Page 10 of Believe in Caloosa Springs

Sam chuckled. “Why?”

Mandy gave an exaggerated shrug, “Because? It’s Ty. The man freaks out professionally.”

“That tracks. Nice to meet you, Tian.”

I gave a friendly nod and grabbed my latte off the counter to follow Mandy out of the diner. “Thanks. You, too.”

“Ty is your other boss, right?” I asked as we got back into Mandy’s car.

“Not really. If anything, I tellhimwhat to do,” she chuckled. “Oliver is technically the owner of the store, and Tyler’s family owns the farm where everything is grown, but we’re all kind of equals. I help run all the day-to-day operations, and take over when Tyler is overwhelmed. Which is often.”

It wasn’t ten minutes before we pulled off the highway and onto a dirt road leading to a tall iron gate. Mandy punched a code into a keypad, and, a moment later, the gate split down the center and granted us entry. A charming little farmhouse came into view about a quarter-mile ahead. The property was massive, and I could see several other structures past the house in the distance. Cannabis plants sprouting long, green leaves surrounded everything, planted in neat rows and perfuming the morning air.

“God, how big is this place?” I asked incredulously.

“I think they have 80 acres, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Damn.”

”Yeah. Just last year, as part of the expansion, they purchased an additional 20 acres off the west side of the property. That’s where we built the residential buildings for the new crew.”

“Residential buildings? People are going to live here?”

”Uh-huh. They get free room and board, as well as three meals a day on top of their salaries. Not to mention, the houses are super cute. We built a little 15-unit tiny home community on the new acreage. Each home has an acre of land, and the residents are welcome to use however they see fit.”

“Fuck, I almost want to live here.”

“Can I get a recording of that?” Mandy snarked, glancing over at me as I unbuckled my seatbelt.

“A recording of what?” I deadpanned as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.

As we got out of the car, a gorgeous, dark-haired guy was hurrying his way down the porch steps. He wore tight-fitting Wranglers and a button-down shirt that was tucked in behind a large silver belt buckle. His black cowboy hat covered more than half of his face in shadow, but the portion I could see looked panicked.

“Mandy! Thank god!”

Mandy snorted. “Do you need a Xanax, Ty?”

“There’s people here, Mandy! I thought they weren’t supposed to start showing up ‘til this afternoon.”

“Tyler, we told them they could come and start getting settled in anytime after eight. You told me to tell them that. You said youneeded the early morning to feed the horses and tend to things. Did you do that?”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah, that’s all taken care of.”

“Okay, then, why are you sweating?”

Tyler took his hat off, revealing a crop of black hair matted down to his forehead with perspiration.

“Where are they?” Mandy asked, not waiting for Tyler to answer her previous question.

“In the living room. Mama’s working on a pot of coffee, and she made a couple coffee cakes yesterday afternoon, so she’s just warming them up.”

“So they are all just sitting in your living room?”

“Yes!”

Mandy sighed. “Ty, why didn’t you just show them to their houses and let them start settling in while we got everything ready?”

“I don’t know which one belongs to whom.” It came out of his mouth like a whine.

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