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She’s spent a lot of time, both awake and dreaming, imagining sleeping with him. Even as she walked through the orchard with its gorgeous apple blossoms ready to morph into flowers, her body revved at the thought of seducing Ford.

Was she ready for that step?

How could she not be?

But the consequences she worried about didn’t fly away just because she wanted to climb Ford like a tree. She’d have to be an adult and think it through from all sides. Which sent her imagination spinning in new directions.

She was laughing when Fox bounded up to her for his morning rubdown. “Hello there, my friend. How would you feel about having another doggie pal here on the farm?”

Fox licked her face and twined between her legs. “I know you’re friends with Gilbert.” The dog barked at the name and spun in a circle as if looking for his buddy.

Jolie laughed. “I liked your friend. Lorraine doesn’t raise puppies anymore, but she has plenty of friends in the dog world. She’s going to look for a dog who likes to herd. We need someone to help with the ducks.”

And if these ducks proved to be effective with the snails and spreading nutrients to various parts of the orchard with their poop, she’d consider increasing the size of the flock. From her research, a farm of this size could potentially use a few dozen ducks, or a mixture of ducks and geese. The bird species appeared to mingle easily together, although they required different coops.

“Let’s go release the quack-ens.”

Fox trotted along for a bit, but when the trees opened up to the clearing with the pond, he gave her a happy bark and headed off to have his own fun.

She knew Fox rarely left the cover of the trees at the front of the property, but he didn’t mind being by the pond. She hoped the ducks weren’t bothering him. If they were, she’d come up with another solution for the snails.

Maybe she could cart the ducks to and from Brandon’s property as needed. Things to think about.

The quacking of the ducks had her realizing Ford had beaten her to the coop. They were becoming individuals to her, so she and Ford had named them.

Daisy was the first one out of the coop every morning and appeared to be the leader of the group. Quackerjack was always last and never seemed to follow along as quickly as the rest.

The other four were more difficult to identify, but she thought she had them mostly straight. Although all their ducks were female, they’d gone with Huey, Dewey, and Louie for three of them. Daffy for the final one.

Daisy stood near the pond, digging in the ground for breakfast. Most of the others stood near her, but Quackerjack had her back to her friends and was looking around like she was lost. Sure enough, as Jolie approached, she fluffed her feather and started to run. Then Daisy quacked and Quackerjack whipped around like she’d been prodded. Jolie laughed as she watched the duck rejoin her friends.

The canoe sat at the edge of the pond, proving Ford was as thoughtful as he was sexy.

She knew he and Knox were rebuilding a shed on the far side of the property today. The building had been rotten on a couple of sides and there was a ton of water damage.

The dozen or more sheds scattered across the property were handy. Stocked with tools, they helped reduce the amount of vehicular traffic required on the farm. Less pollution for the trees and the world in general. It meant more tools were required, so each shed was fully equipped, but the barns had been full of rakes, shears, ladders, and other tools they might need in the different areas of the farm.

Thea had brought up the possibility of using electric or solar powered ATVs and trucks for the farm. Lawson would know more about options there. It would take a while to save up for those, but the idea been put on the list. Several lists.

Jolie appeared to be the only one who kept her list of tasks in her head. It was fun seeing how everyone worked, but none of it made her want to change her own style.

She chatted with the ducks as she put on her chest waders. Daisy followed her to the canoe, with the others trailing along behind.

“Okay, girls, I’m going to check out the middle of the pond and take more samples. Have any of you gone swimming in here yet, or are you waiting for me to clean it?”

When no one answered, she put her longest stick and a couple of sample jars into the canoe and dragged it halfway into the pond.

It took no time to climb aboard and push off, reminding her how much she enjoyed being on the water. Maybe Ginny and Nimii would let her and Ford borrow the kayaks one day. Did Ford like to kayak? More things to learn.

Smiling, she paddled around the pond, checking the edges for areas where frogs and toads should be. She didn’t find evidence of any habitats.

Jolie used her stick to take the approximate depth of the pond in various places. There were a few sharp drop offs, but the edge where she wanted to smooth out the slope was already more gradual than the rest. It wouldn’t take too much effort to make it better for the wildlife. She’d even spotted an area nearby where she could create a dust bath for birds.

A lot of the pond appeared to be about four feet deep, with the middle being deeper than her stick would reach. The stick was about her height, so the middle probably reached six feet down, maybe more.

At one point, her stick thunked on something solid, instead of the mud she’d been touching everywhere else. Most of the bottom was muddy, but this bit was different. Thankful for the lack of wind, she paddled in a small circle, trying to figure out if it was a large rock or if someone had dumped some garbage.

The depth of the water meant she couldn’t hear the tone of her stick hitting it, but the edges were regular. Too regular to be natural.