CHAPTER 27
Darby
I’m lucky to find a parallel parking spot in front of Central Café. Not only is it the height of the breakfast rush because most of the court personnel are rushing in to grab sausage biscuits and such, but a very important meeting has been set up to be held here this morning.
I check traffic in my side mirror. When I see it’s clear, I open the door and get out of my old BMW.
I really have to get a farm truck.
Especially after calling this meeting this morning. That’s because today I am establishing my foothold in this community.
“What’s up, Farmer Darby?” I hear as I shut the door.
I look over the sidewalk to see Larkin walking my way. She was invited to the meeting as well.
“Hey,” I call.
When she reaches me, she surprises me by giving me a long, hard hug. “How are you doing, my friend?”
I squeeze her hard and pull back. “I’m hanging in there as best I can.”
Larkin is fully up to speed on what’s happened the last two days since the fire, and that’s because she was at my house last night, drinking wine and commiserating.
Giving me the type of support a really good friend does. It was much needed because in just two days, Colt’s vineyard was partially destroyed, he broke things off with me, and my soon-to-be ex-husband was arrested and charged along with the other two men he hired.
“Mitch got out easily on bail,” I tell her. That had happened this morning. The only reason I know this is because Floyd called to tell me. I’m not even sure how he got my cell number.
“How’s Linnie taking it?” she asks.
I shrug. Linnie’s confused and hurt and angry and well… her emotions, like mine, are all over the place. What we decided last night when I tucked her into bed was that we are just going to take each day as it came and trust in the justice system to work. Thankfully, Linnie never asked me if I thought her father did it because I would have had to tell her I thought he had.
“We better get inside,” I say as I point at the cafe.
“I can’t wait to see what you have on tap for this meeting,” she says. She hooks her arm through mine, and we walk to the door together.
She knows I have something up my sleeve to help Colt, but she doesn’t know the details. I’ve only shared those with two people… Catherine and Jerry Mancinkus.
“You’re just going to have to wait a few more minutes,” I tease.
“I think I have a sneaking suspicion what you might do,” she says confidently. And she probably does. Larkin is the one I poured my heart out to after Colt said he wanted to break things off. She knows very well what I feel for her brother.
A huge, growling rumble fills the air around me, and I can feel the vibration of a motorcycle approaching. Larkin and I turn around to see a massive Harley-Davidson slowly coming our way. It’s all black and chrome, but the most distinguishing feature is the man riding it. He’s dressed all in black. Black leather chaps, black leather motorcycle jacket, and one of those black helmets that cover just the top portion of the head. He has black sunglasses on, black gloves, and black boots.
“Oh my God,” Larkin breathes out the side of her mouth. “It’s Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy.”
I snicker, but I couldn’t agree more with her. The man has longish golden-blond hair and a neatly trimmed blond beard. No clue what color his eyes are, but his facial features are model perfect with the straight nose and hard jaw. About the only difference between him and Jax is this guy looks to be a lot bigger. He’s tall and really built. It’s obvious even under all that leather he’s wearing.
The motorcycle slows to a stop in the street right beside where we stand on the sidewalk, and Larkin self-consciously starts tugging at the short ends of her hair at the nape of her neck.
The man cuts the motorcycle off and removes his glasses. Larkin and I both suck in air when we are blindsided with dazzling green eyes that are crinkling at the corners as the man smiles at us.
“Morning, ladies,” he says in a gruff, gravelly voice that sends shivers up my spine. This man is way too good looking for words.
The man gives me a polite smile before turning his attention to Larkin. Her cheeks turn pink when he runs an appreciative look over her before asking, “Can you recommend a good place to stay in this town?”
Larkin doesn’t say anything. A glance at her shows she seems to be frozen in place, staring at the man. I give her a nudge in the ribs with my elbow, and she snaps out of it.
Her hand comes up to play with her hair again as she says, “Um… we don’t have anything open right now. I mean, we used to have a bed-and-breakfast called Millie’s. It’s right over there. But Millie’s sons are a bunch of drunken losers, and they let it get run into the ground with termite infestations. But someone bought it. And then sold it to my sister-in-law. Her name’s Mely. And her husband… that’s my brother Lowe… made all the repairs. And they just moved in furniture. But it’s not going to be open for a few weeks yet. And I’m rambling.”
The man grins at Larkin, showing straight white teeth. “I think your rambling is cute. What’s the closest town that will have lodging?”
“That would be Milner,” Larkin says, her voice a little steadier. “Just keep straight on this road out of town and you’ll run into it.”
The man studies Larkin for a moment before giving her a nod. “Much obliged. Maybe I’ll come back sometime and check out Millie’s once it opens.”
Larkin blushes and ducks her head. Her words come out stammering again. “That would be okay… nice. I mean… cool, I guess.”
The man chuckles and says, “Totally cute.”
He starts the motorcycle back up, the rumble of it vibrating the sidewalk, and slowly rolls out of town. We watch him until he disappears. Even after he’s gone, I have to bump my hip against Larkin’s to get her attention.
She turns to me and gives a low whistle. “He was totally hot.”
“You were totally a babbling cutie pie,” I tease.
Larkin laughs at herself. “I’ve never been the best around super good-looking men.”
“Well, if he does come back to town, you better practice on your communication skills because that man had serious interest in you.”
We start toward Central Café and walk up to the door. Larkin opens it and motions me in.
The sound of several people chattering hits me, and I’m surprised to see it’s standing room only inside. Every table and stool at the counter is taken and all the spots in between are filled with standing people. It seems the entire town has turned out for this meeting.
I see Billy Crump standing next to an older man who has to be his father. Judge Bowe is sitting at the counter next to Pap with a plate of biscuits and gravy in front of him. There’s Floyd, Jason, and Della. Mary Margaret Quinn, who owns the antique shop, smiles at me. I see Sissy Givens, who owns Lady Marmalade’s sitting next to her. In the corner sitting at one of the larger tables is the Mancinkus clan. Jerry and Catherine as well as Laken, Lowe, Mely, and Jake. Trixie and Ry are sitting there as well, and Larkin walking in behind me completes the package. There’s only one person missing, which is Colt, but he wasn’t invited to this meeting.
I survey the room. There are dozens of other people here who I don’t know. They were all invited through the grapevine.
I walk through the crowd which starts quieting down as all eyes turn to me. I make my way over to Catherine and Jerry and they both stand to give me a hug.
To stop the remaining chatter, Muriel stands on top of the counter and gives a shrill whistle. Everyone quiets and turns to her. “All right, everyone… You were invited here for a meeting by that woman over there, Darby McCulhane. Now some of you know her, but those who don’t, you need to know she’s sweet on Colt Mancinkus and he’s sweet on her.”
All eyes turn toward me, and I flush with embarrassment. I was never very good at speaking in front of a lot of people, and Muriel just called me out as “being sweet on Colt”.
Muriel continues. “She’s got something important to say, so everybody shut up and listen.”
There’s a slight chittering of laughter before it goes quiet.
I clear my throat and take in a breath. “Thank you, everyone, for coming out here this morning. If you don’t know already, I’m the operations manager at Farrington Farms. While I’m new to your community, I have been welcomed so graciously I feel like I’m an absolutely accepted member here.”
I feel Catherine’s hand go to my lower back for support.
I continue. “As you all know, three nights ago, Mainer Farms was viciously attacked. The new vineyard Colt had planted was sabotaged. Part of it was sprayed with gas and lit on fire.”
“Evil is what it was,” someone in the crowd mutters.
There are murmurs of agreement rippling throughout.
When I hold my hands up, the room goes silent again. I take a moment to let my gaze sweep the room before I say, “It’s time for this community to come together. The first step is Farrington Farms and Mainer Farms are going to enter into a little business venture together. You all know Jake by now, and he’s going to invest some money into the Mainer’s new winery. This will help to repair some of the damage that was done. But we need more. We need immediate action to remove all the burned timber and vines to get it rebuilt again as quickly as possible. That’s what I’m here for today… to ask for your help.”
Unsurprisingly, Floyd is the first to stand up. “I’ll do whatever you want, Darby. I’ll also donate some of the supplies to build new trellises.”
I give Floyd a grateful smile. “Thanks, Floyd.”
A man in his early sixties stands up from one of the tables. “My name is Silas Goddard. I own one of the competing farms. But I’ve got some IOUs from one of the local nurseries. I’ll call that in to get some new vines, or at least whatever I can.”
I incline my head and say, “That’s very sweet, Mr. Goddard.”
After that, there’s a period of several minutes where people are calling out what they want to do to help. Mostly it’s nothing more than volunteering their hands and their backs for labor. Muriel offers to cater food. Laken stands up and wrangles a deal with Eustace Roop, who apparently has the best organic compost in the county. She traded veterinarian services for Eustace’s goats in exchange for the compost.
I sat there and watched as every single person in that diner, young or old, volunteered in some way to help get Colt and Mainer Farms back on their feet. It was perhaps the most amazing event I have ever witnessed. I never knew there was such collective goodness in people.
If I had had any doubt about where Linnie and I should set down our roots, it was obliterated in this moment.
I let Catherine and Jerry take over from there, as they are going to coordinate the efforts to get the winery and vineyard reestablished. My work was done.