Free Worth the Weight by Mara Jacobs Page A

out on the town many times . The combination of two good looking, rugged men, one a professional hockey player and the other a jet pilot, sent Lizzie scurrying from the elbows that were thrown her way as women tried to get near them.
    Babe magnets. Total babe magnets.
    Petey grunted on the other end of the line. “That’s for sure...a whole different kind of party. Maybe I’ll wait and take a detour to Jax when I leave the Yoop and head back for training camp.”
    “When are you headed up?”
    “In a couple of weeks. Remembe , I’ve got that thing at the Joe with the team next week.”
    It was n’t an event her firm had orgainzed, so it was lower on her radar . “Oh right. Well, I can’t wait for you to get up here, it’s not the same without your foul mouth giving Katie apoplexy.” Katie hated profanity, a fact that led both Petey and Alison to use it as much as possible in her presence.
    “Ha ha, very fucking funny. Just have the sauna hot and the beer cold.”
    “Always, Petey, always.”
     

 
    Chapter Six
    √ Get bikini wax
    √ Get ingredients for cookies
    √ Send cigars to James
     
    Lizzie pulled her SUV into the driveway of Finn ’s farm. The picking was done for the day and the fields behind the house were empty. In fact, the whole place looked empty. She knew that Finn , his son and his grandmother lived here, but there was almost an eerie feeling of desertion.
    The house had definitely seen better days. It was an old two-story farmhouse complete with a veranda that wrapped around three sides. Lizzie was surprised to see that what would have been a wide entrance for steps leading up to the porch was replaced by a wooden ramp. Was the grandmother now in a wheelchair?
    The house’s white paint was peeling and a couple of the black shutters had come off their hinges, but you could see it had been a magnificent building in its prime. It really wouldn’t take much to restore it. She wondered why Finn had let it go? She knew he wasn’t the lazy sort. He’d spent hours working with hi s horses when they’d dated, then would work at the Mine Shaft in the evenings.
    The horses.
    Her eyes swung to the right, to the barn, and saw more neglect. Yes, that’s what it was…the entire place looked neglected.
    Only the trailer, to the left of the main house, refuted the idea that the farm had been deserted. His grandmother must be living there. Or maybe they had a boarder? Though the paint was also peeling, the trailer had a homey look to it. There were window boxes full of blooming petunias in glorious purples, pinks and reds. White and pink alyssum lined the entire perimeter.
    The fields, at least, had the appearance of hard work and attention. The strawberry plants looked healthy and plentiful, even from where Lizzie stood. There were two strawberry fields behind the house, separated by the area Finn must have used to train and work with his horses. Wooden gates linked three separate corrals, the final gate leading beyond the fields and to the woods. Overgrown trails led off in several different directions. There were two more strawberry fields on the other side of the road on land also owned by the Robbins family. One was as thriving as the two others, but the fourth lay fallow.
    Finn had gotten rid of his horses, a n occurrence Lizzie could hard ly believe. His home showed an overall neglect. He’d taken the job at the theater six months ago. Something had happened here. Things were not quite right.
    A movement at the front of the first field caught her eye. Someone who’d been crouched low now stood. He had his back to her, but she was able to tell who it was. The son. She hadn’t planned on that.
    She’d assumed they’d be alone tonight. But thinking about it, it did seem unrealistic. What was Finn supposed to do, send a seventy-year-old woman and a teen-age boy out on a Saturday night with a “don’t come back till morning” warning? Or maybe they had set up a signal? If there’s a quart of