Wild Man Creek (Virgin River #14)(92)

“I think so.”

“Okay, I have ideas. I’m buying this property and I’d like to farm ten acres of organic fruits and vegetables, much of it dedicated to specialty items. It’ll take me some more time. It’ll take buyers. But it’s looking like it’s going in the right direction and I’ll continue to develop my line. I don’t want a lot of employees—I’ll want to supervise my own gardens, watch my plants. But I will want a farm manager. If I reached that point tomorrow, that person would be you and the position would come with higher pay, benefits and about as much security as you’d get anywhere. That is to say, job security is always at some risk. After all, I lost a job with a company I helped to build, and I never saw that coming.” She smiled. “You probably had more security with the Marines.”

He smiled back. “You’re not planning to send me to war, are you, Jillian? I’m not going back that way.”

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk about my plans. I’ll keep you informed, show you my business plan as it evolves, as I make changes. But it’s sensitive information. Can I count on you to keep it to yourself, Denny?”

“Sure, but—”

She held up a hand. “I only tell you this so you have a few options to weigh. Pretty iffy options, I know. Still, there’s no reason for me to keep that from you—we’ve worked together since March, almost five months. I trust you. If I manage to grow this little farm, you will be my first choice for a manager. But, if you have to follow other opportunities?” She shrugged. “That’s the chance I’m taking.” She leaned toward him. “I have one piece of advice—choose work you love over everything else. Especially over money.”

“Yeah,” he said. He stood up. “I’ll take those veggies into town for you.”

“Want a sandwich before you go?” she asked. “I’ll make you one.”

“No, thanks, Jillian. If I give Preacher food, he’ll give me food.” He smiled at her. “I’ll think about everything.”

“If you get the right phone call, Denny, I understand. That was our agreement from the start.”

Denny gave her a brief salute, then left the house. She watched him from the window as he transferred the vegetables from the wheelbarrow to a couple of boxes and put them in the back of his truck. She still stood in front of the kitchen windows until he’d pulled away. Then she turned toward Colin. “I worked like a mule all day and was holding up pretty well, but the last fifteen minutes did me in. I feel like an eighty-year-old woman.”

He stepped toward her with a smile, wrapping his arms around her waist. “You were great. You didn’t take any of Kurt’s shit.”

“What were my choices? I think I need to get a shower.”

“Sure, but tell me first—when he called you a blue collar whore, you smiled at him. Why in the world would you smile at him?”

“I was never a whore. That would’ve been easy—I was a slave! I worked so hard for Harry, even he couldn’t believe it. But blue-collar? A poor girl who came from nothing?” She chuckled. “Oh, he has no idea! Blue-collar would’ve been a promotion! My nana took in ironing. Me and Kelly—we got free breakfast at school. We were a couple of the poorest kids there and qualified. Nana had food stamps but also did odd chores like wash, sold her vegetables, then later sold some of her canned stuff, always keeping back enough to feed us. She bought our clothes at secondhand shops. Poor? We were so poor, we envied the church mice. On top of that, she was our great-grandmother. She was elderly when she got us all. And she was a full-time nurse to our invalid mother.” She shook her head and just laughed. “Honestly, I don’t know where Kurt came from, but he never came from anything as tough as that. Now, I really need a shower.”

“Want someone to wash your back? I mean, since the farm manager has gone to town?”

“Who’s going to wash my back when you’re photographing the Serengeti?”

“I won’t leave without making sure you have a good brush with a long handle.”

Seventeen

Jillian did the logical thing following Kurt’s surprise visit—she called her attorney and reported the threats. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything,” her lawyer said. “But if you haven’t had any contact with him or his new employers, I imagine the threats were empty. And you haven’t talked to anyone at BSS?”

“Just Harry Benedict. He’s a very old friend and we discussed his wife wanting to go on a cruise and my new business venture.”

“Could Kurt Conroy have designs on your new business?” the lawyer asked.

“I doubt it,” she said. “I’ve invested thousands and haven’t earned a dime. And it’s not in software or public relations—I’m growing vegetables.”

The lawyer began to laugh.

“Is this funny?” she asked.

“It’s funny trying to picture Conroy suing you for breach of confidentiality or libel only to win a vegetable garden. I’ll let you know if I hear anything, but I predict you’re safe. And with any luck he’ll invest his settlement money in more attorney fees that bring him no results.”

As a courtesy, Jillian put in a call to Harry. When she got to the part about Colin decking Kurt, sending him flying through the air and coming up threatening assault and battery, Harry started to laugh so hard he had to hang up and call back when he was under control. When he did finally return the call he said, “You’ve just experienced the true downside to being the CEO, Jillian. Our hands are tied. We’re expected to be professional. I would have loved to punch his lights out. So—did the sheriff show up?”