Page 13 of Raised On It (Between the Pines #1)

Mason

When the headlights from his truck illuminate the driveway I don’t wait for him to come to the door. I need to get out of the house and get this sunrise started before I combust. I’m halfway to his truck before he’s out of the cab.

“Wow, I wouldn’t have thought of you as a morning person,” he whispers, so we don’t disturb the neighbors, as he runs across the driveway to meet me halfway.

“Hardly. I can’t remember the last time I was up this early,” I whisper back .

“Well, here.” He holds out a silver thermos and leans in close, filling my head with the scent of soap and Miles. “This should help, but be careful. It’s hot.”

He can’t be real.

I keep waiting for him to do something douchey but no such luck.

“Thank you. Did you make it?” I ask, screwing off the top to take in the fresh brewed coffee smell on my way to the passenger side of his big Dodge.

“Sure did, but you might want to put the lid back on before you get in. Lou’s bound to be excited to see you, and I’d hate for you to spill hot coffee all over yourself.”

He opens my door while I put the top to my thermos back on.

When I climb in, Lou proves his dad right and tries to hop up in my lap, causing Miles to lean over me to push him back.

He says something to the dog, but I don’t hear it because he’s so close.

His left hand is braced on the seat behind me while he leans in front of me to use his right hand to push the dog back.

He smells like he just got out of the shower, and with his head sans baseball cap this morning, nothing prohibits my view of him. His short hair doesn’t need a lot of work to get where it is, but it’s clear he styled his waves today.

Before he moves away, he looks at me.

Really looks at me.

He doesn’t say a word.

He doesn’t flash one of his knowing smiles.

He just looks at me, and my world starts spinning so fast I feel dizzy sitting in my seat. I almost grab onto him to right myself, but he pulls away before I get the chance.

Whoa.

The intensity of that look sticks with me all the way to the farm. Neither of us speaks and by the time Miles parks the truck, the sky is ever so slowly lightening.

“Ready? ”

“Can’t wait,” I say, lifting my camera up in reply.

“Let’s go.”

He gets out and opens the back door to the king cab to let his furry child out of the truck. Lou runs ahead toward the rows of hops.

Joining him in front of the truck, I question what we’re doing. “We aren’t watching from the truck?”

“No way. We can do better than that. Come on,” he says, grabbing my hand.

I don’t pull away.

Besides, I can’t see a thing out here. Safety first and all that.

“Where are we headed?”

“Just a little farther.”

“Miles, this is crazy. We could have just sat in the bed of the truck.”

“Mason, I don’t think you’re ready to be in any kind of bed with me, so let’s not go there.”

I attempt to pull my hand away from his, but he doesn’t let me, thank goodness.

“It was a joke, Mason. Besides, we’re here, and this will be so much better.”

The flashlight on his phone illuminates our surroundings, revealing a huge John Deere tractor. It’s just as I’ve always imagined. That unique green color, big tires, and from what I can see through the plexiglass windows, one seat.

“Miles, we aren’t both going to fit in there.”

“Sure we will.”

He steps up and onto the tractor opening the glass door and climbing inside.

“Come on in, City Mouse,” he says, shining his phone at the rungs in front of the giant tire.

There must be more room in there than I think, so I climb up the side of the tractor only to find I’ve been hoodwinked.

He pats his lap. “See, plenty of room. ”

“Miles Montgomery, you are impossible.”

“Listen, there isn’t a better place to watch the sunrise. You’ll thank me later.”

“Miles…”

“Mason, sit down, or you’re gonna miss it.”

He opens his arms, inviting me to sit, so of course, I take a seat on his lap. Without hesitation, he wraps his arms around me, and it feels well…perfect. Like we’d done it a million times before.

“You know I’ve sat in this field, in this very tractor and watched the sun rise more times than I can count, but I can already guarantee this one is gonna be the best one yet.”

There isn’t anything I can say to his beautiful statement.

The sky is like a dark canvas laid out before us slowly being painted by Mother Nature. The orange glow from the morning sun leisurely makes its presence known while turning the skies above it a shade of blue that changes with every second that passes.

Sinking into him, I allow myself to wrap my hands around his currently encircling me.

I don’t know what his other sunrises here at Montgomery Farms have been like, but for my first, I’d have to say it’s pretty magical.

We sit in silence watching the beauty before us until the last bit of the sun fills the hazy summer sky rising high above the Oregon skyline.

“Told you,” he whispers in my ear.

I know what he’s referring to, but I ask him anyway. “Told me what?”

“This one would be the best one yet.”

He gives me a little squeeze, and we admire the view a while longer, not wanting it to be over. The blur of Lou running past makes us both chuckle.

“I wish I had even half of his energy,” he says, and much to my dismay, he releases me. “Come on, let’s go for a walk so you can take some pictures.”

“Crap! I completely forgot to take pictures!”

“Well, it’s still pretty. Hop on out and take them without that dirty windshield in front of you. But first say cheese,” he says, lifting his phone to take a selfie of the two of us.

I’d never ask, but I sure hope he sends me a copy.

He’s right, the shots I’m getting are perfect. Once I’ve gotten what I need, I turn around to find him leaning against the tractor watching me, so I lift the camera and take a picture to capture him in the moment.

He doesn’t smile.

He doesn’t say anything.

He just watches me watching him.

Thankfully, Lou barks, jumping in his daddy’s face to get his attention. He reaches in his back pocket and pulls out a tan canvas toy of some sort and throws it off into the distance for Lou to chase after.

“You’re a good daddy.”

He shrugs. “Come on, let’s go get our coffee out of the truck, and we can go for a walk. I’ll show you around.”

“I’d love that. But what about Lou?”

“He’ll be back in a flash. Don’t you worry about him. He knows this place better than anyone.”

Once we have our coffee, he starts with the basics, explaining that we’re on a hops farm, and that it’s currently harvest season and the area we’re in has already been harvested.

This would be why this section of the farm seems a bit sparse.

He tells me the unusually warm weather this year brought harvest season on several weeks early.

It’s caused things around the farm to spring into their busy time of year sooner than they usually do.

“How can you tell when it’s time?”

“Come here, I’ll show you.” He takes me by the hand and walks me over to one of the rows not yet harvested .

“Here, give this a squeeze.”

His fingers are on what looks like a small green pine cone. I place my fingers where his had been, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“This is the actual hop flower, but it’s also called a cone. See how that feels springy yet dry and papery?”

“Uh, huh.”

“That’s the first sign. Now pick that cone off and roll it between your hands. That sticky yellow substance you feel on the stem is called lupulin, and that’s sign number two.”

“And is there a third sign?”

I can’t believe I’m sincerely wanting to know, but I am intrigued.

“There is. It’s the smell. They usually smell almost like grass before they ripen. Once they lose that grassy smell, it’s time.”

I take an inhale of the hop in my hand, and it almost burns my throat. “Whoa, that’s pungent.”

“Almost spicy, right?”

“I guess that’s the right word. It’s just stronger than I expected.”

We start walking again while I roll the cone between my fingers and listen to him go on about the harvest process and his concerns for how the warmer climate may change the way they farm. And I’m hanging on his every word.

The other side of the farm that he’ll take me to later is home to hazelnuts. It’s almost harvest season for the hazelnuts as well, but that season will go for a month longer than the hops once it begins.

If you had told me I would find crop information interesting a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed it, but I I’m a sponge soaking it all in. He’s knowledgeable and passionate and actually very smart.

“This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

“This land…this farm…have been in our family for decades. It’s home. It’s what I know. ”

“Don’t most farmers work from sunrise till sundown? You seem to have a lot of free time on your hands.”

“You aren’t wrong about that. Farmers are some of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet.

We’ve been fortunate. In the past ten years, we’ve found ourselves in a place where my family is spending most of our time running the farm in the business sense.

We are lucky enough to have a great crew working for us who do all the hard work. ”

“When you say family, do you have siblings who help out?”

“Stacci, my sister, went to college and never came back. It’s just my parents and me, but to be honest, my parents are pretty much retired, so I guess it’s really me that runs things.”

“How do you feel about that? Is it something you would have chosen for yourself or do you feel like you don’t have a choice?”

“Nah, I’ve always got a choice. In fact, this afternoon, my parents and I are meeting to talk about making some pretty big changes. My parents and I agree on most everything, but at the moment, we aren’t seeing eye to eye on the next steps.”