Page 23 of Grit
I made that.
The thought made her smile. Abby might be a handful most days, but she was a good kid, and Melissa absolutely adored her. She drove her truck through the wilderness of the school drop-off before she got back onto Jordan Valley highway. Taking a long drink of coffee, she turned in to the sun and drove back to the ranch.
She took the few minutes of solitude to enjoy the silence and the coffee before she passed the Nakamura farm. Melissa spotted Rumi taking her morning walk along the road with a broad sun hat and a pair of bright yellow sneakers.
Just the sight of the tiny woman made Melissa smile. She pulled over and rolled down her window. “Good morning, Rumi.”
“Melissa!” The older woman walked over to Melissa’s truck, her head barely peeking over the window. “You slept in.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw you roaring down the road and you didn’t even wave at me.”
“Sorry. I didn’t see you.”
“I know. Because you slept in.” Rumi winked at her. “Were you reading?”
Melissa couldn’t stop the smile. “How did you know?”
“You’ve been doing the same thing since you were little. Your mother used to complain about it.”
“Did she?”
Rumi wrinkled her nose. “Only the way mothers complain about things they think are cute. Like you and Abby and her goats.”
“I don’t think Abby’s goats are cute, I just can’t get rid of them without her hating me.”
The corner of Rumi’s mouth turned up. “You’d never get rid of her goats.”
Melissa slumped on the steering wheel. “Why am I so weak?”
Rumi laughed and stepped away from the truck. “You have a good day. I have to keep walking.” She held up tiny leopard-print barbells. “I started carrying these now. The doctor said it’s good for my bones.”
“Yeah? You should tell Mom to walk with you.”
Rumi pointed a barbell at her. “That’s a good idea! I’m going to do that. She’s younger than me. She’ll make me walk faster.” She waved at Melissa and kept walking, turning right and onto the lane that ran between orange groves and led back to the Nakamura farmhouse.
Melissa had ridden her horse through the Nakamura groves her entire childhood, marveling at the cool, deep green of the trees and the heavenly aroma of citrus blossoms. She’d watched Cary from afar, harboring a girlhood crush on the handsome young man who kept his hair long and listened to rock music in his Mustang.
He didn’t notice her then, of course. She was a child and he was a grown man. But she thought he was the most handsome man ever, and she loved how he teased Rumi, who was one of Melissa’s favorite people.
Her girlhood independence had coincided with Rumi’s children leaving home, which had led to a sweet friendship that Melissa cherished.
Rumi had taught her how to make rice balls and fried tofu, dishes Melissa had never seen before. Rumi had a light-filled artist’s studio behind her house, which Melissa thought was incredibly glamorous and cool. She’d exhibited in art shows and shown Melissa how to paint with watercolors. Melissa still had several of the origami cranes Rumi taught her how to fold.
Melissa had tried to teach Rumi how to ride horses, but the small woman had never grown comfortable around them. They were too big. Too powerful. Rumi liked her bicycle and her walking shoes, though she occasionally joked about buying a donkey.
Melissa slowed down when she reached her own orchard. The four-year-old trees would give their first solid harvest this year. They still had a couple of months to ripen, and Melissa was hoping for a long, warm fall to sweeten the grove. She’d been considering a Pick-Your-Own season before the harvesting crews came in.
Other places picked apples in the fall. Maybe Metlin parents would like to pick mandarins. The short trees were perfect for kids to grab, and the sweet fruit was easy to peel.
Cary was right.
Melissa was happy to admit the man knew his business. He’d turned twenty acres of his own land to mandarins three years ago, right after he’d helped her plant hers. The market for them was hot, and they’d been a solid investment for her.
In another year, she’d be able to pay off the balance of the loan she’d had to take from Calvin’s parents, and then she’d be completely in the black. It was a good feeling. Even though Greg and Bev had never let the note hang between them, she still felt the pressure of owing money to Calvin’s family.
She parked her truck on the edge of the road and walked through the groves for a bit, looking at the insect-monitoring stations. She breathed in the scent of the trees and felt the ground under her boots.
