Harvest Moon (Brook Haven Romance Book 1) (6 page)

Sophie drove down to
her mother’s cabin to pick her up. They were going to the farmer’s market. It
had actually been Sophie’s idea, and her mother seemed thrilled about it. When
she stopped in front of the cabin, she noticed her mother’s limp was less
noticeable than it had been the day before.

“I’m so happy you decided
to take the morning off,” Brenda told her as she slid into the passenger seat
of the SUV.

“Yeah, well, I already
wasted one whole day.”

“Wasted? I thought you
said you had a good time yesterday.”

Sophie smiled. “I was
kidding, Mom.” Brenda shook her head. What Sophie wasn’t telling her mother was
that she hadn’t been able to get Drake out of her head all night long. She
thought about him all evening and when she finally fell asleep, she dreamt
about him. In her dream, they were married and running the inn together. She’d
woken up feeling warm and safe, and it made her wonder about the possibilities.
They were a long way from marriage, but she was definitely interested in
getting to know him better.

The two women talked
about the website Sophie was working on for the inn on the way into town.
Sophie had hired a photographer who would be out on Monday to take some
professional photos of the place for her to use in her advertisements.

“Has Drake started on
the main fireplace yet?” Brenda asked. There were quite a few loose stones in
the big eight-feet-high-by-six-feet-wide stone fireplace and mantle.

“He’s waiting for the
stones to come in, but I don’t think any of the imperfections will show up in a
photo, do you?”

“Probably not. The
fences he did last week out behind my place look really good.”

Sophie nodded. “Yeah, I
went out and looked at them on Friday. They actually look like brand new. He
does really good work.”
And he looks
gorgeous doing it,
she added in her mind.
     

Sophie drove through
town until they came to the street that was blocked off for the market every
Sunday morning. She parked the SUV and went around to help her mother step out.
“Really, Sophie, I am not an invalid.”

“I don’t want that ankle
to get worse,” she told her.
 
“I wish you
would go to the doctor. It shouldn’t still be bothering you so much.”

Brenda pulled her arm
gently from her daughter’s grasp. “Who says that it’s bothering me?”

“You’re still limping after
two weeks.”

“That’s my bursitis.”

“You don’t have
bursitis—”

“Oh look, it’s Tina,
the lady who did my hair yesterday.” Brenda lifted her arm and waved, and Tina
motioned her over to the booth. “I’ll catch up with you, honey.”

Sophie rolled her eyes.
She was glad her mother was making friends, but that had been a blatant escape
attempt. Brenda was always so busy taking care of everyone else that she forgot
to take care of herself sometimes. Sophie looked around at all of the little
booths set up. It seemed that everyone in the community had something to sell—or
maybe barter, she wasn’t sure. She saw Mrs. Larson as she was walking around
and stopped to say hello. The old lady seemed thrilled to see her and gave her
another cup of free lemonade.

“Thank you, Mrs. Larson.
Do you know where Drake sets up?”

The older lady pointed
to a table about five booths past hers. “He’s right there, honey, behind the O’
Dells’ booth.” Sophie looked but she couldn’t see him. There was a stack of
containers on the grocer’s booth that he must be hidden behind. Mrs. Larson
told her, “You see those blue containers? Those are his. It looks like Brooke
is there with him.”

Sophie moved a step to
the right, and she did see him. He was sitting at the little table with the
blonde she’d seen with him in Huckleberry’s. “Mrs. Larson, who is Brooke?” Sophie
heard herself ask, and she was surprised. Once again, it was very unlike her to
feel jealous or threatened by another woman—especially since she wasn’t even in
a relationship with the man.

“She’s our doctor now.
It’s funny to me, sometimes. I watched that girl grow from diapers to medical
school, and now she’s the one who writes out my prescriptions. A lot of folks
are still driving the seventy miles down to the city because it just seems too
strange to them.” She paused, and Sophie was just about to excuse herself when Mrs.
Larson said, “Some things never change though. Those two have been sweet on
each other since they were kids. I remember my dear departed husband running
them out of our barn once when he found them in there kissing. They couldn’t
have been over fifteen then. Brooke’s family lived just across the back field
from us.”

Sophie didn’t like the
way the sound of that made her feel either. What was happening to her? She’d
never mooned over a man before and got jealous at the very idea of him kissing
another woman—and twelve years ago at that!

She chastised herself
once more, and Mrs. Larson asked, “Are you okay, dear?”

“Oh yes, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You look
a little peaked.”

Sophie wasn’t sure what
“peaked” meant exactly, but she thought she might feel a little “peaked” as
well. “I’m fine, Mrs. Larson. Thank you for the lemonade. I hope to see you
again soon.”

“You’re so welcome, dear.”
Sophie walked away from Mrs. Larson’s booth, but she wasn’t sure what she
should do. Maybe she should go over and talk to him and see if he introduced
the blonde this time—now that she really thought of it, he never said he didn’t
have anyone in his life. What he had said was that he didn’t have anyone who
would get angry about him spending the day with her. His blonde “friend” looked
like a model even just from the back. Sophie was sure she’d have nothing to
feel threatened about. Maybe that was all he meant.

She had decided to just
turn around and go find her mother about the time Drake stood up to wait on a
customer. He glanced in her direction and his chocolate eyes captured hers, and
for a second she was frozen to her spot. A slow smile spread across his
handsome face and he waved her over.
Great.
She pasted on a smile and walked over to him.

As she walked up, she
heard the man next to the table telling him, “Becky was so grateful to you for
dropping off those vegetables last week. We were both so sick we could hardly
get out of bed, much less into town. She made us the best soup I’ve ever tasted
out of them. I don’t know what you use in that soil of yours but—”

“Love,” the woman with
the blonde hair said, grinning. Drake rolled his eyes without even looking at
her.

“I’m glad you both
liked them, Brett. What can I get for you today?”

“Becky said to get some
of that yellow squash and two of your tomatoes. I want to pay you for what you
brought by last week, too.”

“No way, that was one
neighbor to another,” he said. Every time she was around him even for a minute,
Sophie was finding it easier to understand why everyone loved him.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” he
said, putting some things in a bag and handing it to the man. “That’s two
dollars.”

“Two dollars?” The man
looked at his fully stuffed bag. He appeared about to argue, but a glance at
Drake’s face changed his mind. He handed Drake the two dollars, and with a
grateful look, he said, “After the harvest, I’m going to make this all up to
you.”

“I know,” Drake told
him. As soon as the man walked away, he turned to Sophie. His smile and the
tone of his voice was genuine as he said, “I’m so glad you came out this
morning.”

That smile had a way of
thawing the protective wall she kept around her heart. “Me too,” she said.
“This is nice.” The blonde cleared her throat, and Drake looked down like he
had just remembered she was there.

“I’m sorry. Brooke
Kilgore, this is my friend Sophie Michelson. Brooke is the doctor in our clinic
here in town.” Brooke stood up and offered Sophie her hand, which she accepted,
Sophie found herself envious of the other woman’s smooth, feminine hands. She
had been working so hard lately that she hadn’t given much thought to the state
of her hands until just now.

“I’m pleased to meet
you,” Brooke said. When she smiled, she had one deep dimple on the right side
of her face.

“It’s nice to meet you
too,” Sophie told her.

“Speaking of the
clinic, I guess I should get back to the booth. Drake, call me if you need
backup later. And stay strong or buy a puppy.”

Drake laughed and said,
“Couldn’t I just give Hooter to him instead?”

Brooke laughed. “Right,
you and that old Lab couldn’t live without each other. How old is he now?”

“He’s going on fifteen
this year,” he told her.

Brooke whistled. “Wow,
it’s hard to believe he’s that old. I was at that birthday party when your dad
gave him to you.”

Drake looked like he
was remembering. With another genuine smile, he said, “Yeah, I remember it like
it was just last week. He’s been a good old dog.”

She leaned in and
kissed his cheek. “I really have to get back. Don’t forget to call me after you
talk to Mac.” She turned back to Sophie and said, “It was really nice meeting
you.”

“Thank you. It was good
to meet you as well.” Drake’s eyes moved from Brooke back to Sophie. Something
about the way he looked at her made her feel safe and warm. “She’s the doctor,
huh?” she asked.
Stupid question, didn’t
he just say, “She’s the doctor?”

“Yeah,” he said, at
least polite enough not to even smirk or point out that he’d just said that.
Instead he said, “She and I have been friends for a long time.”

Just friends … that’s good. Good, why?
Why do I care who he’s “just friends” with?

“So what are you
selling?” she asked, trying hard to change the subject before she said
something to embarrass herself further.

“Vegetables, herbs,
salves …”

“I could use some
vegetables.” He grinned.
God, he was so
handsome….
She started looking through what he had and saw that most of
them were cut up into bite-sized pieces and put into plastic containers. Some
of them even looked like they had seasoning of some sort on them. “Is this a
special seasoning or something?”

“Nope, it’s just salt
and pepper.”

“So why do you cut them
up like this? Do they sell better?”

“Not really. Brook
Haven is so close to the mountains that a lot of folks we get here in town—locals—live
in cabins up on the mountain. Many of them don’t have electricity or gas to
cook with, and the ones that do just might not have a lot of money to buy food.
A lot of our work around here is seasonal. If you don’t own a business that
people need all year round, off-season times can get tough. Some of the folks
up here just survive all year off what they make during ski season. Some of
them wouldn’t make it if the community didn’t help out. The general store is
owned by a couple named the O’ Dells, and they give out things that most
markets return or throw away, like vegetables you can’t really keep very long
or they go bad, especially this time of year. My mom always cut up the ones
that could be eaten fresh and raw and packaged them this way. I just continued
what she started.”

“So you give them
away?”

“In some cases. There
are people who can afford to pay me, and the ones that can’t don’t. I plant way
too many every season for just Uncle Mac and me to eat.”

She smiled. “How do you
know the difference? I mean, do you already know who can afford to pay and who
can’t?”

“I don’t need to know.
They know. They take what they need and pay me if or when they can. Sometimes
they trade me for things.”

“That’s really
admirable, Drake.”

He looked uncomfortable.
“Nah, it’s just what you’re supposed to do for your neighbors. Everybody around
here gives back if they can.”

She didn’t respond
because he didn’t seem overly comfortable talking about it, but it warmed her
heart. She was feeling more confident with her choice of a place to start her
business and put down her roots every day.

Sophie spent most of
the morning with Drake at his table. Some of it she spent playing with his dog
who, she discovered, loved to fetch.

“Why is his name
Hooter?”

“When my parents gave
him to me, I named him Beau. He was just a tiny little thing and I was too
young to really know how much trouble he could get into out on a farm that sits
right at the mouth of the forest. I got busy playing with my friends at the
party and before I knew it, Beau was gone. He’d just disappeared. I was in a
panic, and my friends and I all ran off to look for him. We looked for over an
hour and when we came back to the house, the pup was curled up in my mom’s lap
on the front porch. I asked her where she found him and she said she didn’t
find him, the barn owl did. We had this owl that my mom fixed up when he was
young. He wouldn’t leave afterwards and just stayed in our barn. I guess once
we took off, Mom could hear him making all kinds of racket, ‘hooting and hollering,’
she had said. When she got to the barn, she found the pup curled up on top of
the owl’s nest. I decided to rename him Hooter after that.”

“What a cute story.
Your family loves animals, don’t they?”

“Yeah. My mother was
like Snow White. They were just attracted to her.”

Throughout the rest of
the morning, Drake introduced her to a lot of people she hadn’t met, and
between customers, she just sat with him and talked. She had a lot of questions
about the community and the people and what it was going to be like in a few
weeks when tourist season exploded, and he answered them all to the best of his
ability.

The whole time he was
shaking inside. He hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since he met her,
but after the bike ride yesterday, it was even worse. It was the first time
she’d really let her guard down around him and he got to see the real Sophie.
He’d liked what he’d seen … a lot. Today was a lot of the same. She laughed at
his stupid jokes and even made a few of her own. By the time Brenda found her
to tell her she was ready to go, Sophie was even waiting on his customers.

“I see you put her to
work,” Brenda told Drake with a smile. “Good for you.”

Sophie finished
handling her “sale” and turned to look at her mother. “And where have you been,
young lady? You disappeared on me for hours.”

Brenda laughed. “You
know me, I’m a social butterfly. I think I may have joined a quilting league … or
whatever you call them.”

“You quilt?” Sophie
asked her.

“Not at all. I can’t
even sew, but it sounded like fun.”

Sophie laughed. “Are
you ready to head back? I was going to get some work done in the office today.”

“Sure, honey, whenever
you are. How is your Sunday going, Drake?”

“Great,” he told her
honestly. He couldn’t have asked for a better one—minus the part about having
to go home and having that talk with Mac about the kits.

“What are you doing for
dinner, Drake?” He didn’t miss the way Sophie’s head snapped around to look at
her mother when she asked him that. Sophie was as aware as he was that her
mother was trying to set them up.

He smiled and said, “I
don’t have any plans, Mrs. Michelson.” Then he looked at Sophie again for her
reaction. She actually seemed more amused than annoyed.

“Good, you should join
us. I took some pork chops out to thaw this morning. I thought I’d do them up
with an apple bourbon sauce that I haven’t made in a long time.”
         

“That sounds really
good, but I might have to take a rain check.”

“Oh. I thought you said
you didn’t have plans?”

“I don’t, but there’s
something I need to talk to my uncle about and—”

“Oh no, I’m sorry! I
didn’t mean to exclude your uncle. He’s welcome to come too. I’d love to meet
him. Wouldn’t you, Sophie?”

“Yes,” Sophie said,
still looking amused. “I’d love to meet him.”

“Well, I’m just not sure
he’ll come …”

“How often do you two
get a home-cooked meal?”

“Not often,” he said
regretfully. “I’ll ask him. Can I let you know?”

“Of course.”

Drake smiled. “Thank
you. I’ll let you know soon so you don’t make extra food for no reason.”

“I’ll look forward to
hearing from you,” Brenda told him. “Sophie, I’m going to wait in the car. Take
your time.”

“Is your ankle hurting
again?”

“No, it’s fine. I hope
we see you later, Drake.” They watched as she walked away, and it was obvious
that she was trying hard not to limp.

“She never saw a doctor
about that?” Drake asked Sophie.

“No, she’s so stubborn.
She keeps telling me it’s fine, but she’s still limping and she thinks she’s
hiding it from me.”

“Will you mind the
table for just a second?” Drake interrupted her.

Sophie looked at him
strangely but said, “Sure.”

He followed Brenda, and
when he caught up to her, he said, “Mrs. Michelson, I was wondering if you’d do
me a favor?”

“Sure, of course, Drake.
What do you need?”

“My friend Brooke is
the new doctor here in town. She just came back from being gone to medical
school and doing her residency and all of that in Boston. She opened a little
clinic, but they haven’t gotten a lot of business yet. The doctor who was here
before was here for years, and people are just having a hard time trusting such
a young doctor. Unfortunately, some of them are still a little on the fence
about her being female, too. It’s just not what they’re used to, you know? She
has a booth here and I was just wondering if maybe you’d let her look at your
ankle.”

Brenda had a knowing
smile on her face as she said, “And how does that help your friend?”

“Well, I’m not sure it
will, but so far today no one has stopped to take advantage of her services. You
could be the first. It would at least make her feel better.”

“Are you trying to
manipulate me into having a doctor look at my ankle, Drake?”

“Is it working?”

“I’ll let her look at
it.”

“Then yes ma’am, that
was exactly what I was trying to do.”

Brenda laughed and he
held his arm out to her. She took it, and he escorted her over to the booth
where Brooke sat with her medical assistant, looking bored out of her mind.

****

“It’s broken?” Sophie
said, slightly indignant that her mother had been walking around on it for over
two weeks.

“She doesn’t know that
for sure. She wants me to go have it x-rayed at the clinic tomorrow.”

“But she told you that
you shouldn’t be walking on it.”

“Yes, she told me to
try and stay off of it. I wasn’t planning a marathon tonight.”

“You invited Drake and
his uncle to dinner though. I’m cooking—”

“No, you’re not. I
invited them, I’ll cook.”

“How do you plan on
doing that without standing up?” Sophie asked her as she turned off the main
road and onto the road leading up to the house.

“I can sit on one of
the stools if I need to. I’ll be fine. You worry way too much.”

Sophie shook her head
at her stubborn mother. She knew that it wouldn’t do any good to argue with
her. When they got to the house, Sophie helped her out of the SUV and said,
“Drake says they have an old walker at his place from when his uncle had
physical therapy. I’m going to run over there and pick it up.”

“He can just bring it
when he comes for dinner.”

“He’s not even sure his
uncle will come, Mom. It’s ten minutes from here, he said. I’ll be right back.”
She helped Brenda into the house and issued more orders she knew her mother
wouldn’t follow. Then she called Drake to let him know she was dropping by
before she got back in the car. She followed the road from her place up toward
the mountains and turned off on the one he told her to. The road narrowed and
was surrounded on all sides by thick patches of trees that seemed to lead
higher up into the mountains.

The view was gorgeous and
Sophie almost missed her turnoff because she was so engrossed by it. When she
saw the little dirt road, she nearly had to slam on her breaks. She smiled at
the little handmade sign that read “Tanner Stead” near the mailbox at the end
of the road. A bunch of lilac bushes seemed to grow wild there and she caught
their sweet, subtle scent as the air wafted through her open window.

She saw Drake’s house
as she got a little closer. It was built up on a gentle rise that sloped away
on either side, and the property was dotted with massive oak trees and a maple
tree here and there. His house was so white that it actually gleamed in the
center of all that brown and green. The little yard in front and the vegetable
garden off to the side were as well-kept as she imagined they would be.

There was a gravel and
dirt road that led from his house up to another, smaller one that she assumed
was his uncle’s. Behind that house was a large shop, and off to the side of
that looked like a big barn. As she parked and stepped out of the car, Hooter
ran up to greet her. Drake came out of the house behind him.

“Hooter, get off of her.
This is why we never have company.” Sophie laughed and petted the rambunctious
old dog. Something else caught his attention and he scampered off toward the
garden. “Come on in,” Drake told her. “What does your mother say about using
the walker?” he asked as he led her into a cozy living room.

It was furnished with
what looked like handmade furniture covered with thick brown and tan
upholstered cushions. There was a fireplace along one wall and a lot of family
photos on the mantle. There were also hand-carved animals everywhere. They were
intricate, beautiful pieces of art. Sophie was thinking about asking him where
he got them from. It would look great in the lodge room of the B&B.

“Well, I think by now
you know my mother … so what do you think?” she said in answer to his question.

He laughed. “I think
she doesn’t want to be a burden to her daughter, mostly. Have a seat.” Sophie
didn’t want to sit down. Being in this house that was so much a reflection of
him was making it harder for her to deny she was beginning to have feelings for
him. It was a little bit overwhelming all of a sudden. She didn’t want to be
rude though, so she sat.

“Your carvings are
beautiful. Where do you get them from?”

Drake smiled as he took
a seat across from her. “My uncle made these.”

“Oh my goodness. Does
he sell them?”

“Yeah, when he can.
During the tourist season, he sells quite a few. I get first dibs though.”

“Does he take orders?”

“Not very well.”

Sophie had been looking
at a carving that stood about two feet tall. It looked like a piece of a
mountain with three unique-looking wolves standing on each flat area. She
looked up at him suddenly and relaxed when she saw he was joking. “Well, I
assumed since he was related to you that was the case—”

“Hey!”

She laughed.
“Seriously, do you think he’d make some for me? I’d be willing to pay whatever
his asking price is. I’d love to have some for the lodge.”

“We can take a walk up
and ask him if you’d like,” Drake told her.

She resisted the urge
to look at the time. Once again, she was getting nothing done today. Taking one
day off seemed to have set the pattern for the entire weekend, but she was
enjoying herself for the most part, so she simply said, “Sure, I’d like that.”

“Okay, let me get that
walker for you and we’ll load it up on the way out.” She watched him step into
the other room, and then she got up and looked at the pictures on the mantle.
There were a lot of him at various stages of his life with his parents or a man
in a wheelchair, who she assumed was his uncle. Drake looked a little like his
mom and a little like his dad … and a lot like his uncle. There were also quite
a few of him with a blonde-haired girl that looked a lot like the doctor. She
felt that annoying twinge of jealousy again.

“All right, here it
is,” he said, returning with the folded-up contraption. He carried it out and
put it in her car, and then they started the short trek up to his uncle’s
house.

The mountain behind
Drake’s property was still mostly green, but Sophie could see where there were
patches of color—the leaves were just beginning to change. She couldn’t wait
until it was full-on fall and everything was in vivid color. When they got to
the little house, Drake stepped up onto the porch and, through the screen door,
he said, “Uncle Mac, I have someone that would like to meet you.”

“Come on in,” a deep
voice called back. Drake held the door open while Sophie stepped inside. This
little house was furnished with the same handmade furniture that was in Drake’s
house, and the place was just as neat.

A man in a wheelchair
rolled out of the bedroom. He held two little wiggly burnt-orange creatures in
his lap that looked almost like kittens with bushy tails. He smiled at Sophie.
He’s as handsome as his nephew,
she
thought,
just older.