Page 58 of Horn of Plenty
Mabel
“Hey, lady! You, in the big hat! Are you looking for heirloom tomatoes? You won’t find any better than these beauties,” came a man’s voice with a thick New York accent.
Mabel glanced over to find two gentlemen, one older and one younger, sitting in folding chairs next to a table piled high with tomatoes and cucumbers. Clad in overalls and matching ball caps with Vamosi Farms written in faded lettering, the men immediately sat up when she turned their way.
“Your produce looks wonderful, but I’m only out for a walk,” she replied when the younger of the two gasped.
“It’s her, Dad!” he said to the older one.
The men stood and came toward her.
“Could we get a picture with you?” the older gentleman asked.
She frowned. “With me?”
This was the third time this had happened in the last hour.
“Yeah! Would you mind?” the young man asked, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“Um…no. I don’t mind,” she answered, glancing around. She didn’t see other merchants doing this with customers. Still, these guys seemed like nice enough farmers—just like the others who’d asked to take a selfie with her—but she couldn’t piece together why anyone would want their picture with her.
The older gentleman grabbed a ripe, red tomato from the booth. “I’m Russ Vamosi, and this is my son, Ricky. These are from our organic farm in Upstate New York. Do you mind holding one of our tomatoes in the picture?”
“Not at all,” she stammered, still caught off guard by the odd reception. No one in Elverna’s farmers’ market ever requested photo-ops with her.
The men crowded in, and the younger of the two held out his phone and snapped the picture.
“Thanks a million! And you can keep that tomato,” Russ said with a tip of his cap.
“That’s very kind of you,” she answered, staring down at the piece of produce, feeling terribly homesick.
“No, ma’am, thank you,” Ricky replied with a wide grin. “It’s an honor.”
An honor?
She hadn’t recalled New York as this friendly of a city. She was about to ask the men if there was atake-a-picture-with-a-patroncontest going on today when a group of customers broke away from the pack of New Yorkers perusing the Friday farmers’ market near Union Square and got the men’s attention.
Yes, that’s right! She’d traveled nearly one thousand miles from her farm to find herself a hop, skip, and a jump away from a farmers’ market in the city. It wasn’t her fault. Her hotel was down the street. Chelsea Blaine had suggested it. They’d texted a few times and were set to meet in the hotel’s bar for drinks in a half hour.
Mabel glanced at the bustling outdoor market. Couples with baskets and children carrying reusable bags paraded between the farm stalls offering everything from fruits, vegetables, and baked goods to fish and beef. She was familiar with this part of the city. It wasn’t that far from her old place in SoHo. She’d passed by here a few times over the years. Back then, she couldn’t stand the sight of it. Once, a reminder of the life she’d left behind. Now, it brought her comfort and a momentary reprieve from replaying her last conversation with Cal through her mind for what seemed like the zillionth time.
It nearly killed her to get on the bus out of Elverna, but she had to leave. If there was a chance that Bella Mae could still become something big, she had to see it through. It was his fault if he couldn’t understand that there was nothing wrong for her to want both Bella Mae and Eat Elverna to be a success. She reached for theM, something she’d done dozens of times since she’d given it back to Cal. A flood of competing emotions washed over her when, instead of the cool gold letter meeting her fingertips, she brushed across bare skin.
Anger and frustration mixed with a love so strong she could barely think muddled her thoughts.
How could he have done it? How could he be the Castle King? The name made no sense. She couldn’t piece together what it could even mean to Cal, but it was right there in plain sight on his laptop. And if he wanted to force her to return to Elverna, ruining her online persona was the way to do it. Still, the man seemed genuinely confused. Or maybe that was part of the ruse—part of his plan to fulfill a misguided promise to Jamie.
She had to remind herself that Cal loved her, but only by his rules. She passed a table lined with dried lavender and couldn’t stop the flood of sweet memories of the night she’d lost her virginity. That night had meant everything to her. Every one of his kisses and each caress spoke of true love. And the way he looked at her—just the thought of those stormy blue eyes set her pulse racing.
Alone in her hotel over the last few nights, it almost didn’t feel real not to hear the wind song as it passed through the fields or the sound of Cal’s breath hot against her skin as he devoured her body with kisses. She told herself that she’d spend these few days before she met with Chelsea to go over the Bella Mae posts and strategize a comeback for the lifestyle and fashion blog. But she couldn’t find it in her to log out of the Eat Elverna social media accounts and log in to Bella Mae.
In fact, she hadn’t even glanced at any social media since she’d arrived—Eat Elverna or otherwise.
She’d be walking into this meeting with Chelsea blind. It was a terrible business move on her part, but she’d fallen into a sort of city purgatory—a state of complete discombobulation and disbelief. The crowds. The sirens. The heady buzz of electricity that pulsed from within the city. It fed her soul while simultaneously making her long for Elverna’s country roads and acres of ancient grains swaying in the wind. It didn’t make sense. Nothing did.
It wasn’t like this four years ago when she’d climbed out her window and set off for a life far away from the country. She’d been determined to stamp out her inner farm girl and snuff out any semblance of that life.
Now, all she wanted was to melt into Cal’s embrace.
