Bridget Anderson - Something About You

Kyla walked over to Brandon and Trey, who seemed to be picking anything they saw. “You don’t want that one,” she instructed and took a bunch from Brandon’s hand. “See the blemishes on the leaves? No good. You only want greens with no blemishes or withering. These are pretty young, tender greens so you won’t find too many bad ones, but skip this one.”

“This is the first time they’ve ever picked a bunch of greens that wasn’t already bagged up in the grocery store,” Miles said as he joined them.

“Huh, I’ve never picked up a bunch in the grocery store, either,” Brandon said.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?” Miles asked.

Brandon shrugged and looked at Trey before they reluctantly continued picking greens.

“I thought you were in the food processing business?” Kyla asked. “You guys have never worked a farm before?”

Miles held up his basket full of greens. “Oh, I have. But it’s an introduction for these city boys. I’m trying to teach them a thing or two today.” He glanced around. “You have an abundance of greens here. Are all those rows over there greens, as well?”

Kyla looked in the direction he was pointing. “Yes, they are. We have rows of mustard and turnip greens, and kale, as well.” When she turned back around, Miles gave her a smile that was disarmingly charming. Her pulse quickened. Damn, he’s good-looking. She forced her thoughts back to the task at hand.

After the greens they went to pick peppers and then tomatoes before finishing up in the cherry orchard. At every stop, Kyla found herself strolling along talking to Miles.

“Now I wish I could stick around for dinner tonight. Looks like it’s going to be good. And I don’t know when I’ve had a homemade cherry pie.” Miles plucked a cherry from the tree and popped it into his mouth. “Um, these are sweet.”

Thank God he’s not sticking around. “Yeah, what Aunt Rita does with these cherries is amazing. Sorry you’ll miss out, because as I was saying on the ride over, the cherries are only around to harvest for about two weeks. They’re a big hit at the farmers market, and cherries without pesticides—even bigger. People know they’re getting quality fruit when they purchase from us.” She set her heavy bucket down and dropped the cherries in.

“But how do you keep the bugs off without pesticides? That’s not a crop you can produce successfully every year, is it?” He bent over and dumped her cherries into his bucket, handing her the empty, lightweight bucket.

“Bugs aren’t a problem, but birds are. So we’ve planted a few mulberry trees to draw them away from the cherry trees. For a successful production it’s all in the soil, and its very labor intensive. These trees are planted on the highest point of the farm with plenty of drainage and good soil depth. The fruit tree roots need water-holding capacity.”

“Sounds like you know your fruit trees.”

She nodded. “I do, but the farm specializes in vegetables, so we only plant a few fruits. Mind if I ask what your company’s interest is in organic foods?” Kyla asked. “Your presentation seemed to center around how you shipped overseas.”

“That’s not all we do. My partner and I are committed to ending world hunger. We raise money for various groups and take on pet projects from time to time. We started by working on sustainable self-help solutions in third world countries to fight hunger. I’m proud to say we do a lot of good work. ‘Think globally, not just locally’ is our motto.”

“Yes, I remember you saying that during your presentation, as well. I’ve always liked, ‘Each one, teach one,’ so I guess you can say that’s my motto.”

Kyla held her chin high unable to keep the self-satisfied smile from her lips. She wanted Miles to know he wasn’t the only one proud of the fruits of his labor. She had a catchphrase of her own. He nodded slowly while holding his bottom lip between his teeth. The look took her breath away.

Chapter 4

After spending the morning in the hot sun, the truck returned to the B and B, where Kevin and Kyla carried the guests’ baskets in to Rita. A few of the guests chose to return to their rooms. Those who had signed up for Kyla’s workshop waited for her on the front porch.

When Kyla stepped onto the porch, she thanked everyone and then led them to her workshop. Rollin had built Kyla an open-air classroom down the hill from the gift shop. A path led to the gazebo-like structure with mismatched seating that ranged from yard chairs to wooden benches. Flowers and shrubs surrounded the gazebo and a small garden was set off to the right. A sign over the structure read Rooted Beginnings Food Education Workshop.

Kyla helped Rollin secure two interns from the local college every semester. One of the current interns, Ben, assisted with all her workshops. The other, Sean, helped out at the farmers market, which was where Kevin was headed now that he’d dropped them off.

“Morning, Ben,” Kyla greeted the young college senior. He wore round, wire-rimmed glasses and had a baby face. He had everything set up and was just waiting for the morning tour to be over.

“Good morning, Kyla. Everything’s laid out. I left the—” Ben stopped dead in his tracks, and his mouth fell open.

Kyla followed his gaze and realized he recognized Miles.

“Is that Miles Parker, the baseball player?” he asked.

“Yes, it is. He and his friends are taking the workshop this morning.”

“Wow! I never expected to see anybody famous around here. Does he have a farm, too?”

Kyla glanced over at Miles, who seemed to be in a deep discussion with his brother. “I don’t know. He said he’s interested in organics. I guess we’ll see.”

“Would it be rude of me to ask him for an autograph?” Ben looked around like he was searching for paper and a pen.

“Ben, let’s get some work done first. He’s not going anywhere until the workshop is over.” Kyla shook her head, amazed at how much people were flipping over Miles.

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Ben walked over to the mobile blackboard he’d set up, along with all the tools needed to maintain a small garden.

After everyone was seated, Kyla moved to the board and began her lecture. “Again, I want to thank everyone for signing up for Gardening Made Simple, brought to you by Rooted Beginnings. Nutrition education empowers people with the tools to make healthy decisions. Before I started my dissertation, I was astonished to find out what some people considered healthy foods. I didn’t grow up on an organic farm, but my parents had a little garden out back, and they believed in eating off the land as much as possible. So I guess you can say my introduction to gardening started at an early age.”

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Miles staring at her, watching her curiously. The way he hung on her every word made her somewhat uncomfortable. She walked over to the blackboard and began diagramming the bare bones of how to start a simple garden. After the first hour of the lecture, the group moved out into the small side garden she used for demonstrations.

“Everyone grab a pair of gloves. It’s time to play in the soil.” Kyla pulled her own gardening gloves from the pile Ben had put out for everyone.

Miles had been quiet all through Kyla’s lecture, but he walked over to her now.

“I’m not sure if these will do me any good.” He held up his hands, showing her the ill-fitting gloves. They were too small for his big hands.

She reached up to one glove, pulling it down so she could examine the tag just inside the wrist—large. He had big strong hands, with large veins in his wrists. “Hmm, looks like we have a situation. I don’t have any larger gloves.”