Page 88 of Harvest Moon

Ridge nodded to him and led him back to the cereal aisle and started turning boxes around.

Isaac watched with fascination, but I felt sick. A quarter of the standard breakfast cereals that people ate all the time were from Sterling. And snack cakes and granola bars and packaged oatmeal, and candy, and...

After five minutes, Ridge turned back to him. “Those are the Sterling products you carry in this aisle. I looked them up this morning to make sure I knew all the companies.”

Isaac looked around, impressed, and nodded. “I wouldn’t have guessed, but it’s probably not too shocking. They own a dozen of the big producers. But why is it important?”

Ridge looked at me, and I nodded, trying to be encouraging without jumping in and stealing his thunder. He turned back to Isaac, jaw tight, clearly thinking the man wouldn’t believe him, but he said it anyway. “We went to a Sterling-owned farm yesterday, Alpha Grove, Mrs. Claudia, Lexis, and me. Because Sterling’s trying to buy the Hills’ farm, and I wanted the alpha to know what he was getting into.”

Isaac nodded, glancing at the boxes again, but this time with apprehension, like maybe they were going to explode.

“Mrs. Claudia had an episode. She got real sick and had to lie down. So I asked Lex’s ma, since she lives near the farm, and she hasn’t been feeling well lately either.”

Isaac wrapped his arms around his middle, and I reflexively put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You think Sterling foods...”

Ridge nodded, and we all looked around at the food in the aisle. A smiling woman pushed her cart down the aisle, little kid riding the end of it with his head thrown back. He pointed to one of the backward boxes and looked at his mother hopefully.

I could literally see the moment when Isaac made his decision. He didn’t even need to hear the rest. “You don’t want that, Mrs. Crown. Everything with a box facing backward is going back.”

Her eyes went wide, but she nodded. “Another time, sweetie,” she told her son. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered to Isaac as she went past. She was imagining the amount of work involved in returning the merchandise, no doubt. Not the amount of invested money that would be wasted, since I doubted he could simply return the items.

Isaac took a deep breath, closing his eyes, no doubt imagining the latter. “I’ll have to go through the whole shop.”

“We’d be happy to help,” I offered. “And I’m sure we can get some other people here too.”

He nodded, taking a deep breath. “First, I need to go change our standing order. It goes through tonight, and I don’t want more coming in. Then we’ll take all this stuff down. No wonder the alpha called ahead. Is there going to be a pack meeting?”

“I expect so,” Ridge agreed. “He didn’t tell us, but I’m sure he’s working on it. He’s just got to be careful.”

“Of course,” Isaac agreed. “This mess is going to hurt me enough. I’m still glad I’m not him.” He turned to Ridge, a tremulous smile on his face. “But what if you’re right? Maybe everything is going to be okay.”

Ten hours later, every muscle in my body sore from lifting and bending and packing, Ridge and I stumbled out the front of the shop, mumbling to myself about a warm bath and dinner.

“At least it’s a small shop,” he said, trying to see the bright side in standard Ridge style. “Imagine if it was a full-sized grocery store.”

I absolutely could not. I glanced up then, to see Aspen Grove standing in front of the bar, talking to one of the ladies who ran the B and B. She looked like his grandma giving him what-for, and he was taking it like a champ, looking properly ashamed.

I suspected from the discussions we’d had, that hewasashamed. I lifted my chin in his direction. “Looks like maybe Aspen is getting started trying to make amends.”

Ridge looked at me blankly, then at Aspen, and he stiffened a little at the sight of the man.

“None of that. I told you, he’s a friend.”

Ridge, in one of the only caveman alpha moments I’d ever seen from him, leaned down to kiss me soundly, right there in front of everyone on the street.

“Of course,” he agreed lightly.

54

Ridge

Strange thing about moving around boxes and crates of food all day—I never wanted to look at the stuff again, and at the same time, I wasstarving. What I wanted to go was go right down to The Cider House, order a big basket of fried pickles, and eat the whole damn thing.

Considering Claudia’s diet and Lex’s solidarity, I’d settle for dragging my feet to Chadwick’s for a turkey sandwich, but if Lex wanted us cooking dinner that night, he was about to see me fall on my knees and beg. Quick meal, an early night, and the next morning I’d have to go back to the farm and get to work. Just because Ford said he could handle things without me for a few days didn’t mean he should have to, and I was in for a very awkward conversation with the family who’d taken me in, who’d lost their daughter to the Condition, which I was now poking around in like I had some business with it.

Right then, it didn’t matter as long as we got something in our bellies then got home to soak our tired bodies just like Alexis wanted.

Only there, in front of the bar, was Aspen Grove.

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