Page 74 of Ocotillo Kisses
“What if we got these in different colors?” she said, gesturing to the tall pots. “We need a dozen, right, we said? Get three of each. I might have to put in some money, but I think it would look great.”
“I can help out,” Con said. She had a limited budget of her own, he knew.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. But my dad left some money to help the town, so I think we can use that. ” He thought he saw her shoulders relax a bit at his offer.
He was actually kind of surprised they got through the task so quickly, after the long drive. Even though Sofia tried to draw Poppy’s attention to some of the other pots, Poppy had her mind set on the tall brightly glazed pots.
“I already know what I’ll put in them, and I have the soil on order,” she said when Sofia pointed out they’d need a lot of soil. “I know what I’m doing.”
So Javi and Con helped the owner wrap the pots in brown paper to give them some cushion in the trailer, since it had no shocks. They roped the pots against the front of the trailer, securing them the best they could, because Con didn’t want to make this drive again.
“Why don’t we go over to the winery, since we’re here?” Poppy suggested once they were all back in the truck.
They had already decided they would go to lunch, which made Con uneasy, given their expensive cargo, but Poppy had insisted they could park with a view of the truck. But now she wanted to go to the winery too? Granted, it was located in a quiet area of town. But he wasn’t really comfortable with the idea of parking and walking away from the truck.
“I think we should just head home,” Con said. “Make sure we get all this back and put into place today.”
Poppy gave him an exaggerated frown. “Can’t we just stop in and I can buy a couple of bottles? We don’t have to do a tasting or anything.”
He looked from her to Javi and Sofia, who looked disappointed. “Fine, we can go. I’ll stay with the truck, though.”
“No, I don’t want you to do that,” Poppy said quickly. “That’s not fair to you. I’ll just go in to get my wine.”
“You girls go in and have a tasting,” Javi said. “We’ll sit outside and keep an eye on the truck. No big deal.” He turned to Con. “We came all this way. And they can sit in the truck while we eat lunch.” He accompanied the last with a wink, and Con programmed the winery into the GPS.
He had to admit, the winery was pretty, in a shady area, surrounded by old houses on big lots. Sitting outside wasn’t a hardship. The two men sprawled on the cement benches while the ladies went inside.
“How are you doing, man, with everything that’s been going on?” Javi asked, sipping from one of the bottles of water they’d pack for the trip.
He should have known Javi, who had always paid attention to everything, would question his mood. “Everything is going okay.” He twisted open a bottle of his own. “My dad made sure the ranch would run smoothly without him. He’s been training me for it for years.”
“Sure,” Javi said.
“And he had time to smooth everything out before he passed. So that’s all good.”
“But how are you?” Javi asked. “You and your mom?”
“Some days better than others. You know how it goes.”
Javi nodded.
“I’m actually thinking about going back to school.” He hadn’t realized he seriously was until he heard himself say it aloud.
“Really? After all this time?”
Con scowled. “I’m not that old, man.”
“No, you’re not, but you’ve been out of school a while. What are you thinking? Vet school?”
Con’s eyebrows went up. He didn’t think his friends remembered that had been his goal back in the day. “Yeah, actually. I was talking to Britt about it, you know, and she reminded me how much I wanted to do that, you know, back then. And I started to remember, too. So many reasons I couldn’t then, but they’re gone now.”
“So would you like, go to A&M or something?”
“Actually.” Con paused, because he hadn’t thought this all the way through, but now he was saying it aloud. “Thinking about Houston.”
“Houston,” Javi repeated. “Where Britt is.”
