The Secret Son by Joan Kilby

Author:Joan Kilby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781943963003
Publisher: The Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2015-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

‡

“These look so good. I’m going to buy a jar of each.” Emma sat at Linda’s kitchen table, sticking labels onto bottles of jam, compote and liqueur as fast as Jodi could write them in her beautiful calligraphy. The glass jars of ruby-toned fruit lined up on the round oak table gleamed in the Jacksons’ sunny kitchen.

“I’ll set some aside for you.” Linda stirred a steaming stainless steel pot at the stove while Taylor got sterilized jars out of the dishwasher. “Don’t even think about paying. You’ve been such a help.”

Picking had resumed this morning. A few more backpackers had arrived looking for work so Will had sent Emma up to the kitchen. She enjoyed hanging out with the women and catching up on the town gossip but it meant she didn’t get to see Alex.

Maybe that was a good thing. When he’d whispered in her ear that he’d like to see her hair down she’d gotten tingles down her spine. But he lived and worked in Seattle and she was based in Montana. She wasn’t a believer in long distance relationships. Her mom had tried it with her dad for years—traveling to rodeos every few months—before finally giving up. Although her mom never said so, she suspected at least once she’d arrived to find her handsome husband shacked up with a buckle bunny. No thanks!

Robert wandered into the kitchen wearing the white business shirt and charcoal slacks he wore to the realty office. He kissed Linda on the cheek. “Any room for me to fry up a couple of eggs or is every burner taken with cherry jam?”

“No eggs for you!” Linda waved a wooden spoon at him. “I read the information sheet from the hospital that you hid in the bathroom drawer with those statins you don’t take. There’s quinoa muesli in the pantry and fresh fruit in the bowl. You’re a bad patient.”

“I’m not a patient. I’m fine,” Robert grumbled and got out the bread bag to put a couple of slices in the toaster. “Who can eat that mouse seed? Not me. Right, Emma?”

“Absolutely!” She cleared a corner of the table so he could sit down with his toast and coffee, biting her tongue to stop herself from asking if he’d had a chance to put in an offer on the house on her behalf. She didn’t want to pester him about it every five minutes although she knew she wouldn’t relax until she had it tied down.

A knock sounded at the back door. Jodi reached behind her and opened it, pen still poised in her other hand.

Alex stood on the doorstep. “Morning everyone. Linda, I’ve got a load of cherries. Will said to swing by the house and ask if you needed some.”

With more pickers, Will had put Alex in charge of driving the tractor down to the orchard to pick up the full bins and return them to the processing shed. Emma wondered if Alex knew what a vote of confidence that was in his abilities.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.