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Forrest placed his hand on my lower back, guiding me to a garden full of little flowers. A man from a delivery truck dropped off two boxes by a vegetable garden bed with other boxes stacked on a palette. He waited for the employee to sign the document and left.

An older Asian man wearing a straw hat and an apron came up to us, offering an infectious smile. “Mr. Navarro. What a surprise!” He spoke with a slight accent.

Forrest patted him on the shoulder. “Call me Forrest, Hieu. It’s good to see you. This is Kiera.”

“Glad to meet you, Kiera.” He held my hand with his two hands, and I could feel his rough palms.

Hieu turned to Forrest. “Your friend is pretty.”

“She is.” Forrest smiled and asked, “How’s Trang?”

“Doing great. She’s visiting our grandkids in California. I’ll join her in a few days. I wanted to prep the ginseng before I go. The bamboos are flourishing. The mushrooms are doing wonderful too. Let me show you their progress.”

“You should’ve gone with her. There’s plenty of help here.”

“I know. But this is family to me too.” He threw his hands out. “It saved me and my wife.”

Forrest sighed. “I appreciate the hard work, but I want my employees to take care of themselves too. Take care of your family because you never know when it’ll be their last day.” He followed Hieu over to a shed with flourishing seedlings.

An image of the car accident flashed through my mind. Forrest’s past had shaped him to be a leader who had compassion for his workers. He had lost his parents at a young age, and that trauma could either make a person bitter at the world or give them empathy. I liked seeing this side of him. He wasn’t just focused on profits, but the people who helped him gain those profits.

Glancing around the other sheds, I noticed a world of mushrooms. I walked over and browsed the various beds.

“What do you think?” Forrest stood beside me while Hieu assisted a worker with something.

“Amazing. What’s this mushroom?” I pointed to a section set apart from the others.

“The Lingzhi, also known as the reishi mushroom. It has fantastic medicinal properties.”

It looked different from the pictures I saw online. “What about the Venus Flytrap?” I inquired.

“The juices from the pressed fresh plant stimulate the immune system.”

All of this fascinated me.

Forrest noticed Hieu lifting something heavy, shouted for him to stop, and walked over. A younger employee intercepted before Forrest could take over.

While the men discussed something, I admired the mushrooms and other oddities. Crouching, I snapped pictures of the mushrooms and the other plants with my phone. I spotted a rack full of Venus flytraps, a plant that looked like a mouth with teeth. I didn’t know this plant had medicinal properties. With every new thing I learned about Forrest, my admiration and respect for him only grew.

Forrest was both a wealthy billionaire doctor and farmer. The sentence sounded like an oxymoron, but somehow I found it sexy. Being with a farmer had never crossed my mind, but I couldn’t help envisioning Forrest in sexy overalls looking all rugged and sweaty for me.

A smile curved my lips as I followed Forrest into the warehouse. The interior was like a high-tech greenhouse with plants growing under special lighting. At the far end of the warehouse was an entrance to another forest. I could see a dirt path with trees and shrubberies.

An intricate irrigation system nourished the trees and plants on the ground. A programed spray mist moved along the top, sprinkling water on the seedlings. I inhaled a deep breath of fresh air, and it invigorated my lungs.

“Wow.” I released a sigh.

Forrest smiled and introduced me to some workers before he went to help an employee with something. I wandered to an area filled with herbs organized according to geographical regions. The Earth was truly amazing. It was as though the herbs were saying, “Look at what we can do for you. Take care of us.”

I didn’t know why, but tears streamed down my face. I thought about my mom and those in similar situations, feeling helpless and stuck. When you were sick and trying to heal, stress about payments didn’t aid in the healing. It made it worse.

There was something wrong here. It didn’t make sense to me. I would have thought the health insurance would want people to get healthy fast and remain that way, so people didn’t need to keep visiting doctors. But that would prevent doctors and hospitals from charging the health insurance companies.

To me, it all seemed like a scam. But what could I do about it? I couldn’t even begin to fix my own issues.

“What’s wrong?” Forrest stood in front of me, looking worried.

Feeling embarrassed, I looked down, avoiding his eyes. Apparently I’d wandered away from the racks of herbs to an area of trees, pebbles, and moss.