“Okay, I have ideas. I’m buying this property and I’d like to farm ten acres of organic fruits and vegetables, much of it dedicated to specialty items. It’ll take me some more time. It’ll take buyers. But it’s looking like it’s going in the right direction and I’ll continue to develop my line. I don’t want a lot of employees—I’ll want to supervise my own gardens, watch my plants. But I will want a farm manager. If I reached that point tomorrow, that person would be you and the position would come with higher pay, benefits and about as much security as you’d get anywhere. That is to say, job security is always at some risk. After all, I lost a job with a company I helped to build, and I never saw that coming.” She smiled. “You probably had more security with the Marines.”

He smiled back. “You’re not planning to send me to war, are you, Jillian? I’m not going back that way.”

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk about my plans. I’ll keep you informed, show you my business plan as it evolves, as I make changes. But it’s sensitive information. Can I count on you to keep it to yourself, Denny?”

“Sure, but—”

She held up a hand. “I only tell you this so you have a few options to weigh. Pretty iffy options, I know. Still, there’s no reason for me to keep that from you—we’ve worked together since March, almost five months. I trust you. If I manage to grow this little farm, you will be my first choice for a manager. But, if you have to follow other opportunities?” She shrugged. “That’s the chance I’m taking.” She leaned toward him. “I have one piece of advice—choose work you love over everything else. Especially over money.”

“Yeah,” he said. He stood up. “I’ll take those veggies into town for you.”

“Want a sandwich before you go?” she asked. “I’ll make you one.”

“No, thanks, Jillian. If I give Preacher food, he’ll give me food.” He smiled at her. “I’ll think about everything.”

“If you get the right phone call, Denny, I understand. That was our agreement from the start.”

Denny gave her a brief salute, then left the house. She watched him from the window as he transferred the vegetables from the wheelbarrow to a couple of boxes and put them in the back of his truck. She still stood in front of the kitchen windows until he’d pulled away. Then she turned toward Colin. “I worked like a mule all day and was holding up pretty well, but the last fifteen minutes did me in. I feel like an eighty-year-old woman.”

He stepped toward her with a smile, wrapping his arms around her waist. “You were great. You didn’t take any of Kurt’s shit.”

“What were my choices? I think I need to get a shower.”

“Sure, but tell me first—when he called you a blue collar whore, you smiled at him. Why in the world would you smile at him?”

“I was never a whore. That would’ve been easy—I was a slave! I worked so hard for Harry, even he couldn’t believe it. But blue-collar? A poor girl who came from nothing?” She chuckled. “Oh, he has no idea! Blue-collar would’ve been a promotion! My nana took in ironing. Me and Kelly—we got free breakfast at school. We were a couple of the poorest kids there and qualified. Nana had food stamps but also did odd chores like wash, sold her vegetables, then later sold some of her canned stuff, always keeping back enough to feed us. She bought our clothes at secondhand shops. Poor? We were so poor, we envied the church mice. On top of that, she was our great-grandmother. She was elderly when she got us all. And she was a full-time nurse to our invalid mother.” She shook her head and just laughed. “Honestly, I don’t know where Kurt came from, but he never came from anything as tough as that. Now, I really need a shower.”

“Want someone to wash your back? I mean, since the farm manager has gone to town?”

“Who’s going to wash my back when you’re photographing the Serengeti?”

“I won’t leave without making sure you have a good brush with a long handle.”

Seventeen

Jillian did the logical thing following Kurt’s surprise visit—she called her attorney and reported the threats. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything,” her lawyer said. “But if you haven’t had any contact with him or his new employers, I imagine the threats were empty. And you haven’t talked to anyone at BSS?”

“Just Harry Benedict. He’s a very old friend and we discussed his wife wanting to go on a cruise and my new business venture.”

“Could Kurt Conroy have designs on your new business?” the lawyer asked.

“I doubt it,” she said. “I’ve invested thousands and haven’t earned a dime. And it’s not in software or public relations—I’m growing vegetables.”

The lawyer began to laugh.

“Is this funny?” she asked.

“It’s funny trying to picture Conroy suing you for breach of confidentiality or libel only to win a vegetable garden. I’ll let you know if I hear anything, but I predict you’re safe. And with any luck he’ll invest his settlement money in more attorney fees that bring him no results.”

As a courtesy, Jillian put in a call to Harry. When she got to the part about Colin decking Kurt, sending him flying through the air and coming up threatening assault and battery, Harry started to laugh so hard he had to hang up and call back when he was under control. When he did finally return the call he said, “You’ve just experienced the true downside to being the CEO, Jillian. Our hands are tied. We’re expected to be professional. I would have loved to punch his lights out. So—did the sheriff show up?”

“Nah. And I’d be real surprised if I hear from Kurt again. He thinks I have a big bodyguard now.”

A little over a week later when Denny brought the wheelbarrow around for Jillian to fill with some fresh picks, she took stock of his expression and said, “Hey, Denny—do we have unfinished business?”

“Huh?”

“Obviously you’re still really struggling with this job thing. Maybe I can help. I can maybe scare up a little more pay for you. I could shop around for some kind of benefit package that would make you feel a little more comfortable. Or I could do for you what Harry did for me—cut you in on the action. A profit share when we make some money—I don’t think we’re that far away. Or—”

“Aw, Jillian, it’s more than the job. I should’ve just told you when I found out. I thought I was going to get right with this, but it just keeps bothering me.”

She felt suddenly alarmed. Something was wrong! “What is it? Tell me!”

“I’m surprised Jack hasn’t said anything to anyone. He’s just letting everyone think everything is the same between us, but—”

“Did you two have a fight or something?”

“No. It’s just that Jack finally remembered all the details about my mom. Turns out he’s not really my father. He was just a good friend of my mom’s, that’s all.”

She just looked at him for a long moment, studying his eyes, the downturn of his mouth. “Denny, Denny… Are you so disappointed?”

“Well, yeah. And maybe a little embarrassed…”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s not like you made it up. And besides, even if Jack’s not your dad, you two seem to have a real nice relationship. Right?”

“Right,” he said. “Course, a lot of that might be because he thought… You know…”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Denny. I don’t know Jack real well, but he seems like a genuine guy. Is that what’s got you all upside down about job possibilities?”

“In a way,” he said with a shrug. “See, that was my whole reason for coming up here—to get to know Jack, then tell him. Might be I came up here for nothing.”

“But you said you like it here. You said you like working the garden. And Jack’s not exactly the only friend you’ve made. We’re friends—more than just friends. Colin’s your friend. You’re on good terms with most of the town, aren’t you?”

“Guess so,” he said. “But, you know, I just don’t want to be in the way.”

“You’re not in the way of anything. Lots of us are real grateful you came along. I know what it’s like, you know. To not have much family. I only have my sister—that’s the entire Matlock clan. But I have a lot of good people in my life—you being one.”

“That’s nice of you to say, Jillian….”

“Listen, young man, everyone has their hard knocks and disappointments. Everyone, not just you. I know for you this is a big one, but it might help to wrap your head around what you have, not what’s missing. Because my way of seeing it, you have a lot. And I don’t think Jack would pretend to like you if he didn’t.”

“Probably. I know what you say is right. I might need a little time, but I’m trying.”

She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder; she gave a squeeze. “I’d like you to please try to list me on the ‘have’ side. You’re more than just my handyman, Denny. You’re like a little brother. Like a partner.”

He cracked a smile. It might’ve lacked some of his well-known youthful enthusiasm, but at least it was a smile. “You are definitely on the ‘have’ side, Jillian. I’m real grateful we met.”

“That’s a start,” she said. “Keep working on that.”

Through the end of July Jillian pulled bushels of beautiful, healthy organic vegetables from her huge garden. Some of her first specialty items she sent to Kelly in samples and Kelly was most impressed. Besides a farmer’s market or roadside stand, Jillian had not yet isolated a market, but she was studying the possibilities. And to that end she announced to Colin and Denny over lunch one day, “I’m heading for the state fair. Just for a couple of days. Denny, you should come with me—there are lots of produce competitions and displays. And Colin, there are art competitions and exhibits. And all this is not to even mention junk food and rides.”

“What about the plants?” Denny asked.

“The weather forecast is excellent and they’re hearty—they’ll be fine for two days. This is important. We have to see what the competition is up to.”

“But when?” Denny then asked.

“Tomorrow. We leave at 5:00 a.m.” Then she looked at Colin and smiled. “Is this train leaving the station without you?”

“Not a chance,” he said.

“That’s what I like to hear. Will you drive? You have plenty of room for the three of us.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he said, giving her a bow.

Jillian and Kelly had gone to the state fair when they were teenagers, but money was too tight, their nana too elderly and mother too infirm for the family to go when they were younger. Once they were driving and had a cheap used car they shared, they were allowed to make the trip to Sacramento together on their own. Then later, when she was an executive, she attended much bigger events than an ordinary old state fair. But always, in her heart, she longed for the thrill of it. She wanted to see Best Of Show horses, bulls, even chickens. She loved the displays of flowers, the clowns, the rides, even the sideshows.

She tried to remain calm and businesslike as she ventured there with her two men—her boyfriend and her assistant—but inside she was giddy as a ten-year-old girl. She felt the excitement rise inside her; it was a bubbling joy. There would be breathtaking flowers, for one thing; at the peak of summer in California everything was in full, glorious bloom. Someone would win a blue ribbon for the biggest cucumber or pumpkin. And this was a dairy state—there would be a lot of cheese, ice cream, shakes and yogurt booths. She remembered a huge cheddar wheel carved into a woman’s face from her last trip to the fair!