Page 97 of No More Secrets
When Beckett left to deliver the eggs, Summer allowed herself a short coffee break to scope out the stand next door. It was an organic milk stand run by a local dairy farm. Their big draw was the frisky little calf they brought with them. Sassy trotted around her portable pen welcoming pats and scratches from treat-bearing visitors.
Jax caught Summer stroking Sassy’s soft ears. “It’s emotional blackmail,” he told her. “How is someone supposed to just pick up a carton of growth hormone-laden milk at the gas station without thinking about happy, grass-fed Sassy?”
“At least they aren’t selling steaks with Sassy here as their spokesperson,” Summer said, giving her a final ear scratch before ducking back under the canopy. “That would be emotional blackmail and a terrible business strategy.”
Summer moved in behind Carter to grab more paper bags and caught the tail end of his conversation with a frazzled looking woman with frizzy auburn hair. “So we’ll see you at ten tomorrow. I really,reallyappreciate it,” she said.
“Looking forward to it, Tracey,” Carter said in a voice that made Summer believe he was lying through his nice, straight teeth. The woman hurried off carting a half dozen bags with her and Carter turned around to look at Beckett.
“Absolutely not,” Beckett snapped. “There’s no fucking way you’re dragging me into that mess again.” He shuddered. “I still have nightmares about last year.”
“Fine. I can count on my favorite brother here,” Carter said, dropping an arm over Jax’s shoulders.
“I get to be the favorite? Cool.” Jax grinned.
“You won’t think so when one of those baby-toothed monsters sets fire to your pants while the others try to pillage the farm.”
“Does Beckett hate children?” Summer asked.
“These aren’t just any children. They’re Higgenworth Communal Alternative Education Day Care children,” Beckett said, his eye twitching.
When Summer just looked at him, Carter stepped in. “They come from parents who don’t like using the word ‘no’ and think that structure and discipline squash their delicate, little kid spirits.”
“So they’re holy terrors?”
“Exactly. And you, my beautiful girl,” he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in, “get to see them up close and personal tomorrow morning when they come for their annual field trip.”
“Stop making out and get me some change,” Beckett snarked.
“You’re just jealous that you have no one to make out with,” Phoebe clucked.
“That’s low, Mom. Real low.”
Summer counted out ears of corn and bagged tomatoes for Carter while he talked trailer hitches and rainwater barrels with patrons. She was so busy making change that she didn’t notice that Nikolai had arrived until he shoved his camera in her face.
“I didn’t recognize you in that getup,” he said, tapping the bill of her hat. “Didn’t know you were a Yankees fan.”
Summer looked at his designer jeans and leather loafers and grinned. Wait until Clementine got a load of him. “Welcome to Blue Moon Bend,” she said, drawing him behind the table.
“Sorry I’m late. I drove around looking for a parking meter before I realized there aren’t any here.”
She laughed. It was nice to see someone who was more a fish out of water here than she was. “Let me introduce you to everyone. We’ve got all four Pierces here.” She made the introductions and gave Nikolai little pieces on his subjects. Carter the ex-Army Ranger farmer. Beckett the mayor. Jax the Hollywood scriptwriter. And Phoebe, the mother with a master’s degree in agricultural science.
Nikolai had an easy way about him that helped his subjects relax more in front of the camera. She needn’t have worried about him warming up the Pierces. In no time he had the brothers razzing each other and Phoebe smacking heads.
She helped Nikolai stow his gear before jumping out of the stand. “I don’t think portraits will work as well as candids here,” she cautioned him.
Eyebrow raised, Nikolai peered at her over the screen of his camera.
“Sorry. Micromanaging,” Summer waved her hands.
She let him work, let the Pierces execute their well-honed farmers market choreography. Laughing, chatting, bagging. Nikolai quietly capturing the way Carter tossed tomatoes into the open bag Phoebe held. How Beckett stepped in and seamlessly changed the subject when Jax’s conversation with someone shifted to Joey. They functioned as a team and not just at the market.
It gave her a little twinge of envy to know she wasn’t a part of it.
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As the farmers market began to wind down early that afternoon, the Pierce brothers started loading up the now nearly empty bushels and baskets. The leftover produce went into Phoebe’s car, which she would deliver to a church that fed the hungry and down-on-their-luck.
