Page 12 of As It Was (Strawberry Springs #1)

CAIN

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Henry Connor

I can’t believe I have to say this, but please wash your hands. I just witnessed a very public rear-end scratching incident that makes me fear for people’s health.

Comments:

Jade Clark : I SAW IT TOO.

Kerry Winsor : WHO?

Henry Connor : It doesn’t matter. It’s just a friendly reminder from your town doctor.

Kerry Winsor : Who do I need to avoid shaking hands with @Henry Connor ? This will HAUNT ME.

Tammy Jane : You know, I haven’t changed the men’s bathroom soap in years.

Mark Bell : I haven’t had to at the bar either.

Henry Connor : I wish I hadn’t read this.

Strawberry Springs was so small that we only had one clinic with one doctor, and we were lucky to even have that. I wasn’t sure how he made his money, but he saw nearly everyone in town for their regular visits and when they were sick.

I’d had an appointment scheduled months in advance to get Eric’s checkup right when school started. Dr. Connor, otherwise known by his friends as Henry, got along well with Eric, and tolerated me.

That was as good as it was going to get.

Dr. Connor’s office was right off of the square. Atticus, the local veterinarian, was the only other person in the waiting room, and he was reading a pamphlet about healthy eating.

“Guess I’m getting older,” he said as he scratched at his close-cropped, curly black hair. “Apparently, I can’t live off of a diet of only meat and potatoes.”

Eric luckily did the talking for me. “But they’re so good!”

“Still.” He sighed. “I wanna see Simone graduate from college and have kids. Better fix it now.”

Dr. Connor called us in next. The clinic was small enough that he didn’t have a nurse and did all the work himself.

He was a few years older than I was, with light brown hair that put half of the ladies’ hair to shame, a lithe frame, and had apparently graduated from some fancy school before settling here. He had been welcomed with open arms.

I’d tried not to be jealous.

“Wow,” Dr. Connor said as he looked at Eric. “You’ve grown. Can we check to see how much?”

Eric nodded and let himself be measured. Dr. Connor took his weight, too, before leading us to the exam room. It didn’t take him long to check over his vision, his joints, and everything in between.

I was more than ready to get back home .

“So, he’s officially in kindergarten.” Dr. Connor looked at me. “How’s that been going?”

“Good,” I said.

“I like my teacher, Ms. Rudder.”

“Ah, Nicole.” Dr. Connor nodded. “She’s nice.”

To you , I thought unhelpfully.

Dr. Connor looked at me, expecting me to say something more, but I didn’t have anything. I wondered if he tried to build a rapport with everyone. But we all knew it wouldn’t work on me.

“Just know that a lot of kids who start school get a lot of illnesses. Feel free to call me if you have any concerns, especially when the weather cools. I’ll work you in.”

I only nodded.

“I never get sick! I have a strong immune system.”

Dr. Connor laughed. “I bet you do, but we always like to plan for everything.” He added after another pause, “I have nothing else. I hope you enjoy school, Eric.”

He nodded happily and said his goodbyes before we walked out to the truck. I was more than ready to get home.

I had a bad feeling about the day that I couldn’t shake. It followed me all the way back to the farm.

One text from Jackie and I knew why.

Jackie

She came into town today. People know.

I tried to put it out of my mind, but the residents of Strawberry Springs were relentless. A few of them had my number for eggs, and they didn’t take long to send me messages.

Hugh

I hear you have a pretty girl in the house. Must be a first.

Tammy

You better not run her out of here. She’s a sweet girl.

Atticus

Should have asked when I saw you. Can I get some eggs from you? (When you’re over the issue of the woman, that is.)

Each time my phone went off, I became more irritated. I knew it was news, and I knew that these people thought I didn’t know how to talk to women, which was true, and were worried I’d run her off. If only I were so lucky. But I didn’t need to hear about it.

Mollie was at the dining-room table, completely unaware of the chaos she’d started. She was on her laptop, and the last thing I could handle was facing her when I was so angry.

But unfortunately, she didn’t seem keen on leaving me alone.

“Hey!” she said, standing. “You didn’t tell me the town square was so nice.”

“Yeah. Nice.” The front door slammed behind me and the smile quickly slid off her face.

“Who peed in your cereal?”

“Everyone on my phone lecturing me about what you told them.”

“Was I not supposed to say where I live?” she asked.

“You weren’t supposed to stay here long enough for them to ask.” The words came out without warning.

“I never said how long I was staying.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I happen to like it here.”

I shook my head and went to the kitchen to wash my hands.

She fucking followed.

“What’s your problem? It’s not a huge deal.”

“Oh, it is to them. They’ve been blowing up my phone. Tammy already told me not to run you off. Hugh made a joke about how I’ve never had a woman in my house in my life.”

“I could see that,” she said flatly. “Your attitude runs them off.”

The words turned up the heat on my already flaming temper. “I would like it if my attitude would work on you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re trying your best, aren’t you?”

“Honestly? Yes. The farm was doing fine before you showed up. I don’t need you crawling around trying to change things when I’ve run this place by my damn self for over a decade.”

“And yet the main thing that people know it for isn’t growing outside. This is a berry farm, Cain. There aren’t any berries.”

“Then it should have been managed better by its owner .” I gave her a pointed look.

“For a man who doesn’t want me here, you sure have a lot of complaints about how the farm was run. Sounds like you have things you want to change too.”

There was a nugget of truth to that, which only pissed me off more.

“So, what’s your deal?” she asked. “Tell me, and I can figure it out.”

“I don’t need a spoiled city girl who’s never had to work a day in her life to figure it out,” I snapped. “I’ll do what I’ve always done. Run this while you do whatever the fuck you want to.”

“Excuse me?” Her voice was low and she stepped forward. Most of the time I’d seen Mollie smiling, but there was no lick of joy on her face now.

Good. Maybe she finally knew how I felt.

“You heard me.”

“No, say it again. And then explain it.”

“You’re a spoiled city girl.” Now, I stepped forward.

“The luxury car. The fancy clothes. They all tell me you’ve lived a pretty privileged life back in the city.

You haven’t had to guess if you would be fed or not.

Or work your ass off to impress the one person who would take a chance on you.

I know your type, Mollie. And you don’t belong here. ”

I expected tears or for her to run off and hide. What I didn’t expect was for her to laugh. “You don’t know a thing about me, Cain. So let’s get one thing straight. I refuse to be talked down to by another man. You don’t have to like me. Or even tolerate me. But you do have to respect me.”

“Or what? You’ll fire me? Good luck doing this on your own.”

Her lips pursed. I had her there. “You know, all I wanna do is follow in my grandfather’s footsteps. Papa Bennie took a chance on you a long time ago. But you’re making it impossible for me to do the same.”

Those words hurt. It looked like we had both scored a shot. “So then fire me, princess.”

“Oh, I can do a lot worse than fire you.” A slow smile spread on her face. “I know how much I piss you off, so it’s time I see exactly what you do all day.”

“What?”

“I’m gonna follow your every move. I’m gonna learn what you do. And then, if your attitude isn’t in check, then I will take it over.”

Fuck. “And what if I don’t let you?”

“It’s my farm, Cain. You should learn that you can’t tell me what to do.”

I thought she was bluffing until she was waiting for me by the chicken coops at six in the fucking morning .

“What the hell?” I muttered. She leaned against one of the fences, wearing those fruit leggings again , looking so out of place I thought she was pranking me.

“You know, I’m not usually a morning person. But I will be when I have a point to prove.”

“You were up this early yesterday.”

“That was a result of me being in a new place. I was looking forward to blissful sleep the next night, but you just had to open your mouth.”

“You’ve made your point,” I muttered. “I won’t open it again.”

“Good. But I’m still learning how to take care of the animals.”

“One pile of poop and you’ll run.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been in these fields since I could walk. I used to love finding cow patties. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll ruin your fruit pants.”

She opened her mouth and then paused. “My what?”

I gestured to her bottom half. “Those designer things.”

“The—” She covered her mouth, and her voice came out choked. “You mean my Lululemon leggings?”

Son of a bitch. She was laughing at me. “I don’t care to know the name.”

“If my leggings are ruined, they’re ruined. Now, come on.”

I expected her to walk around to the gate with me, but she put one foot on the bottom post and then hiked her leg over the fence.

“What are you doing?”

“Going over.”

“I installed a gate my first summer working here, princess.”

She shrugged and hopped over anyway. “Oh well. Jumping fences will keep me young.”

I paused. That wasn’t the first time I’d heard those words .

I knew Mollie was his granddaughter, but I’d not seen any similarities until now.

“You coming?” she asked. “Or am I going in alone?”

I shook off my shock and went in through the gate. I gathered the feed and walked up to the door of the first coop. Mollie was already fiddling with it.

“You should wait.”

“Why? Because I don’t know what I’m doing? News flash, Mister I Can’t Talk to a Woman to Save My Life: I can figure it out.”

The real answer was that Hennifer would attack her. While most female chickens didn’t get territorial, she did.

I was going to be nice and warn her. Now I wasn’t.

Mollie got the latch open and Hennifer burst out of the coop.

“Aw, she’s so cute.”

That was all the time Hennifer needed to register the unfamiliar person, and she flew at Mollie.

“What the—Cain!”

“You said you wanted to figure it out.” I shrugged. “So figure it out.”

Mollie struggled for a bit as Hennifer tried to go for her eyes, but eventually, she grabbed the bird like a football. Her hair was mussed and her shirt ripped, but she was fine.

“You let that happen,” she said as she glared at me.

“I absolutely did. You could have let her rough you up for a few more minutes, though.”

“Scatter the feed, you dick.”

I did as I was told, and Mollie let Hennifer go when she tried to get away. As brave as she was, she would give up on her guard-dog duties the second fresh food was on the ground.

“Nice hold on the chicken.”

“I could have shown you that without getting attacked.” She crossed her arms, but watched as more birds came out of the coops.

Mollie said hello to the birds, watching them carefully. Hennifer made another go at her, but she ran out of the way.

“She’s a good chicken,” I said.

“She’s an evil chicken,” Mollie replied as she dodged another attack. I shook my head and went to collect my first round of eggs.

I heard her following me.

I didn’t want her to figure out how to run all of this. I may have been brave the previous day, but the last thing I wanted was for her to fire me. I’d poured my blood, sweat, and tears into this place. And she could take it all away.

“I’ve never seen so many eggs in my life,” she said. “Well, I’ve gotten close, but you’ve expanded the chicken farm.”

“It’s what I’m good at,” I replied. I made the walk back to the house to unload and get more. By the time I returned, Hennifer was still chasing her.

“That chicken hates me,” she muttered as I went to work on the cows.

“She doesn’t like strangers.”

“Then I’ll work on not being a stranger.” She smiled and jogged to catch up. The sun was now behind her, giving her an ethereal glow. “What’s next?”

“Milking the cows.”

“Lead the way.”

She was still pretty. Even more so with mussed-up hair and a torn shirt.

Dammit. I was hoping I’d forgotten about the fact that I found her annoyingly attractive on top of it all.

No such luck.