The Last One (11 page)

“Honey, when any guy built like him has his shirt off, it’s worth mentioning. I noticed his abs even that day at Boomer’s, but I’m willing to admit it was hard to keep my eyes on his face today. And he had that sweaty look—he’d just come in from the fields.” I fanned myself with my hand.

“Don’t tease, Brian’s not going to be here for another week.” Laura sighed. “Did he freak out when he saw you?”

“A little, but then his sister jumped in and made us explain everything. She’s awesome, by the way. She’s not much older than you and me, but she’s definitely the one in charge here. And her little girl is adorable.”

“So what are you going to do?” Laura cut right to the chase.

I hesitated, thinking about our walk out to the stand earlier in the evening. For a few minutes, I’d thought he was going to be human. We’d had what passed for a real conversation, and then before I knew it, he was telling me that he’d stay out of my way. That I’d probably not see him very much, which was clearly stupid since we were going to be living in the same freaking house. Eating our meals together. Sleeping under the same roof.

“I guess I’m just going to take one day at a time. I like Ali and Bridget, and I’m here for the summer. I’m not going to run away just because I got assigned to a house where the guy hates me. That’s his deal. I’ll be as pleasant as I can be, and the rest is up to him.”

I tried to keep that in mind over the next few days. It wasn’t hard, because it seemed that Sam had been right: he was up in the morning before I came out to the kitchen looking for coffee, and only sat at the dinner table long enough to eat. Ali didn’t seem upset, and she explained it to me after I’d been there three days.

“We’re in the thick of onion harvest right now. It has to be done by hand, and we can only afford to hire help for a week. So they work as long as there’s daylight. As a matter of fact, I’ll probably go over tonight and tomorrow night. I know Sam’s a little nervous about getting them in, and he needs every hand.”

“Can I help, too?” I surprised myself by asking the question.

Ali raised her eyebrows. “Have you ever picked onions?”

“No.” I shook my head. “But you can teach me, right?”

She smiled at me over the rim of her water glass. “Sure. But you know, you don’t have to do this. You’re our guest.”

“I’m not doing anything yet but planning the classes. Believe me, I have plenty of energy. Unless you’d rather I stay back here with Bridget?”

“Nah, Bridge is going to come pick, too. She’s a pro.” Ali pushed back her chair and picked up her plate. “Okay, let me get these dishes rinsed off, and you go change. I suggest an old pair of jeans you don’t mind getting really dirty. And sneakers.”

I frowned. “Not shorts?”

“Not unless you want to get eaten alive. I’ll spray you down with bug repellant, but the mosquitoes are fierce. Cover up as much as you can. It shouldn’t be too hot by the time we get there.”

I was happy I’d followed Ali’s advice by the time we got to the field. I batted at the annoying whine in my ear and itched at my arm. “And I thought the bugs were bad in Florida.”

“Once you get some onion juice on you, they won’t bother you so bad. It’s just the walk over and getting started. Come with me, and I’ll get you set up.”

She grabbed us each a lightweight basket to carry over our arms and led me to a row that was empty of people. A few of the other workers looked at me curiously, but no one said anything. I spotted Sam at the far corner, moving in rapid and fluid movements. If he’d seen us, he didn’t give any indication. I turned my attention back to Ali and the ground, which looked like it had been turned over already.

“Why are they all dug up?” I toed a big clump of soil.

“Part of the process. The onions have to be undercut and the soil loosened a few days before we actually pick them. They air dry for about three days, and now our job is to get them into the baskets and then into the barn. We have people in there who’ll cut the tops and roots, then bunch and bag them.” She leaned to the ground, grasped an onion plant at the juncture of the greens and white top. Gently, she shook off the dirt and laid it on its side in the basket. “See, it’s easy, but you have to make sure you pick it up in the right place. Why don’t you take over from here, and I’ll do the row next to you in case you need anything.”

It did seem easy, but still, I was much slower at it than Ali or even Bridget. I saw the little girl out of the corner of my eye, cruising down a row a few over from me. I scowled and tried to pick up the pace.

“Don’t let her intimidate you. She’s been doing this since she could walk, pretty much.” Sam’s voice behind me made me jump.

I straightened and looked at him over my shoulder. He was working on the row to my left, and he didn’t pause as he spoke.

“She’s fast.” I shook the dirt off the next onion and laid it in the basket. “I’m afraid I’m not much help.”

He flickered his eyes to my face briefly. “You came out to help. That counts. We’re doing well, actually. Should finish up tomorrow.”

“Does that mean you’ll be around the house more?” I blurted out the words and felt my face heat. “I mean, you won’t have to work so hard, right?”

Sam laughed, and I smiled in spite of myself. I hadn’t heard that sound before, and it turned out that he actually had a pretty great laugh.

“Summer on a farm means all hard work. No let up, really. But yeah, I’ll be around a little more. I won’t have to run off after dinner every night.” He slanted me another glance. “Why, did you miss me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I smirked. “I don’t even really know you. But I was afraid maybe you were avoiding me. I don’t want to make things difficult for you.”

Sam straightened and stretched his back. “Like you said, we don’t really know each other. We got off on the wrong foot, and I jumped to some conclusions. I’d have to be pretty stupid to let you push me out of my own house just because of that.”

I smacked my forehead where a particularly aggressive mosquito was attacking. “Okay. Just checking. Because if I do make you uncomfortable, I can always see about living somewhere else this summer. There’s got to be another family who’d host me.”

“Don’t you like living out here? What’s the matter, not exciting enough for you, city girl?”

I dropped another onion in my basket. “See, that right there, that’s what’s wrong with you. You come over here, you’re nice to me, sort of, in your own special way, and then you say something like that. You don’t know anything about me, as I think we established that day at Boomer’s, but you make assumptions. For your information, I love it out here. I couldn’t think of a better place to spend the summer. The farm is beautiful, and I want to explore it. I want to paint the orchard at sunset and that empty side pasture at sunrise. Ali’s been sweet to me, and I love Bridget already. And I’m not a city girl. I go to school in Savannah, and yeah, it’s bigger than Burton, but it’s hardly New York City, is it? I grew up on the beach. Oh, and I might be slow at onion harvesting, but I’m a damned hard worker.”

“Whoa, there.” We’d come to the end of the rows, and Sam held out one hand toward me. “Nobody said you don’t work hard. You’re the one who brought up moving.”

“Only because I’m trying to be nice, dumbass!” I stamped my foot, which in the soft dirt had far less effect than I might have wanted. “I’m giving you an out. To say—yes, Meghan, you make me uncomfortable and I don’t like you, so take your stupid self off to another place.”

He frowned and glanced over the field. “I didn’t say you were stupid.”

I set my jaw and rolled my eyes. “Oh my
God,
you are the most irritating man. Fine. I’m not stupid, and I work hard.” It struck me what he hadn’t denied. “But I do make you uncomfortable? Why? Because of the drinking still? I promise you, I don’t make a habit of it. You don’t have to hide the vodka while I’m here.”

“No, not because of the drinking. I told you, I realized I was wrong to say what I did that day. Your friend—Laura—she told me you didn’t get drunk very often.”

“Then what is it?” My basket was getting heavy, and I set it on the ground, rolling my shoulders. Sam’s eyes dropped to my chest as the motion drew the cotton T-shirt tight over my boobs. I watched in fascination as his Adam’s apple bobbed and he licked his lips. Interesting.

“I don’t know.” He closed his eyes and ran a grimy hand through his hair, leaving it standing on end.

“If you don’t know why I make you uncomfortable, then I don’t know how to stop doing it.” I took one deliberate step closer to him, standing on the lumpy ground where the onion plants had been. His eyes widened slightly, and he stiffened.

“Are you more uncomfortable now, Sam?” I realized this was the first time I’d called him by name. It gave me an odd thrill. “Does it make you nervous when I stand this close to you?”

He looked down into my eyes as though he had no other choice. “Only because you smell like bug spray and onion juice.”

I let a smile curve my lips, and I stood on my tip-toes so that my lips were even with his ear.

“Liar.”

I stepped back, still smiling, as Ali came over. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” I picked up my basket again. “Sam was just giving me some pointers.”

“Really?” Ali didn’t look convinced, but she only held out a hand to me. “Here, let me have your basket. I’m taking mine over to the truck. Just get a new one and you can start on the next row, if you want.”

“No problem.” And because he was still standing there motionless, I made it a point to step close enough to Sam that my arm brushed him as I passed.

Just because I could.

I HELPED WITH THE onions again the next night and was there when Ali carefully loaded the last basket into the truck. A little cheer went up from the eight of us who’d been working.

“Onion harvest is officially finished for another year.” Sam stood by the truck. “Thanks, everyone. I’m going to get these over to the barn.”

“Sam, Bridge and I are going home so she can go to bed. Art class starts tomorrow, and I want her to get a good night’s sleep.” She slid her eyes in my direction. “Meghan, why don’t you ride over to the barn? You can see what happens to the onions in the next step and give Sam a hand with unloading.”

If looks could kill, Ali would have been flat on her back in the soft dirt. Sam glared at her and opened the door to the truck cab. “I’m good. I have help over there already.” He glanced at me for a scant moment. “Besides, if class begins tomorrow, maybe the teacher needs her rest, too.”

“Oh, I’m good. I don’t need much sleep.” I went to the other side of the truck. “And I really wanted to see what happens to all those onions I picked.” I climbed onto the wheel well so that I could see him over the truck bed. “Unless you’re not
comfortable
with me riding over with you, Sam?”

Ali laughed. “I’ll leave you two to work this out. Bridget, get a move on, darlin’.”

I looked down at Sam, one eyebrow raised. “Well? What’s it going to be? Are you man enough to handle a little ride to the barn with me?”

He growled and swung up into the cab. “Get in the damn truck. I don’t have time for this.”

I jumped to the ground, opened the passenger door and hoisted myself in to sit next to him. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

Sam turned the key in the ignition and shifted into gear. “I don’t know why you’re making this such a big deal. It’s onions. There’ll be people cutting tops and roots. It’s not that exciting.”

“I just want to see the whole process.” I leaned back against the door and drew my knees up onto the seat. This was the old farm pick-up that they only used to transport things back and forth on the property. The paint was chipping on the exterior; in fact, in some places it was completely worn away. The inside smelled of cigarette smoke and sweat, and the seatbelts had been cut out years before. There was something about seeing Sam in the driver’s seat, with one elbow bent over the rolled down window and the other hand resting on the wheel, that really turned me on. I had a sudden vision of the two of us parked in some hidden corner of the farm, making out in this cab. The idea of Sam’s hands on me definitely made me hot and bothered. I shifted in the seat.

Sam glanced at me, the dark expression still on his face. “If you wanted to see the whole process, you should’ve been here last winter when we planted. Or in the spring when we weeded. Or even last week when we started undercutting. You’re getting the tail end of it. I don’t get why it matters to you.”

That was an easy one. “I like to learn. I want to know how everything works, and why. It makes me happy to think that the next time I pick up an onion in the grocery store, I’ll have a better idea of how it came to be there.”

Sam grunted. “Wonderful. Glad we could help with your education.” He sounded anything but glad, and I smothered a sigh as we stopped at the barn.

The sun had already set, leaving us in the dim twilight, but the interior of the big building was flooded with lights, and the wide doors were propped open. Three women stood at a long table, their hands moving so fast as they trimmed the onions that I nearly couldn’t see them work. They called greetings to us as Sam and I got out of the truck.