Raspberries and Vinegar (A Farm Fresh Romance Book 1) (17 page)

“Right.” Gabe scanned the menu and his eyes lit up. “Oh, that looks like one of hers. What are you having?”

Zach shrugged. Nothing had tasted good since before that stupid burger and fries. “The special, I guess.”

Gabe leaned back in his chair. “So what’s up with you? Didn’t see you in church.”

“I wasn’t there.”

His buddy grinned. “Yeah, I noticed. That’s why I mentioned it.”

The waitress returned with two cups of coffee, and they placed their orders. Zach wrapped his hands around his mug. Sniffed the pleasant caffeinated aroma. Tonight he could blame his lack of sleep on caffeine. Lovely. More time to replay the argument with Jo and wonder what he’d been expected to say to make things better.

Gabe lifted his mug. “So?”

The childish response surged. “So what?”

“Hey man, don’t mess with me. I’m not giving up. You might as well spill. What’s going on? Bethany said you’d been to Wynnton to see Jo when she was in the hospital and you looked pretty happy. Now you look like you swallowed acid.”

Felt like it, too. Zach sipped the coffee, trying to find words. Any words. “Yeah, well, it was a dumb idea.”

“What was?”

Zach shrugged.

“Are you going to make me guess? It’s about Jo, isn’t it? You’ve fallen for her. Hard, by the looks of thi—”

“No.”

Gabe laughed. “Oh, man, that was way too fast. So…two options. One, she can’t stand you, or two, she kind of liked you back, you had a fight, and
now
she can’t stand you.”

Zach met Gabe’s gaze. “Yeah. I’m a horrid guy. What can I say? I wear some kind of female repellant.”

“Don’t even go talking about Yvette and Jo in the same breath. Two separate women. Two separate issues.”

Right
. Yet all roads led to Rome.

“You don’t believe me?” Gabe leaned over the table. “Yvette was using you, Zach. She wanted a party boy on her arm, and when you wouldn’t play her way, she dumped you. Tell me how Josephine Shaw is like that.”

“The same but different.”

“Huh?” Gabe pulled back.

“Not a party girl, no. But just as determined to mold me into the image of what she wants. I’m not having it, Gabe. Not going there. I’m my own man.”

“Tell me what happened.”

Zach took a deep breath. “She’s a strange girl. I can’t figure her out and half the time I don’t want to.”

“And the rest of the time?”

“I mean, it could never work. She’s an environmentalist snob. I’d never be able to do anything right. She
wants
to live on a farm. I don’t have a future here.”

The waitress set their plates down and went away.

Zach stared at the roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the limp, pale broccoli. Uninspiring.

“You mean you don’t
want
a future here.” Gabe ground pepper over his meal, some sort of strange-looking layered thing, like lasagna only not.

“It’s a dead-end town. There’s nothing to do.”

“Cause you’re the life of the party? Come on, man. That’s the teenager in you talking. I remember craving all the glitzy stuff, too.”

Zach parked his elbows on the table and leveled a glare at his best friend. “So you’re calling me immature.”

Gabe looked up and the lines on his face softened. “No, Nemesek, I’m calling you a seeker.”

Whatever he meant by that. But Zach could feel a little something warm trickling into the cold, dry cracks of his life.

“Man, not everyone can live in Galena Landing. If everyone found its charms, it would be the biggest city on earth.” Gabe forked in a mouthful.

“Did you say
charms
?”

Gabe swallowed and grinned. “Sure did. The peace, the quiet. The lake at sunrise. Wind in the trees. Deer grazing in people’s yards. We’re connected to nature here, Zach. Connected to God.”

Zach set his fork down and stared at Gabe. “You’re saying a person can’t be connected to God in the city? Totally disagree with you, man.”

“Not what I said. I was talking about you, not the city. Remember when we were kids? How many times did we talk God stuff in our bedrooms or family rooms?”

Um, almost never?

Gabe nodded, reading the expression on Zach’s face. “No, our most serious conversations took place in the tree house or while hiking in the mountains. That’s where we connect, both of us. Not in buildings or busy places.”

Zach focused on cutting a piece of roast beef. Gabe had a point there. Other than youth group meetings, it had all been out in nature.

“There’s two things missing in your life, man.” Gabe leaned closer. “The peace of God for one. The lack thereof is written all over your face.”

He’d had that serenity, growing up. Even as a teenager. He’d felt close to God back then. Read his Bible, prayed, sang worship songs, even shared his faith around the high school. Why did it all feel so hollow now? He met Gabe’s gaze. “And number two?”

Gabe flashed him a wicked grin. “The love of a good woman.”

***

It was still dark outside when Jo’s cell phone rang. She’d been awake half the night, unable to get comfortable, unable to free her mind of Zach. But it wouldn’t be him calling this early. Or ever. She groped around the bedside table for the phone and slid the bar to accept the call. “Hello?”

“Hello, Josephine.”

Her mother. Jo sank against the pillow.
No
. Was today the day? “Hi, Mom.”

“I haven’t heard back from you. Our flight leaves in half an hour and I wanted to make sure you remembered we were coming.”

“I, um, broke my arm a few days ago. Had to have surgery to put my elbow back together. I’m in a cast for the next month or two. It’s not exactly a good time for a visit.” Not that there ever was.

Mom clucked her tongue. “Sounds like you need your mother more than ever. Listen, I’ll get Brad to bring me to your place this afternoon. He has meetings in Spokane tomorrow and Friday. Our return flight is Sunday afternoon, so he can join us on Saturday and we’ll spend a day all together like a family. Won’t that be nice?”

Nice was
so
not the word. Panic was more like it. “Mom, you can’t stay here.”

“Nonsense. It sounds like I’m needed.”

“I’m serious. I told you, we live in a dinky little trailer with three tiny bedrooms. Mine is barely big enough for a twin bed. We don’t have room for guests.”

“But...”

Jo visualized her processing that. Her mom wasn’t used to failing in her objectives. Once she set her teeth in something, she won. That’s how she landed Brad, after all.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I told you this wasn’t a good time.”

“But I’ve already bought my ticket. We’re boarding in just a few minutes.”

And that was Jo’s problem how?

“I’ll just stay in a hotel nearby, then. You can bring me out to your place for the day. You can still drive, can’t you?”

Just like a terrier. Her teeth had sunk in and she wasn’t letting go. “My whole arm is immobilized, Mom. From bicep to fingers. We have a stick shift. No, I can’t drive.”

“I’ll get a rental.”

Please, dear God, give me patience.
“Galena Landing doesn’t have a car rental place. It’s a very small town. A village.”

Pause. “It does have a good hotel, doesn’t it? A Marriott or something similar?”

It was to laugh. “No Marriott. Only one hotel, and it’s called The Landing Pad.”

“The Landing Pad?” Mom echoed weakly.

“Yes.”

Jo heard a loudspeaker crackle in the background.

“They’re loading first class. I’ll call you from Spokane when we arrive.”

“Okay. Bye, Mom.” Jo pressed the button to end the call and a rustle from the doorway caught her attention.

Sierra, leaning against the doorjamb, cleared her throat. “So. Your mother is coming.”

Was God punishing Jo for something? First the fall from the tree house, breaking her arm, then the fight with Zach, then the competition with Sierra. Now her mother. She needed a hole to crawl inside. And die. She took a deep breath. “Yep.”

“I wish your folks were as cool as mine.”

Jo had yearned for that herself, many times. Sierra was the only one she knew with some sort of normal family. Too bad it hadn’t made her friend more understanding. Enough. She’d do her best to set aside the jealousy over Sierra’s ease with Zach.

“Speaking of which, I had an email from my dad,” Sierra continued.

Jo swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “Oh?”

“He and Jacob will be here the fifteenth for two whole weeks. We’ll get the straw bales up.” She retreated to the hallway as Jo advanced toward her.

Two strong guys would go a long way to raising the walls on the new house, even if they knew as little about straw bale building as the girls did. Sierra’s dad had renovated their Portland house, though, and her little brother had helped. They were in good hands.

“Where are they staying?” called Claire from the kitchen.
 

“Oh, Dad’s bringing the motor home.”

Jo followed Sierra down the hallway. Sierra’s dad and brother had helped the girls move, and it would be great to see them again. They had such an easy relationship.

Unlike her and her mom. Never mind Brad.

Chapter 16

“The GPS unit doesn’t know where Thompson Road is, Josephine. How are we supposed to find you?”

Jo bit hard on her tongue. Mom made it sound like Jo had blanked the navigation system’s memory on purpose. “I could give you directions.”

“Well, please do. Brad needs to get back to Spokane tonight. We don’t have all day.”

“What are you going to drive while you’re here? I told you there isn’t a rental place in Galena Landing.”

“Nonsense. Don’t you still have that little hatchback? I’ll drive it.”

Deep breath. “I don’t own a car, Mom. I sold it before we moved out here. The girls and I share a car, and it’s not available.”

“What?” There was static then her voice became muffled. “Brad! She doesn’t have a car anymore.”

Jo heard her stepfather curse. How she had missed the two of them.

Mom spoke to Jo again. “Well, we’ll deal with that when we get there. We’re on Highway 95 at some park by the lake. Lakeside Park. How original.”

“Do you want to stop off at the hotel and freshen up first?” Maybe she’d hate the place so much she’d leave again with Brad.

“No, I told you. Brad has to get back to Spokane. Which road do we take from here? I’ll stay on the line while we drive.”

Jo sighed and rattled off the first stage of directions. She had no more than five minutes before the grand arrival, but in that amount of time she heard all about how Brad’s son’s ex was suing the family. Served Earl right. He was a jerk.

Jo counted the seconds since she’d told them to turn at the last intersection.

Her mother’s monologue ended with a sharp intake of breath.

Right on time.

“Oh my word. Josephine. You can’t mean you live in that...
that...”

Her mother, at a loss for words? Couldn’t remember when that had happened last. “The old dumpy trailer? Yep, that’s us.” Jo couldn’t resist. “We got a really good deal on it.”

“And it’s a mud driveway.” Mom disconnected the call.

Nothing else to say? Not likely. She was saving it up.

Jo peered out the window as a gray Lexus sedan turned into the pot-holey driveway and inched forward. Her stepfather obviously meant to keep the rental’s muffler intact.
Good call, Brad.

Claire appeared by Jo’s shoulder. “They’re here, I see.”

Brilliant observation. “Yeah.”

“God must have brought them here for a reason. We’re praying for you.”

Guilt knifed through Jo’s heart and tears flooded her eyes. “Do you really think so?”

“Jo, you know so. You asked us all to pray for your mom and Brad years ago. And we have been. I know you have some bitterness still—”

Now that was an understatement.

“—but I think God brought them here so you could make things right with them.”

In the absence of a true parking spot, Brad pulled the Lexus in alongside the old Golf. Brad waved his hands and then slammed one down on the steering wheel. Jo’s mother looked like she was yelling back at him.

Delightful. Everyone was in a great mood to start. That would make things go even smoother. And they had yet to slog through the mud to the trailer steps.

Mom got out of the car and rounded the back of it, her gaze on the ground. When she came into Jo’s line of vision wearing a narrow lavender skirt with matching jacket — and teetering on impossibly tall heels — Jo understood why. Those pumps were no match for the muck created by a week’s worth of rain.

Claire’s hand squeezed Jo’s shoulder. “Wow, I thought your mom had lived in the country before. She’s sure not dressed for it.”

A giggle tried to bubble up, but in reality, Jo’s mom would be only that much more commanding because of the added difficulty when she finally got into the trailer. “Oh, yeah. She grew up on a farm across the border in Canada.”

“In other words, she should have known better.”

Brad exited the car in a dark gray suit, complete with a tie. Those polished black oxfords would need to stop at a shoeshine stand before his fancy schmancy hotel would let him in.

Jo sighed. “They both should have guessed. And I suppose I should have remembered to tell them. I’m so used to it now it didn’t cross my mind.” She walked over to the door and opened it.
“Hi there.”

Her feisty little mother stopped squishing through the mud to glare at her. “You could have warned us.”

That fired Jo’s back up, no matter what she’d just told Claire. “I did. I told you it’s been a wet spring. I told you we lived on a farm.”

“But this?” Mom waved her manicured hand to encompass the ground around her.

Brad grasped her elbow and all but lifted her across to the squishy grass. “There you go, Denise.”

Mom toddled up the steps, Brad right behind her.

Jo edged backward into the kitchen. “Welcome to Green Acres.” If only she weren’t lying about the welcome part.

Brad looked around with disdain oozing from every pore. Not that Jo expected anything different from him.