Chapter One
February 13th. 2009© Copyright 2005 Kimberly J. Fish
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, business establishments, or events is entirely coincidental.
An Emerald Marks the Spot
Chapter One
Kali Cavanaugh patted Queenie’s brown hind quarters as the goat climbed up the steps and through the window frame following other milking goats toward the pasture. Kali leaned through the sill to make sure Queenie made it down the other side, but her nose caught scents of rosemary and lemongrass weaving through air. Serendipitous moments of Texas Hill Country’s fragrance and sunshine always derailed her, at least until goat odor overwhelmed the scents. She latched the window so the hens wouldn’t sneak in to the barn.
Walking around the milking station, Kali saw her sister ladling yesterday’s curds into the cylinder molds Kali had bought from a Provencal farmer on her last trip to the ‘old country’. Although, truth be told, it wasn’t her ‘old country’ it was her aunt’s. But since she’d been raised by the woman with a lilting French accent she’d adopted ‘ze leetle corner of heaven’ as her own.
“Okay, Lacy, want to tell me what you’re doing getting your hands dirty?” Kali looked at her sister’s frilly blouse and tailored jeans. “You once told me going behind the manufacturing door was not in vice-president’s job description.”
“Well that was before I found out working for you included wearing four different hats. The only time I get to have any fun throwing around my vice-president clout is when you need to me to schmooze clients.” Lacy removed her apron, looping it over Kali’s shoulders instead.
“Yes, but you do it so well.”
Lacy wiped her hands on a cloth. “Experience didn’t get me very far today. There’s some guy waiting for you and he wasn’t at all interested in my charms. So I came back here to do something important instead of filing my nails.”
”He did see you, didn’t he? I’d hate to think your tiara had slipped.”
“I made darn sure of it because he’s what Aunt Annalise would call a 1954 Bordeaux.”
“That good looking, huh? Was he selling something?”
“No business card, no products catalog, nothing. He said it was personal.”
As a tendril of hair fell from the clip holding brown hair off her neck Kali felt her stomach drop too. Her gut never lied. Right now it was either saying must eat lunch or run for the hills. “Tell our mystery man we’re busy today, but if he wants to come back tomorrow I should have time to talk. If I don’t get this week’s supply of cheese ready, I’ll have chefs calling me names.”
“Don’t get off schedule because I need to call in a favor at The Blue Door Saturday night.”
“The Blue Door? You must have found a friend with deep pockets.”
Lacy drew an imaginary line across her lips.
“Oh, so this one is a secret?” Kali picked up the ladle to breathe in the cultured mix, tasting a drop that fell onto finger. “Or maybe, you’ve forgotten this one’s name among all the others.”
“Hey, don’t knock my methods at least I date. You should try it sometime,” Lacy said with a smile as she turned on her Prada heel and crashed right into the chest of a tall man standing in the doorway. In her surprise her other heel landed right on his foot. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
The man smiled. “Don’t worry about my toe. I’ve got nine others.”
Kali looked at the face which used to haunt her dreams with or without nightfall. She should have run for the hills while she had the chance. “Brad? What in the world are you doing here? And by here I mean,” she pointed to the concrete floor stained with cheese curds. “Here.” She was a paragon of clarity.
The man wearing a white polo shirt tucked into starched jeans stepped away from Lacy. His eyes surveyed Kali’s haphazard updo, sun-kissed complexion and faded Levis. “Nice to see you again too.”
Her college years flashed through Kali’s memory. She had to lean against the stainless steel table because her knees just couldn’t take that sort of shock.
”So you do know this guy? That’s such a relief. I was this close,” Lacy pinched her fingers, “to calling my friend the deputy.”
”From a thousand years ago, or so it would seem.” Kali slammed shut the memories. Absolutely nothing good could come from revisiting the halcyon days of youth and naiveté “Brad Williams meet my sister, Lacy Cavanaugh.”
Brad held a strong, calloused hand out toward Lacy. “Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself when I arrived. I wasn’t even sure Kali would let me in the door. Our last visit didn’t end on the best of circumstances.”
Lacy returned his warm grip. “We don’t usually get social calls at the farm so I think there’s room for an exception.”
“The farm is a little farther from Comfort than the map on your website implied,” he said as he glanced around the rustic work space. “But the views from the drive were stunning. And in case it becomes an issue later, I may have nicked a turtle in the parking area.”
Lacy smiled. “Ralph. He just won’t stay in the river.”
Nervous tension beaded the skin under Kali’s t-shirt. Had she woken under a hallucinating fever or had the planets fallen out of alignment? Either way, the day’s production deadlines were tanked. She’d never get her momentum back for wondering what horrible thing she’d done to conjure him. Twisting apron strings around her finger, she asked, as blasé as she could, “It’s been, what, ten years since we last saw each other?”
“Nine years, eight months and five days, but who’s counting,” he said with a wry smile.
Lacy glanced at her wrist watch. “Oh, look at the time. I’ve got an on-line meeting with the Cheese Society Chairman,” she winked at Kali, “but I’ll be back later for all the details.”
To be continued……