Page 15 of Finding Basil (Foggy Basin Season Two)

“Well,” Basil said patiently, “First, you transplant them into bigger pots, then a couple more times, for plants that don’t mind being moved a lot, like tomatoes. You wait until you get the second set of true leaves.”

“Um…true leaves?”

“The first to come out are called cotyledons. They don’t even really look like the leaves of the plant. Once true leaves grow, you’ll know the difference.”

“Okay, great.”

Lila was adding three and four seeds per cell, and Herb asked her why. “Well, not all will germinate. You want as many as you can get to give you the best shot of not wasting the cell.”

“Right, like you talked about, Basil. Like the IVF.”

“Exactly.”

They worked for hours, filling the cells with soil, then seeds, and as the wood and metal shelves in the greenhouse filled, Herb got a burst of pride and curiosity. “How long will they take before coming up?”

“It depends on the seed and the care,” Basil explained. “We’ll cover these in the plastic domes, keeping the moisture in once we water them. If they look dry, add a little more, but don’t soak them. Most seeds hate to be soaked. It really should only take a few days to start seeing sprouts.”

A few days. He was already anxious to see them.

“What you gonna do with the plants once you got em?” Lila asked as she saw on a crate, taking a swig of water from her old-fashioned canteen, and then swiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

“I…I’ve thought of a few things. Eventually, I’ll have my own line of herbal creams and shampoos, exclusive stuff. It’s all the rage right now.”

“Online, I suppose?”

“Online sells best, but I’d love to have a brick-and-mortar store too.”

“Why not right here on your place? Build a little store right there in the corner by the road, sell fresh herbs, herb plants and then your creams, and if you can, sell flavored honeys and oils. It’s what Basil wants to do, so you’d have a partner.”

“Really?”

Basil shyly nodded. “Herbal jams, honeys, and oils, then delve into cleaning products, hair care, skin care. There are so many things and ways to make them cheap. That’s the part I’m not sure about, though. Doing a few for a roadside stand is one thing. Expanding? I’m lost.”

“Well, it seems we are fortuitous. I can handle that. In fact, I can get ahold of a company that sells the oils and butters for the skin and hair care, and another that can do the bottling for us, if we become that big.”

Basil’s eyes were wide, glistening with excitement. It was as if he had the dream for a long time, but never thought he could make it come true. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Getting the word out too, that would be great. I’m pretty decent at marketing, but do you think Carla would like a job? The youthful face of the product? Get her a TikTok account, Instagram, just for our products.”

“Gettin’ ahead of yourselves, aren’t ya?” Lila asked, patting the dome of one of the planter cells.

“Right,” Basil said, blushing. “But…this could work.”

“It surely can.”

They all had coffee on the porch that evening, and Lila told them more about the plants she’d grown in her younger years, and how hard it was to get and keep contracts for her products.

“The government ain’t worth a tick for keeping their contracts.

In comes one president, and he’s okaying the contract to buy seven thousand pounds of tomatoes and that goes well until the next one comes in and drops it, so you’re stuck that year with all those tomatoes and you’re scrambling to find a buyer for them before they all rot in the barn. ”

“So, no government contracts, then.”

“Not a chance if you’re smart. Local stores are the best, and restaurants that are big enough to buy bulk. Thinking outside the box works great and hold on to your castoffs. Ketchup companies, spaghetti sauce, all of them will take the ugly ones, or those that didn’t grow the best.”

“We’re specializing in herbs, though.”

“Yeah, same goes for them. Sell the castoffs to those herb companies that dry ‘em and jar ‘em.”

“Thank you, Lila. I appreciate the advice. I came here figuring that I’d be teaching myself and messing up from day one, and I’m still doing a bit of that, but with your help and Basil’s, I might make something of this yet.”

Basil lingered after Lila left, and as much as Herb wanted to take him to bed right then, he had plans for their date. “Saturday night, you and me, dinner, dancing, making love…”

Basil kissed him tenderly. “It sounds perfect.”

“You’re the sweetest, most beautiful man I’ve ever met, Basil. I want to make you happy.”

With a sigh, he said, “You do. Very happy.”

“Go home before you mess up all my plans,” Herb said, though it was like chewing nails to get out the words.

“Yeah. I guess I have to, huh? But on Saturday, I’m bringing my toothbrush.”

Herb pulled him in and kissed him with a passion that surprised him. He meant the kiss to be much more chaste, a mere amuse bouche for what was to come, and instead it was completely foreplay.

Holding him in his arms felt right. Not just like romance novels portrayed an embrace, but it felt like Basil was what was missing from his arms all his life. A comfort came with it, on the side of that passion that overwhelmed him.

Basil’s mouth was joyful, soft and warm, his tongue sweeping across Herb’s roughly, giving him all the desire he felt back to him. The way that kiss went on, Basil’s hands around the back of Herb’s neck, the closeness of their bodies, it was possibly the happiest moment of Herb’s life.

He wanted a change when he moved from the city, but he had no idea what a change it would be. To find what could possibly, and probably, be the love of his life, it had never crossed his mind.

When the kiss ended, Basil’s voice was rough as he said, “I need to go now. Right now.”

“Yeah, you do, but dammit if I want you to.”

His eyes were so expressive, telling the stories that were flowing through his mind. At that moment, Basil’s eyes told Herb that he felt like Herb did, that it was definitely the beginning of something great, something that he hadn’t expected either.

“I really like you, Herb. I’m glad you moved here,” he said, then he turned and walked away, leaving Herb to contain his heart from leaping right out of his chest.

That night, as he lay in bed, he let himself picture it.

They were sitting on the porch with a dozen grandchildren all playing in the yard, and one girl asks Herb how her two grandpas met.

He would tell her of how he moved from the city and, right away, he met the love of his life and knew almost instantly that he wanted to be with Grandpa Basil for the rest of his life.

He suddenly dreamed of having kids and watching them grow, standing alongside Basil, laughing, handing down warnings for their kids to eat their vegetables, because vegetables were so important.

He’d watch their walks down aisles to graduate, to marry, and Basil would cry big tears next to him, but Herb would be the one going through the most tissues as he cried himself dehydrated.

And the little girl would listen and likely smile before running off to lie with her siblings and cousins, and Basil would reach across and take his hand.

Dreams like those weren’t his thing. He didn’t daydream of princes and wedding cakes. Not until Basil, that was. With Basil, Herb was allowing himself to dream about things that Herb would have never thought could happen.

The night was cool with the window letting in the breeze, and he fell asleep smiling. He didn’t ever remember doing that before Basil came into his life.