She wanted you. She loved you. She raised you right.”

“Yeah? Maybe so. But even considering that, I don’t feel like living a lie.”

“I know you’re offended. It wasn’t what you expected,” Jack said. “How about you just remember, it doesn’t have that much to do with us. We were friends for months before you laid this on me.”

Denny reeled in his fly. “Yeah. I understand. Listen, if it’s all right with you, I think I might be done fishing for today.”

Jill and Colin attended a great salmon dinner at Erin’s cabin; Jill brought a nice assortment of salad vegetables to contribute. Of course she already knew that she got along very well with Colin’s family, so no surprise there. And she not only offered a tour of the Victorian, she threw together a light dinner and invited them all to stay, including Denny.

But the real excitement in the weeks following the Fourth of July picnic came in the form of harvesting some of her most precious fruits and vegetables. The Russian Rose was in. Not quite as large as her nana used to get, but big, dark, delicious and beautiful. There were teardrop-shaped yellow tomatoes—a bush in the garden, a hanging basket on the porch. She had baby melons, miniature eggplants, a variety of colorful peppers, red lettuce, red brussels sprouts, tiny beets smaller than cherry tomatoes. Jillian and Denny boxed up some of her best samples of most rare and beautiful fruits and vegetables and shipped them off to Kelly via overnight express; she would know if they were just the sort of thing that high-end restaurants could use. Since they were free, Jill didn’t have to worry about licensing her farm and crop.

The rare heirlooms aside, she had a delicious assortment of organic fruits and vegetables—her zucchini, yellow hook squash, cucumbers, carrots, leeks and scallions were out of this world and she made baskets of them daily to be taken to Preacher. She even shared some of her rare lot with him; she couldn’t save it or eat it all. She did photograph everything, however.

Jillian and Denny were at the outside edge of the fenced garden gathering their crop in a wheelbarrow, separating what she wanted to eat and what she wanted to send to town.

“Don’t you want to take it to him, Jillian?” Denny asked her.

She shook her head. “No, go ahead. You were as much a part of growing it as I was, and don’t you usually stop there after work anyway?”

“Sometimes,” he said with a shrug.

The way he glanced away and shrugged wasn’t the first time she noticed that he might be a little quieter than usual. In fact, he’d been less excited than she had expected. “Hey, is something wrong? I thought you were all keyed up for the harvest! And this is just the beginning.”

He just ducked his head shyly. She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him back to face her. She tilted her head and gave a sharp nod, urging him to answer.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s better than I expected. You’ve got something, Jillian. I don’t know what it is, but if you stick a seedling or starter in the ground and nurse it along, it returns the favor and gets big, beautiful and strong. I never thought I could get so jazzed about that.”

“Unless we want it small, precious and rare,” she said with a smile. “What’s up with you?”

“Aw, I don’t know…”

“Spit it out,” she demanded.

“It’s too soon to say, really.”

“Say it anyway!”

“You know I like this, right? And you know it’s been working, right? At least I think so. But Jillian, I don’t know if it’s going to work for me in the long term. I’d never run out on you during your harvest, especially your first harvest, but I think I’m going to have to get serious about finding something more permanent. And no offense, something that has more security and benefits and pays a little… Sorry, but a little better. I’ve been kicking around going home.”

“Home?”

“San Diego,” he said. “I grew up there.”

“I thought you’d decided to relocate?”

He shrugged and looked away again. “I don’t know if that’ll work.”

“But Jack’s here,” she said, because everyone knew the story about how this young man had come here to find his father.

“Nothing stopping me from visiting sometimes,” he said.

Jillian shook her head. “Something else is going on here. Something—” She stopped talking as she was distracted by the sound of a vehicle. She automatically assumed it was Colin in his Jeep, then remembered the Jeep was already here as Colin was in the sunroom painting. She squinted toward the drive that ran along the side of the house and recognized the BMW convertible. “Aw, shit,” she said. “Christ on a crutch. Son of a bitch.”

“Um, I take it you’re not happy to see this guy?” Denny said.

“You armed? If you’re armed, just shoot him right now!”

“Jillian, maybe you should just take a few deep—”

But Denny watched as she stormed away, toward the BMW. A man got out and stormed toward her. He was about five-ten, blond, tan, slender, dressed like a city boy. But he had a sneer on his face. It was nothing to the grimace Jillian had on hers.

There was a part of Denny that thought it would be best to give her a little space to deal with whatever this was. Clearly it was private. It might be an old love affair gone sour. Hell, it could be an ex! But he just wasn’t comfortable letting the kind of blind rage he saw on Jillian’s face, matched by Mr. BMW, go without some backup. So he moved toward what was certainly going to be a conflict, but he tried to go slow to let her have her privacy and fast enough to intervene if necessary.

“Kurt! What the hell are you doing here?” Jillian stormed. “This is my property and I want you out of here!”

“Get off your high horse, Jillian! I’m here to tell you I’m going to sue your ass for everything you think you’ve got!”

“I believe you missed that opportunity, you jackass! We settled. Now get the hell out of here before I find a pitchfork and—”

“We had a confidentiality agreement, Matlock, and you violated it! And for that you’re going to pay! And pay large!”

She couldn’t quite stop the stunned expression that floated across her features. “Huh? I didn’t do any such thing.”

“Oh, yeah, you did. They told me at Intel that word leaked about my… Now, what did they call it? Transgressions! That’s right, transgressions. I didn’t have a real big fan club, they said. And since they weren’t very attached to me, they invited me to leave. No package, by the way. No one else would have done that! Only you!”

For a second she was shocked. But then she started to laugh. She laughed so hard she doubled over. So, the women Harry wasn’t supposed to mention? They went after him! She straightened and wiped at her teary eyes. “Why, Kurt,” she said, humor in her voice, “is it possible you lied to more people than just me? Possible you used more women than just moi? Because I haven’t talked to anyone, Kurt!” She laughed some more. “I’ve been gardening!”

He stepped toward her, his posture and expression threatening. “You lying bitch! You’re nothing but a lying bitch.” And then he shoved her and she stumbled backward a couple of steps. But she recovered and was right back in his face.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Denny said, inserting an arm between the two of them.

Kurt suddenly smiled meanly. “What’s this?” he asked. “You doing the pool boy, Jillian? Just your speed. A liar and a slut!”

She pulled back an arm and slapped him across the face with all her might. He actually moved back from the blow. It left a red patch on his face.

His hand went to his cheek and he wobbled a little bit. “That’s assault and battery! I’m going to file charges and you’re going—”

The back door to the house crashed open and slammed shut, but by the time the noise reached the side yard where they all stood, Colin was upon them. He moved Jillian out of the way, pushed past Denny, grabbed Kurt by the front of his shirt and landed a blow to his face that knocked him three feet back and right on his ass. “No, that’s assault and battery,” Colin said, towering over him. “Want to go a few rounds? You look kind of little, but I could promise to go easy.”

“Seriously,” he said, holding his face and struggling to his feet. He moved backward, out of Colin’s reach. “You’re going to jail.”

“Seriously,” Colin mocked. “You might have a little trouble with that. But, hey, go for it. We’ll hash it out with the sheriff, if you can find him, if he has time to deal with a little bitch slap. Things work a little different out here in the mountains, sweetheart.” He grinned at the slight, blond man. He winked. “They have work to do. They don’t have a lot of time to screw around with little boys and their whining. Out here when men get into it, they just fight.” He raised a hand. “Best of luck, ass**le. Now get the f**k out of here before I get mad!”

Kurt took several steps toward his BMW, still holding his cheek and jaw. He turned back toward Jillian and at that moment Colin draped an arm over her shoulders. He was at a safe distance, so he lobbed a few nasty insults. “This guy know you’re just a low-class, blue-collar whore who slept her way up? Just a poor girl who came from nothing and brought it with her?”

Jillian just smiled. She shook her head.

“You’ll regret this, Jillian,” Kurt said. “I’m going to sue you.”

She shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

“You’ll be sorry.”

“I highly doubt it.”

Once Kurt was gone, Jillian brought Denny into the kitchen. Of course Colin followed, listening.

“You deserve an explanation about that,” she said. “Would you give me a pass on that? It was both personal and professional and… Well, and embarrassing. I misjudged him and it cost me.”

“Sure,” Denny said. “Total pass.”

“Thanks. Here’s what I want to say about your situation. I wouldn’t think of getting in the way of you taking a better position. It would be selfish of me because I have no guarantees for you. I have ideas, of course. Ideas that I might not be able to bring to fruition. When you’re starting a company, or a farm, as the case may be, you always have to fly high and loose. I have to plan to succeed while keeping my alternative options in my vision. And by that I mean—I’m not going to be a fool. The minute this doesn’t seem to be working and I can’t see a solution, I’m not throwing good money after bad. You with me so far?”

“I think so.”