Free Sugar Creek by Toni Blake Page A

city dwelling sound like a highly undesirable trait. “Good that you…get that, I mean. But I still can’t believe you’d ever sell the orchard to a Romo.”
    Particularly the one that still made her skin tingle every time she thought about him, damn it.

Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
    William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet
Four
    R achel drove along a ribbon of dark, winding road, headed to Tessa’s place for “snack night,” a tradition from their girlhood. In high school, she, Tessa, and Amy had gotten together once every couple of weeks, each forgoing dinner and providing a snack of their choice to share over girl talk. They always recreated snack night at least once on their annual visits, and now that Edna had dropped the apple festival bomb, looked like they might be able to get several snack nights in while Rachel was here. Tonight, she’d come bearing Edna’s pie.
    As the road dipped deeper into a dark valley, though, she couldn’t get her mind off the day, so chock-full of revelations. Like that she now had until October to work on her apple-picking skills! And that Edna had some sort of history with Mike Romo’s grandfather! And the kicker—Mike Romo was trying to get the orchard from Edna.
    Just thinking about that incensed her.
    Maybe it shouldn’t—because everything Edna said made sense. It was better someone keep the place goingthan no one. But she couldn’t help thinking of Romo like some vulture waiting for just the right time—now that Edna was getting older and in need of help, bad knees or not—to swoop in and convince her this was what she wanted. When it really wasn’t. Because Edna couldn’t really want to sell to the Romo family. She’d spent Rachel’s whole life denouncing their evil ways. So if she sold to Mike Romo, it would be a move of desperation.
    Which did make her feel guilty—even though she knew she shouldn’t. There were plenty of Farrises to take the blame, after all—she wasn’t the only one who had left. And why should anyone feel obligated to take on a business that didn’t inspire them? Besides, Rachel was busy with a career that would provide Edna financial support when she needed it. She was only one woman; she could only do so much.
    And she had gotten a bit of good news today. An e-mail on her Blackberry informing her that her team had won a new account for an organic skincare line—she’d been courting the Natural Girl people for a few months, and though it wouldn’t make up for the recent loss of the massive K&K account, it was still a nice feather in her cap right now. In fact, she would have been in a downright celebratory mood…if not for everything else on her mind.
    As she swung the car around an S curve winding through the tree-shrouded valley, she appreciated the way the BMW hugged the road—but good God, where on earth did Tessa live? The log cabin out on Whisper Falls Road had sounded quaint and rustic, but now it seemed more…dangerous and spooky. Tessa, of all people, wanted to live out here ? She knew Tessa had gone through some big changes in the last couple of years, yet now that Rachel saw the drive Tessa made just to get home at night—yikes. She was waiting for a headless horseman to go riding by any minute.
    And that was when the glow of blue lights illuminated her rear window.
    Rachel instantly began muttering a long string of curse words. Unbelievable! He’d gotten her again?
    It never even occurred to her that it might be some other Destiny cop—and it wasn’t. Because Mike Romo was apparently the only one out prowling the rural roads looking for lawbreakers like her.
    “Are you stalking me?” she said when he shone a big, stupid flashlight in her eyes.
    “No, I’m ticketing you. You’re going fifty-five in a thirty-five.”
    “ Are you serious? ”
    “Yep, that’s what I clocked you at.”
    “ No —I mean are you serious about giving me another ticket? Before I’ve even had a chance to recover from