Page 26 of Finding Basil
Basil informed him, “Not that kind of sick, Rob. The well’s dry.”
Rob whistled through his teeth. “Ya sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure. He’s likely gonna have to dig a new well, and/or connect to the city line.”
“Yeah, for sure. Gonna be…a buttload of money.”
Buttload. A buttload of money. Herb heard that, and his stomach flipped.
“Is there any way to do it cheap?”
“Nah. Regulations and all that, and for once, I agree with ‘em. Can’t jury-rig water lines. Ain’t safe.”
Basil grabbed Herb’s hands and helped him to his feet. “I guess we better get on your farm. Looks like it won’t be a hobby farm any longer.”
“Guess not.”
Chapter Seven
Cordeliacamebyashe was watching his yard being dug into from his newly fixed porch. He stared blankly at the carnage of the sod and dirt as the man drove the bulldozer, or whatever the big machine with the scoop was called.
“Herb…what can I do?”
“Give me all my money back for the house and acreage?”
After laughing a little before she realized he wasn’t kidding, she said, “Well, um…”
“I’m keeping the place, don’t worry. I’d have to suspect you were a money-hungry demon if I thought you knew about all this.”
“I didn’t. Even the appraiser didn’t see all this. What can I do besides that?”
“Nothing unless you can wave a wand and make me some incredible farmer.”
“Can’t do that either. I am, however, waiving my fees for all the work I’ve done for you.”
His head turned as if he was mechanical, and he glared at her. The feeling of strangling her was fleeting, but it felt good while it lasted. “How nice of you.”
She stood by him and set her hands on the rail, like he was doing. “It happens. But, Herb, the community is embracing you. Even Lila Dormer has nothing bad to say about you, and she has something bad to say about everyone. And there’s…Basil.”
Finally, he smiled. “He’s here right now, overseeing things, and he and his brothers and cousins are putting the glass into the greenhouse. He’s determined to get this place up and running to make me some money. He’s even hunting down contracts for the herbs I will be growing.”
“He’s a crazy good farmer. He can make seeds grow just by looking at them. At least, that’s the word around town.”
“He’s amazing,” Herb whispered, and then saw her smile as he did so. “What?”
“Someone has a crush.”
“Can’t help that,” he admitted. “I’ve never met anyone like him.”
“Better you than that crazy ex of his. I mean, sorry if that’s not PC, but he literally was crazy, so I don’t know if that counts.”
“Mentally ill,” Herb corrected. “I haven’t really heard about him, but we’ve yet to discuss our exes, if we ever do. I should wait for him to tell me.”
“Sure, sure. I’m not in the know, of course, not all the details, anyway.”
He seriously doubted that. Cordelia seemed to be in the know about everyone in town.
After she left, he was walking back to the greenhouse and saw Lila speaking to Basil and his brother, Juan. “There he is, the biggest sucker I ever met,” she said and then cackled.
