Ginny went warm to the base of her toes. “Didn’t know for sure if I should stop at your place of work. I don’t want to interrupt.”
Tansy tugged her to the side of the room where they obviously had a table. “Sunday is our day off. Well, after I finish the morning baking.”
“Not Monday anymore?” Ginny should’ve figured that out during her visits over the last six months, but most of those brief excursions had been straight to the ranch to take advantage of every minute she could spend with her nieces and nephew.
“Sunday and Monday,” Rose said happily before gesturing toward the counter. Their youngest sister Fern waved back, her shiny prosthetic made up today like an android arm. “Fern is helping during the holidays, but we’ve got a couple of other people hired on so that we can take more time off.”
“Good for you,” Ginny said, impressed and happy for them.
Tansy sat, keeping an arm wrapped around Ginny’s shoulders. “Did you get all the travelling out of your system?”
“And then some,” Ginny admitted quietly. She leaned her head against Tansy and glanced at Rose. Took in these two friends who had been in her life for as long as she could remember. “I want to get caught up. I want to know about all the changes, especially the good things, like that you’re doing well enough you can hire extra staff. But I also just want to spend time with you.”
“Same,” Tansy agreed. She slipped away far enough to lean her elbows on the table and meet Ginny’s gaze straight on. “Everyone feels like that, so gird your loins. We’re having a girls’ night out this week, and you are the main event.”
Ginny didn’t need to be the center of attention. “I just want to see everybody.”
Fern brought over a tray with drinks and brownies and pieces of pie that were big enough to make even Tucker blink. “Hi, Ginny. Nice to have you back. Your brothers were so excited. Dustin must’ve told me ten times that you’d be home in a few days.”
Interesting. Ginny kept her expression neutral. Was her little brother making a move on Fern? “Did he now?”
“He and his friend helped me make the props for the Christmas fundraiser.” Fern put the last cup of coffee in front of Rose. “Shim seems nice.”
Oh, now there was a plot twist. “He’s very nice. He’ll be staying at Silver Stone for a while longer.”
Fern tucked the tray under her arm and blinked a few times before jerking herself upright. “Oh, that’s good.”
She turned and walked away even as Ginny stared after her, grinning from ear to ear.
One glance at her friends only made her amusement rise. “Come on. Tell me this isn’t the first you’ve heard about Fern having a crush on Shim?”
Rose still looked absolutely confused. “Who is this Shim fellow?”
“I thought she was making cow eyes at Dustin,” Tansy whispered before catching hold of Ginny’s hand. “Quick. Spill the tea about the guy so I know whether I need to poison him or not.”
“Please. You can’t poison him. That would ruin Buns and Roses reputation.”
Rose got an evil glint in her eyes. “I’ll use hemlock.”
“And that won’t ruin our reputation?” Tansy demanded.
“Of course not,” Rose sniffed. “It’s got a horticultural lean to it. Right on brand for me.”
Laughter welled up, and between the delicious scents in front of her and the familiar banter of her friends, Ginny finally, finally, felt as if things were truly going to be okay.
She wasn’t on the path she’d intended to follow, but that was okay. Maybe the best new adventures meant starting right here in her own backyard.
11
Monday was icy cold, with a wind that made the idea of being outside the last thing Ginny wanted to do. Luckily, she had plenty of other things to occupy her time.
“You don’t have to help me do this,” she said again to Tamara as they stood in the small living room—slash—kitchen area of what was originally the Hayes cottage.
Tamara raised a brow. “No, I really do.” She paused, listening to the childish giggles escaping from the second bedroom. “And they really do as well. Cleaning up the cottage is a good task for everybody to take a turn with. Considering just about everybody has stayed out here at one time or another.”
Ginny tried one more time. “Dustin said he cleaned.”
“Ha.” Tamara coughed then excused herself. “I’m sure he thinks he cleaned. I hate to say this, but I can tell your youngest brother was trained by someone who cleans barns.”
“Our barns are clean,” Ginny said defensively.
Tamara tilted her head. “They’re very clean for barns. I, however, used to work in a hospital.”
Enough said. Ginny lifted the bucket in her hand. “I’d better get at it, then. Sounds as if the inspections will be fierce.”
They worked hard, but as much laughter as elbow grease was involved, especially as the girls dug in and helped. It was a good opportunity to get to know Tamara a little better and ask some pointed questions.
“Since you weren’t here the last time I was in charge of the gardens, you don’t know what’s changed. Let me ask you this instead.” Ginny leaned across her kitchen table toward her sister-in-law during a break from scrubbing the cottage clean. “Is there something you wished you only had to walk outside your door to find? Is there something you had back in Rocky Mountain House that you haven’t found a replacement for here in Heart Falls?”
Tamara looked thoughtful. “The first one is actually harder to answer, because I grew up on a ranch. I was trained by my aunts that you used what you had and made do. When I go to make meals, I don’t sit there wishing for asparagus when it’s not asparagus season.” She took a sip of her tea and continued. “I have the house garden. Also, you gave the lease to the gardens to the Singh family. They let me have access to produce early when they could.”
Ginny had wondered if the family would do that. It wasn’t required, but most Community Supported Agriculture projects tried to operate on the barter system as much as possible.
She’d set up a meeting for the start of next week, which meant a deadline. She had to know what to tell them by Monday. No problem.
“I’m glad things worked out well for them.” Ginny said. “Sounds as if they’ve had a couple of good growing years.”
“No flooding, no dry spells. Plus the greenhouse, which is such a big help,” Tamara pointed out. “To answer your second question, herbal teas, which sounds like something right up your alley. One of the local ladies in Rocky was obsessed with drying herbs and putting together her own concoctions. I ordered them in for the first year I was here, but last year she decided to retire the online portion of her business. Now I get packages when my dad visits.” She made a face. “When he remembers.”
Every time Ginny bumped into someone over the next two days, she asked similar questions. She wasn’t going to live her life by committee, but if part of what she wanted to do was make life better for her family, providing something they wanted to begin with was a good place to start.