Page 79 of Harvest Moon

Ridge, perfect, honest Ridge, shrugged. “I couldn’t say for certain. What I know is they’re not necessary, and they’re surely notgoodfor us. You should see the industrial sprayers they put up on my parents’ old farm. The smell alone is enough to put a wolf off.”

Linden’s face grew even more grave. “Is it? I admit, I haven’t seen a Sterling-run farm. They’ve explained what they intend to do, a little, but it’s hard to visualize, given how little I know about farming.”

“Well that’s easy,” I announced, standing up. “You can go see what they’ve done with Ridge’s family farm.”

Glancing past me, up at Ridge, Linden lifted his brows. “Would that be okay with you? I don’t want to cause you any pain.”

“No, it’s a good idea. If you decide on this, you should know what you’re getting into. It’ll affect the whole town.” Ridge sounded sad, but there was less despair than when he’d come into the bedroom.

I took his hand, squeezing it and turning to look up at him. “I’ll go too. We’ll show the alpha what it’s like to have a factory farm, and... and we’ll come up with a plan. There’s got to be a way to get people to come work the farm.”

“What about sort of... interns?” Claudia asked. We all turned to look at her, and she shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about farming, but Ridge got a whole degree in it, right? We could sort of offer people on the job training in exchange for, you know, work.”

I gave her a shrewd look, nodding. When Ridge was quiet, I spoke up again. “I’m sure Ridge would be happy to teach people how to work the farm. He’s very patient.” He squeezed my hand lightly, and from the corner of my eye, I saw him nodding. Again, I turned to the alpha. “But if the pack’s going to take advantage of Ridge’s education like that, you should pay off his school loans.”

“The Grovetown ag club already gave me a scholarship,” Ridge mumbled, hesitant as ever to take more from anybody.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Two thousand whole dollars?” I looked at Linden. “Not to sound ungrateful, it was really nice he got that support, but Ridge still came away with almost a hundred thousand dollars student-loan debt.”

Linden’s lips quirked up on one side, and he gave a little nod. “That’s an excellent point, of course.” He gathered the papers together into a neat little pile. “But first, we go see the farm. Tomorrow?”

“We’ll take your car,” Claudia told him. “Because I’m coming, and it’s comfy.”

He frowned at her but gave a slow nod. “You can’t go traipsing around the farm, though. You stay in the car.”

“Fine, fine,” she said, sighing and waving a hand airily. Then she made a sad face. “And we can’t even stop and get ice cream.”

46

Ridge

Mrs. Claudia wanted ice cream, and I was beginning to realize how hard it was to say no to her. Almost as hard as it was to say no to Alexis, and I was head over heels in love with him.

Barbara and Henrik didn’t have a bunch of cows. Goats, pigs, horses, and chickens, but maybe they needed a couple cows. Then we’d have fresh, local milk and we could make Mrs. Claudia ice cream with berries in springtime and—

Okay, I knew I couldn’t solve every problem in the world by trying to make a farm that didn’t even belong to me do every damn thing under the sun. But if making sure Claudia could have ice cream meant that we got to keep the farm local and run it how we liked, I was damn well going to suggest a cow.

I was thinking it over, tapping my knee and bouncing my leg, as Alpha Grove drove us back to my old homestead.

I sat in the front with him, directing the way. Claudia and Lex sat in the back. He was wearing the same stubborn look he’d worn the day before when he’d told the Grove pack alpha and second what was what. She was popping sunflower seeds, peering out the window—seemed like she was pleased just to get out of the house.

I had a pie in my lap from Grove Apple Grove—one of Rowan’s with just apples. That was the kind Alexis’s pa liked best, he said.

We drove up the two-lane highway and I caught sight of the farm through the trees. Quick as anything, I looked away. First, we were stopping by the Menas’ place, and I needed to hold it together for Lex’s ma.

Truth told, I thought that was why he’d handed me the pie. If I was the one to carry the sweet offering into the house, I might get credit for it.

I pointed Alpha Grove down the dirt drive that ran by Lex’s house then toward the farm. He pulled up in front of their house, and I took a long, deep breath.

Today was going to be great. I didn’t just have to convince Alpha Grove to keep the farm in the pack—I had to present myself to Mrs. Mena as the alpha courting her son, and I didn’t even have Ma around to whack her with a wedding magazine if she got pissy about it.

I wanted to plaster myself to Alexis’s side and follow him in, but he was busy helping Claudia out of the car, walking up arm in arm with her.

I fell in step with Alpha Grove behind them. He was looking at me with a lopsided smile that made me want to growl—I didn’t, of course. But I wanted to.

“Nervous?”

I flinched. “That obvious?”

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