Page 3 of Believe in Caloosa Springs (Caloosa Springs #3)

Christian

I pulled the comforter over my eyes and groaned. “We just went to sleep, though…”

“Tian, it’s seven-thirty. Not four in the morning. And I told you last night, you don’t have to go with me. You’re free to stay here and sleep the day away.”

I pulled the covers off my head and stared after Mandy as she turned and walked down the hall.

”I don’t want to be stuck in the house all day.” My words probably weren’t loud enough for Mandy to hear.

Gathering my willpower, I tossed my legs over the side and got to my feet, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I caught sight of the black smear across my fingers and sighed. I’d clearly fallen asleep without taking my makeup off. Thank the gods for black pillowcases. I padded into the bathroom, getting a good look at myself for the first time. “Yikes.”

I turned on the warm tap on the sink and grabbed a clean face towel from the small wire shelves above the toilet. Once the water was warm, I pumped some cleanser into the palm of my hand and scrubbed my face. Then, I brushed my teeth.

I leaned the top half of my body over the threshold of the bathroom to yell through the house, “Time check?”

“Twenty minutes,” Mandy yelled back. It sounded like she was in the kitchen.

I brushed my hair, which was almost cooperating without having to beat it into submission with my flat iron. I rimmed my eyes in a charcoal color before smudging out the corners with the tips of my finger. No time for concealer or highlight; the liner would have to do. It didn’t really matter, honestly. It’s not like I was going to meet the love of my life today. If I couldn’t manage to do it in Las Vegas, I sure as fuck wasn’t going to start my happily-ever-after in Caloosa-fucking-Springs.

Running back to my room, I grabbed a shirt from the closet. It was black, like 90 percent of my wardrobe, with a wide neck that hung off one shoulder. I liked it because it showed off the top of my tattoo, the tree branches snaking up my shoulder and across my collarbone. It wouldn't be very long before early fall would give way to bitter winter, and short sleeves would have to be packed away to make room for tunics, sweaters and cardigans… and, best of all, boots!

I was a complete sucker for a pair of knee-high leather lace-ups—the kind that looked like they would have been worn 200 years ago by a band of gypsies. I had a few pairs Elvira would kill for, too.

I slid my hand underneath my pillow to grab the velvet cinch-pouch that housed my tarot cards. Pulling the cards out, I shuffled them between my hands for thirty seconds or so before cutting the deck in half and flipping up the top card.

“Hmm,” I mused, examining my draw. It depicted a yellow background with a man being pulled in a cart by two sphinxes; one white, one black. Traditionally, The Chariot, card number seven of the Major Arcana, represented victory and willpower. Overcoming conflicts and moving forward in a positive direction. The duality of the two sphinxes reminds us to appreciate the bad while we run towards the good. An interesting card to pull on my first full day in my temporary safe haven. I closed my eyes and sent up a quick prayer of thanks for the reassurance that I’d made the right decision in coming here, despite the rolling feeling of dread in my gut.

“Ready?”

I turned around to see Mandy framing herself in my bedroom doorway, her purse slung over her shoulder, keys in one hand and a large thermos in the other.

“I thought you said we were getting coffee on the way to the store?”

She shook her head. “We’re getting coffee on the way to the farm. We have to go there first to help get the new hires situated. Oliver is opening the store so I can be there with Pops and Ty. The thermos is for later.”

“Pops and Ty,” I repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Gee golly, I sure hope Opie and Mavis will be able to make it up from the holler for supper!”

Mandy flipped me off, but had to bite her lip to stave off a laugh.

“You didn’t tell me we were going to a farm. I thought we were hanging out in a weed store all day.”

“Is that what you think I do?” Mandy laughed. “Just sit around and sell weed? I’m second-in-command of the largest cannabis producer in Colorado.”

“Well, excuse me…” I snapped my finger. “I didn’t realize you were, like… a girl boss.”

I actually did know that, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to twit her. I put my cards back into the sack and stuffed it under my pillow.

“What’d you pull?”

I picked up my coffin-shaped cross body and slung it over my shoulder before toeing into my Vans. “The Chariot.”

Mandy snorted behind me. “I fuckin’ told you.”

“Shut up,” I spat playfully.

Within the length of a song, we’d driven from Mandy’s driveway to a parking spot on the far corner of the lot holding a building that looked like it had been pulled straight out of a black-and-white movie.

“I feel like this whole town is stuck in some sort of time vortex or something.”

“I agree. I tell Cassie that all the time, but she insists she continues to get older.”

I snickered and held the door to the diner open for Mandy to pass through. “

Why thank you, kind sir,” Mandy teased, clutching at a string of invisible pearls around her neck.

Walking into the diner filled my soul with warmth. The smell of brewing coffee and bacon frying somewhere on a griddle felt better than a hug. I was suddenly starving, which was unusual. I normally wasn’t able to eat anything before at least an hour of consciousness and two cups of coffee. There weren’t many people in the diner, and soft music floated from ancient looking speakers. The space had been lightly decorated for the fall, with decorative pumpkins of varying sizes bundled together amongst a pile of fake orange and brown leaves on the corner of the counter. Fall really was just the best.

“Morning, Mandy,” the guy behind the counter greeted as we walked up. He was slight, with a shock of white-blond hair and a welcoming smile.

“Morning, Cameron. This is my cousin Tian.”

I smiled and gave a quick wave.

“I don’t think he had moved here yet the last time you visited,” Mandy said to me. “He and his baby brother are newer to town.”

“Nice to meet you, Tian,” Cameron said, giving a friendly nod as he finished putting a fresh pot of coffee on the percolator. ”I just need a few minutes on coffee; the breakfast rush kind of wiped us out. Shouldn’t be long.”

“No worries. I think we are going to do chai lattes, anyway,” Mandy said.

“Oh, yum!” Cameron’s eyes crinkled when he smiled again. He seemed like an extremely nice guy. “I’ll get started on those now.”

“Well, I don’t know what you want me to do, Sam!” A frustrated man’s voice could be heard from behind the kitchen doors. ”The blackberries were the best I could do this week.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s really helpful, Frank. Blackberries will be a perfect substitution for tomatoes in my lasagna , you fucking jackass,” another voice boomed.

“Uh-oh,” Mandy said quietly.

Cameron snorted and rolled his eyes, “Those two have been going at it for 15 minutes.”

”What’s new?” Mandy answered as the voices in the kitchen began to increase in volume.

“You rejected the tomatoes last week, that’s why I didn’t bring you any today. Why the fuck would I carry them all the way out here just to have your picky ass tell me to go fuck myself and have to just load them right back up?”

“Well, if you brought me tomatoes that didn’t look like they'd already been digested, I wouldn’t have to reject them! I told you to stop spraying that shit all over them!”

”That is 100 percent certified-organic pesticide. It’s either that, or there won’t be any tomatoes because the goddamn hornworms will eat ‘em all before I can pick ‘em!”

“We’ll if they look anything like what you brought me last week, hornworms are the only thing that should be eating them! They had no color at all. They looked like ghosts, for Christ’s sake!”

”They’re heirlooms!”

”They’re bullshit !”

“There was nothing wrong with those tomatoes! You’re just difficult to be difficult! I’d never seen a more perfect piece of fruit!”

“Oh yeah? Well, why don’t you try kissing my ass, Frank. It’s a real peach!”

“I’m outta here! You’re nuts!”

“Hey, leave the blackberries on the counter!”

“Oh, now you want the blackberries ?”

“Get out, Frank!”

“My pleasure !” Frank screamed as he burst through the metal swinging doors. His face was as red as, well… as a tomato. He stomped through the back counter area, making his exit without saying another word.

Mandy turned to me.

“Well, I was going to introduce you to Sam, but I think maybe we’ll do that some other time.”

“Is that who I just heard rip that six-foot corn-fed-looking dude a new one?”

Mandy nodded.

“Yikes. I’m good, I think.”

As if summoned, the kitchen doors swung open again, revealing a man in a white apron. He was short for being that loud.

“Good morning!” he greeted, a beaming smile spread across his face. That certainly couldn’t be the same person I’d just heard hurling insults that I was going to have to Google later.

“Morning, Sam. I wanted you to meet my cousin, Tian. He’s staying with me for a couple months.”

“A couple months ?” I repeated incredulously. “I told you: thirty days, tops.” I turned back to Sam. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Mandy rolled her eyes. “We’ll see.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sam replied, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. “Hey, Cam, has Wyatt been in yet?”

Cameron shook his head as he set two steaming chai lattes down on the counter in front of us. The scent of delicious spice carried in the steam rolling off the mugs, and my mouth watered. “When has Wyatt ever come by without hopping into the kitchen to see you?”

Sam sighed.

“Everything okay, Sam?”

“Yeah, he’s just been distracted lately—the last week or so. He says everything’s fine, but he’s lying.”

“How do you know?” Mandy asked.

Sam scoffed, “He likes to think he’s so mysterious and broody, but I can read the man like a fucking newspaper.”

I laughed. “Most men can.”

Mandy’s phone rang. “Morning, Oliver,” Mandy said by way of answering. “Yeah, I’m grabbing coffee at Cassie’s. Need anything?” After a pause, Mandy started laughing. “Yes, I’m on my way. Tell him I’ll be there soon.”

Mandy threw her phone into her black leather shoulder bag. “We gotta go. The new hires are starting to arrive, and Ty is freaking out.”

Sam chuckled. “Why?”

Mandy gave an exaggerated shrug, “Because? It’s Ty. The man freaks out professionally.”

“That tracks. Nice to meet you, Tian.”

I gave a friendly nod and grabbed my latte off the counter to follow Mandy out of the diner. “Thanks. You, too.”

“Ty is your other boss, right?” I asked as we got back into Mandy’s car.

“Not really. If anything, I tell him what to do,” she chuckled. “Oliver is technically the owner of the store, and Tyler’s family owns the farm where everything is grown, but we’re all kind of equals. I help run all the day-to-day operations, and take over when Tyler is overwhelmed. Which is often.”

It wasn’t ten minutes before we pulled off the highway and onto a dirt road leading to a tall iron gate. Mandy punched a code into a keypad, and, a moment later, the gate split down the center and granted us entry. A charming little farmhouse came into view about a quarter-mile ahead. The property was massive, and I could see several other structures past the house in the distance. Cannabis plants sprouting long, green leaves surrounded everything, planted in neat rows and perfuming the morning air.

“God, how big is this place?” I asked incredulously.

“I think they have 80 acres, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Damn.”

”Yeah. Just last year, as part of the expansion, they purchased an additional 20 acres off the west side of the property. That’s where we built the residential buildings for the new crew.”

“Residential buildings? People are going to live here?”

”Uh-huh. They get free room and board, as well as three meals a day on top of their salaries. Not to mention, the houses are super cute. We built a little 15-unit tiny home community on the new acreage. Each home has an acre of land, and the residents are welcome to use however they see fit.”

“Fuck, I almost want to live here.”

“Can I get a recording of that?” Mandy snarked, glancing over at me as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

“A recording of what?” I deadpanned as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.

As we got out of the car, a gorgeous, dark-haired guy was hurrying his way down the porch steps. He wore tight-fitting Wranglers and a button-down shirt that was tucked in behind a large silver belt buckle. His black cowboy hat covered more than half of his face in shadow, but the portion I could see looked panicked.

“Mandy! Thank god!”

Mandy snorted. “Do you need a Xanax, Ty?”

“There’s people here, Mandy! I thought they weren’t supposed to start showing up ‘til this afternoon.”

“Tyler, we told them they could come and start getting settled in anytime after eight. You told me to tell them that. You said you needed the early morning to feed the horses and tend to things. Did you do that?”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah, that’s all taken care of.”

“Okay, then, why are you sweating?”

Tyler took his hat off, revealing a crop of black hair matted down to his forehead with perspiration.

“Where are they?” Mandy asked, not waiting for Tyler to answer her previous question.

“In the living room. Mama’s working on a pot of coffee, and she made a couple coffee cakes yesterday afternoon, so she’s just warming them up.”

“So they are all just sitting in your living room?”

“Yes!”

Mandy sighed. “Ty, why didn’t you just show them to their houses and let them start settling in while we got everything ready?”

“I don’t know which one belongs to whom.” It came out of his mouth like a whine.

“Tyler,” Mandy began sternly, putting a hand on each of his shoulders to ground him. “Take a deep breath. All the houses are exactly the same except for…?” She paused.

“Except for the two on the end with the full kitchens for food prep.”

“Right. Have any kitchen staff shown up yet?”

Tyler shrugged. “I haven’t asked who’s doing what. We should have had a sign-in sheet or something.”

Mandy opened her mouth to speak again and then just shook her head and walked past Tyler and up onto the porch. “I’ll take care of it.”

We both stood there in the driveway for a moment, watching Mandy disappear inside the house.

“Tyler,” Tyler said after a moment, extending his hand for a shake.

“Tian.”

“Nice to meet you. Sorry about all that.”

“No problem. It all sounds pretty stressful.”

“It is, and I’m not great with new people. I reckon that’s something I’m going to have to work on as we expand.”

“It sounds really exciting from what Mandy has told me over the years.”

“We couldn’t do it without her, that’s for sure. You’re her cousin, right? From California?”

“Las Vegas.”

“Vegas! That’s exciting. What made-“ Tyler stopped talking as the sound of tires hitting gravel made him turn towards the gate.

“Crap. I better go prop the gate open.” Tyler took two steps down the drive and stopped.

“Tyler,” Mandy called, seconds before emerging back onto the porch. “Where did you put all the house keys?”

“They are in the desk drawer in Pops’ office.”

Mandy shook her head, “Nope. Pops and I just searched it.”

“Aw, hell,” Tyler spat, glancing between Mandy and the car waiting to be let in.

“I can get the gate,” I offered.

Tyler fished a set of keys from his pocket. “Take the truck. Gate code is 082721.”

I took the keys and walked over to a beat-up old farm truck. It was unlocked, and I climbed inside, noticing the gear shift right off the bat.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered under my breath. I pushed in the clutch and turned the key. If there was one thing I hated, it was proving my father right.

“Every man should know how to drive a stick. Never know when you are going to need the skill.”

“Fuck you, Edward,” I mumbled, shifting into first and pulling down the driveway.