Page 35 of No Bed Of Roses

Sean whistled again. “Time for a beer, everyone?”

Levi locked the door behind him and slung his arm over her shoulder as they moved into the room. It was a heady feeling being part of a couple with this incredible man. Having friends to hang out with, working together to help each other. “How did it go with Stan and the other men?”

His grin told his answer before his words. “Amazing. They’re exactly the kind of people who can help me get to know the land and how farming works here in Vermont. I’ve issued an open invitation for them to stop by the farm whenever they want.”

“Do they know anything about hops?”

He shook his head. “No, but they’re hooked now. I’d bet they’re all going to be researching to see who can learn more than the other two.”

Sean grinned. “Sounds like you might have a few free laborers.”

Levi smiled. “They’ll always be welcome.”

Isla knew how much he missed his family and how much these men would mean to him. It also reinforced her desire to be braver about contacting her father while she still had the chance.

CHAPTER 12

It's A Date

Aweek later, Isla still smiled every time she saw the front door. And the shower and the bed. Even the kitchen table. Poor Hopper had retreated to the bedroom that night.

Levi stayed over every night, and they spent part of their days together, then they went their separate ways to work on their own things.

Hops were popping up in her pots, and she was experimenting with various natural fertilizers and nutrients. She was also splicing and experimenting with ways to make new varieties. She’d placed a few pots outside of the greenhouse to use as control samples to compare her results, looking for ways to improve the crop’s resiliency to Vermont’s weather.

Levi’s group wanted six beer variations, so he was growing six varieties of hops this year as a trial. They would see which were the most successful after harvest. She hoped her experiments would help them choose and give them more options if some of their crops didn’t do well with the weather.

Levi’s friends were helping him build trellises for the bines. Not a word that got used often. The bines, the flexible stems of hops, and a few other climbing plants would grow to over twenty feet and they needed the trellises to climb.

Isla had no intention of stopping her work to improve the world’s food supply. Once she had more greenhouses, she’d get some wheat and other grain plants to work with, but it was fun to start with a new plant and learn its personality and traits.

Doing it all with Levi made it even better.

Today, she needed to head to town to pick up some groceries, and she knew she didn’t have to let anyone know. She was an adult and could come and go as she pleased. But after she patted Hopper goodbye and locked up the cottage, she pulled out her phone to text Levi. He would worry if he saw her leave. No sense in not being thoughtful.

Plus, it gave her an excuse to text him. Heading to Phail Phoods to stock up.

It only took a few moments for him to reply. Want company? I need to grab a few things, too.

Was he being sincere or overprotective? There hadn’t been any more incidents like the one with the ladder, so she felt perfectly safe being alone and doing her own thing. She knew Levi and whoever was at the farmhouse at the time watched over her, but they weren’t invasive about it.

Deciding she wanted his company either way, she sent a message telling him she’d pick him up, but there was no rush if he needed to finish something.

She walked out to where she’d moved her car. If it was too close to the cottage, Hopper thought it was a great place to pee. The driveway was long, but she’d only had to go halfway down to find where Hopper ignored it and used a bush instead.

One of the quirks of being a pet owner and one she could easily live with. Kimi hadn’t found anyone looking for Hopper, and Isla was ignoring the fact that he might have a family out there looking for him. If she had to give him to someone else, her heart would break. Despite his desire to pee on her car, she loved him fiercely and would cry like a baby if someone wanted him back.

Isla placed her cloth bags and a crate she’d found in the barn in the trunk of her little car. She hoped Levi would fit.

The drive to the farmhouse took less than a minute, but Levi came out of the door with his own set of cloth bags when she drove up. Everyone in this town was conscious of their effects on the environment. Tansy’s solar panels for both farms should arrive in the next few days making them even more environmentally friendly.

Levi folded into the passenger seat and leaned over to kiss her. “Does this count as a date? We still have to fit that in.”

Isla laughed. They were busy with their lands, and a private dinner date hadn’t happened yet. “If we sneak in a kiss while checking out the veggies, I don’t see why not.”

Vermont was beautiful in the spring. Green was everywhere and with the hills and mountains, there was never a straight, boring section to drive for long. Even the short drive into Phail was an adventure in beauty.

When they crested the first hill, the land spread out before them. Farmlands, forests, and glimpses of water through the trees. She hadn’t grown up in this climate, but it felt like home. “It’s so pretty here. I can’t wait to see what it’s like when the leaves change in the fall.”

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