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I didn’t know when I would be in town, especially since I hadn’t heard from my parents. My heart ached thinking about it, but I knew I didn’t want to be the only one driving three hours to visit. If they stood their ground, I would have to make time near the holidays and birthdays, but not too much more. I had a lot of work to do here.
“Did I step on a nerve?” the woman asked. “I’m sorry if I did.”
“No, you didn’t. My family’s there, and it’s complicated. They don’t like that I moved out here to run a farm, so ... I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
“I think this is amazing. I grow some food in my backyard, but it’s nothing like this. If I didn’t have a family home, I’d probably move out here too.”
“A family home? That’s funny. That’s what this is.”
“Hang on to it,” she said. “And I might not know you all that well, but this suits you.”
“I’m Mollie, by the way. Maybe I’ll catch you at a hot chicken restaurant.”
“As long as it’s Prince’s, you definitely will.” She held a hand out to shake. “I’m Amy, and my husband is Levi. You’ll probably see us again when I drag my two friends out here.”
“You’d drag your friends three hours out of town forstrawberries?”
“Duh. They’d get food out of it. I bet there’s a cute small-town diner near here.”
“There is,” I said. “Center Point. You should try it.”
“Oh, I will. Now, let me grab Levi before he picks all the berries you have and puts you out of business for the day.”
I laughed as she waved goodbye, and I considered adding more advertisements near Nashville. If she was willing to drive all this way, then others might too.
A hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned to see Cain. “We’re down to the last field,” he said. “Looks like our first day was a success.”
“It was. And I have ideas for more.”
“You’re gonna keep us busy, aren’t you?”
I laughed. “You know it.”
Most of the ripe berries were gone by the time we neared closing for the day. I was walking the fields when one last car pulled in. I checked how many we had, and it was barely enough, but I could serve one last customer.
But then I sawwhoit was and my jaw dropped.
Mom and Dad were getting out of the car, a basket in hand. Dad made his way straight to me while Mom looked at every detail of the farm, jaw agape.
“You guys made it!” I said, running to them both and pulling them into a tight hug. “Thank you.”
“Mollie-bear, this is really nice,” Dad said. “And I saw the fancy website and posts you made about it. Glad to see you’re using that marketing brain of yours.”
“It worked. I’ve been busy all day.”
“This is ...” Mom’s voice was quiet. “It looks like it did when I was a kid.”
“Cain kept up on the house, but the fields were me. I havesomany plans. Like adding blueberries and orchards. There’s so much land here that I could work with.”
Her eyes cut to me. “You sound so ... happy. Like you were when you were a kid.”
“Iamhappy,” I said. “I love it here.”
“Are there any berries left?” Dad asked. “I can barely see anything from here.”
“The farthest field has a few. I’ll walk you over there.”
I gestured for them to follow me, but we all went slow so Mom could see everything. Dad grabbed a full basket, which wound up being almost everything that was ripe before we walked to the stand.