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Ford wondered if his attraction to Jolie had somehow dialed his libido back to its teenage years. Having her sit behind him on the ATV had his body reacting in all kinds of ways. Her legs hugged his and her hands lightly rested on his body. Nothing sexual about it at all. He was an ass.

Laughing at himself, he yanked his body under control again and drove through the orchard to the pond. The morning sun brightened everything, and he figured he’d never been in a prettier place.

Who would have thought he was a rural guy?

Nearer the pond, he saw a flash of white through the trees. Fox, the dog.

Ridiculous name for the huge Great Pyrenees, but it made everyone smile. Ford knew the Malssums had lost their parents in a crash when they were all kids. Their grandfather, Fox, had taken them all in and raised them.

While Fox and his brother Jay had been estranged, the dog’s name was a sign that Jay had never forgotten his brother. And maybe a sign that Jay wished things had been different. Ford knew Knox thought so, and that he hoped he’d find something in the house that explained the rift.

When Ford parked near the pond, Fox bounded up to meet them. Ford climbed off the ATV and turned to offer Jolie a hand down. She was already on the ground and smiling at the dog. “Hello, Fox. How are you this beautiful morning?”

Fox twined himself around Jolie’s legs and then sat while she rubbed him down. And now Ford was jealous of a damn dog.

He took off his helmet and then greeted Fox in the same way. The dog treated Thea like his family and had welcomed them all, although he stayed in the orchard when there were more than a few people in a group. He didn’t go into the buildings much at all, preferring to live freely on the farm.

Ford took off the bungee cords holding Jolie’s tote in place and then lifted it down. “Any particular place you want me to put this?”

She shook her head as she looked around. “Maybe just under one of the trees close to the pond.”

“Should we put it in the nearest shed? Is there anything valuable in here?”

She grinned. “Not to most people. Just some of the equipment I need to explore the pond in more detail.”

He couldn’t wait to see what she had and how she intended to explore. “I’m curious as hell about how you’re going to tackle this mess.”

Jolie laughed. “Me, too. Every place has its own unique needs, so I don’t plan too much in advance.”

After watching her yesterday, that didn’t surprise him. Her approach to tackling her projects was much more intuitive than his. He liked his spreadsheets and lists. Organizing the tasks helped him see the order and the flow of how things would work. She didn’t appear to need that, as she kept all the information in her head.

Jolie opened the tote and Fox walked over to check it out with them. The dog shoved his muzzle into the box while Jolie laughed. “Go ahead and check it out, Fox. Nothing in there can hurt you, but I’ll bet you don’t find any of it very interesting.”

Fox appeared to agree. After he sniffed the contents, he looked at her with his head tilted to the side, as if disappointed to not find any dog treats inside. Then he barked happily at them both and bounded off into the woods.

Ford laughed. “Looks like he agrees. But I’m interested. What have you got?”

A large roll of something made of heavy, blue rubber took up one long edge of the tote. Several small plastic jars and boxes filled up the middle. Small rakes, shovels, trowels, fishing nets, and other tools sat along the other edge.

“This is most of what I need to get started. I’m going to take pictures and get samples. I want to take water samples at various depths to see if there are differences. I’ll also grab a few soil samples from the edges and bottom.”

“What do you do with the samples?”

She opened one of the small plastic boxes and removed a few small jars. “I’ll send them to a lab for analysis. I don’t know which lab is closest, but I’ll call one I’ve worked with before and see who they recommend in this area.”

She pulled at the rubber material and yanked it out of the tote.

Ford laughed when it unraveled, and he saw what it was. “I thought it was a mat of some kind, or maybe a tarp.”

Jolie laughed. “Nope. These are my handy-dandy waders.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen rubber overalls before.”

“You’ve been missing out. The rubberized exterior keeps me dry and warm even in the coolest of water. Although I’ve only worked in the Carolinas before. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the Vermont weather.”

“You’re not going to explore the pond in the winter, are you?” The thought scared the hell out of him. Water in a Vermont winter had to be dangerous.

She shrugged. “I’ll have to wait and see. I’m hoping to have it settled and healthy before ice forms. But I’m also curious about what happens in ponds during the colder months. I’ll try not to disturb the area unnecessarily, but my curiosity is sometimes hard to control.”