Page 6 of Her Juicy Cherry (Sweet Treats 2)

Then, with my stupid cell phone. Why the hell did it have to let out that high chime, just begging me to pick it up? Why did I have to respond to that idiot Bert Halliwell? Why did the police cruiser pull up at exactly the wrong time?

I let out another primal scream in the privacy of my apartment, and ruthlessly kick at a chair. Ouch, that hurt! A ragged jag of pain goes through my toe and I grab it while hopping around like a lame kangaroo. I need to get the fuck out of here. I need a change of scenery. I need to go somewhere where I can get away from it all, hopefully for good. But where would that be?

3

Courtney

Calmer now, I take a sip of tea while staring at my laptop screen. I’m sick to death of Silicon Valley. Sure, it’s where Facebook, Google, and all those other high-tech companies are, but much good that does me. I work, ahem, worked, at a company that manufactures cardboard boxes, so we weren’t exactly taking over the world. Plus, I’m so sick of the congestion all the time, not to mention the high housing costs. I’m so frustrated with everything in this overly-expensive valley.

I need to go somewhere different. Somewhere where I can get my head together, and let my heart heal. A snort escapes my lips. Heal? Hardly. I’m a fighter, and I’m not giving up the fight just yet. I merely need a respite from the modern world. So where to?

Idly, my finger clicks on different links. A few pictures pop up on screen, showing an ascetically clean white building that looks vaguely temple-like. Hmm, it’s an ashram in India. Isn’t that what the woman in Eat, Pray, Love went? But then I see that you have to meditate for three hours every day, with the first meditation at sunrise. Nope. That’s impossible. I can hardly drag myself out of bed by 8 a.m., much less at daybreak. Plus, meditating for that long would give me a headache. It’s supposed to calm you down, but it would just make my thoughts go around in circles.

Then, I click on what looks like a fairy tale castle. Oh wow, very cool! There’s a castle in Germany that looks like Cinderella’s castle from Disneyland. Its blue spires jut into creamy clouds, and the stone-work is solid yet enchanting too. Evidently, it’s a Catholic convent that offers select women a three-week program of “peace, reflection, and repose.” My nose scrunches. What does that mean?

Then, as I click through the pictures, my heart drops. Every woman in the pictures appears to be wearing yoga tights and fancy, two hundred dollar fleece pullovers. Their skin glows, and more than a few have expensive blonde highlights in their ponytailed hair. Clearly, this is where the yuppie mom group goes to relax and recharge, away from their kids. I can’t come here. I’d have nothing in common with them.

Losing hope, I take another sip of my tea. What else should I try? A hippie commune? A kibbutz in Israel? Neither idea really appeals to me, and with reluctance, I click on a picture of a farm called Cherrywood. It’s not that far from where I am. It’s located in Lodi, which is in central California. It’s known for its grape production, which isn’t all that weird seeing that the Central Valley is very fertile.

But why is this place called Cherrywood Farms? Shouldn’t it be called Grapewood if grapes are their specialty? I click on the logo, and the search engine takes me to their homepage. Immediately, my breath seizes because the two men smiling at me from the center photo are gorgeous. So hot that I feel my temperature begin to go up. Who are these dudes? My eyes scan the accompanying text.

Evidently, Hank True and Huck More are two cherry farmers who began farming cherries in Lodi about ten years ago. They, too, were sick of the big city, and wanted to escape to a simpler life. They left high-powered tech jobs in San Francisco, and went back to basics by buying Cherrywood at auction and turning into a working farm. It’s been a long slog, but now, Cherrywood produces a respectable haul of Bings each year, and their produce is sold at farmer’s markets all over the West Coast.

Currently, Cherrywood is looking for seasonal workers to help with harvesting cherries. My eyes open wide. This could work, especially if I work with Huck and Hank every day. After all, it’s going to be back breaking labor, so I need hunky, muscular men like Huck and Hank at my side. Plus, I’m a libertine like that. If this job was about helping old ladies in the library, I probably wouldn’t be too interested.

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