Harvest Moon (Virgin River #15)(39)

Jillian picked through one of the bags Kelly dropped on the porch beside her. She pulled out a jar of sweet relish. “Interesting shopping trip,” she remarked.

“You have some late peppers coming in, don’t you?” Kelly asked.

“Yep. Some very pretty, dark red, cherry sweet peppers like Nana used to grow. Yellow sweet Cubanelle, some miniature yellow bells, and pimiento that’s just so sweet and nice you’ll want to eat them like apples.”

“Any jalapeños?”

Jill shrugged. “Not so many hot peppers, but a few. Why?”

“I thought I’d do some preserves, jellies and some of Nana’s relish. With the peaches, how about some chutney?”

“Wonderful,” Jill agreed.

“With the way I’ve taken over your kitchen, I hope you and Colin don’t wake up one morning with the itch to chase each other around na**d all day.”

Jillian laughed. “Denny and the UPS guy should get a big kick out of that, not to mention all the other people who feel comfortable just dropping by, like Colin’s brother and sister-in-law.”

“I might have found a job. Sort of.”

“Here?” Jill said loudly, hopefully, sitting straighter in her chair. “Here?”

“Maybe.”

“What kind of job?” Jill asked excitedly. Kelly dug around in one of her bags and produced a jar of Laura’s Pepper Jelly. Jillian took it from her and studied it. “She gave you a job?”

Kelly shook her head. “I bought some of her jelly at the farmers’ market. She makes it in her home kitchen and sells it at the market. It’s her specialty and it’s wonderful. And I got to thinking—I love working in a one-woman kitchen, I have tons of wonderful recipes that were Nana’s, and there are lots of places besides the farmers’ market that might be interested in my goods.”

“Can you just do that? Just make it and sell it?”

“Permits are necessary, but remember—I helped run a very large restaurant kitchen. I know the ropes—I just have to find out what the county requirements are.”

“Oh, my God! You could stay!” Jill nearly shouted.

“Okay, don’t get too excited—I’ve been looking for something to do to justify my existence while I think about what to do next and this might be it. I’m not talking about anything permanent, but something to help me pay the rent.”

“Kelly, you will never pay rent here. You’re my sister!”

“Yeah, well, I appreciate the sentiment as much as your love and loyalty, but I really hate feeling like the poor relation. I want to pay rent—it’s important to me. You must understand that.”

“Maybe later,” Jill said. “You have to let me give this to you for at least a little while. You’d do this for me if I needed you to. Concentrate on this project for now—we’ll talk rent later. I’ll start harvesting peppers for you tomorrow.” Then she leaned close. “Think you can actually make money doing this?”

“Laura said it’s her best kept secret—she almost always sells out and her profits are at least one hundred percent. The only problem I see is volume. I’m not sure how much I can produce or how much I can sell. The farmers’ market is due to close the end of November so I’ll have to find other retailers, like small groceries, delis, co-ops and places like that.” She shrugged. “It’s going to be an experiment.”

“Man, it would be wonderful if you could stay!” She took off her straw hat and ruffled her dark hair. Then she suddenly stilled. “I have a feeling Lief wouldn’t mind either!”

“Please, I’ve only known him a couple of weeks,” Kelly said. But her ivory complexion betrayed her, and she warmed with blush.

Jillian grinned. “Hah! Look at you! You like him.”

“Well, I have to like him! He hangs around all the time. I even watched his movie. But that doesn’t mean he has anything to do with relishes and chutneys—that’s just a way for me to keep from going back into some crazy kitchen full of insane egos. But let me tell you, that’s a big thing—not making that mistake again.”

Jill leaned back in her chair. “But I have to ask you—what about Luca? Is your heart still hurting?”

Kelly’s eyes sparkled. “Lief has a way of driving Luca far from my memory. In fact, I find myself wondering what I was using for a brain when I thought I’d let myself fall in love with someone like Luca. All that was ever going to do was make my crazy life even crazier.”

“Well, that’s quite a change…”

“Is it reasonable to say that I love my work as a chef but hated my life in that dysfunctional chef’s world?”

“I think you’re going to be okay in this kitchen, Kell. No one around to get in your chutney.”

One week before Halloween, with the help of Denny and Colin, the grounds at the Victorian had been transformed. There were bales of hay, scarecrows, construction paper bats flying in the trees. Colin had borrowed a ladder from his brother and hung a witch on a broom high in an oak tree that was resplendent with the colored leaves of autumn. He had also carved a half dozen of the odd-shaped pumpkins for the front porch, saving the big, perfect round ones for the town kids. His artist’s hand had created the most fantastic jack-o’-lanterns. There were also tall, thick candles of orange and black, lanterns and baskets of fall leaves and flowers. Orange, rust-colored, dark red and yellow mums lined the walk. Denny and Jillian had borrowed an old-fashioned hay wagon from the Bristol’s farm, picked a bunch of pumpkins and loaded it up.