Organically Yours: Sanctuary, Book Five by Abbie Zanders (classic books for 11 year olds .TXT) 📗

attack on Tina. He knew it. They knew it. And now, Tina knew it, too.

“I’m not sure I did you any favors,” Doc told her.

Maybe Eisenheiser had thought he was avenging his cousin. Maybe he had heard about Tina’s visits to Sanctuary and had been attempting to warn her off. Probably both.

As she stepped up into the truck, she placed a kiss on his cheek. That one simple act of affection, so readily given in the Sumneyville PD parking lot in broad daylight, lit him up from the inside. Those idiots inside had drawn a line in the sand, and Tina had stepped over it, placing herself firmly on the other side.

“Funny,” Tina said, “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Well, I’ve just basically confirmed the rumors that a Sanctuary man has seduced yet another local female into his clutches,” she said with the hint of a smirk. “I don’t imagine that’ll help your cause.”

As if he gave a shit about any of that.

“Totally worth it,” he said emphatically.

Her smirk became a genuine smile. “I agree.”

As she pulled away from the curb, she said, “I should probably head to the orchards. Want me to take you back to Sanctuary first, or would you like to come with me?”

“You’re offering?”

“Well, now that the cat’s officially out of the bag, I suppose I can be seen with you,” she said with a teasing grin. Then, the grin faded. “I can give you the grand tour before the developers come in and bulldoze everything.”

Tina tried to keep her voice light, but he felt her pain as if it were a blade in his own chest. He wanted to tell her about the Callaghans, but at the same time, he didn’t want to offer false hope. If things didn’t work out, it would be yet another cruel blow, and he wouldn’t do that to her.

“In that case, how could I possibly say no?”

After driving in silence for several minutes, Tina said, “Listen, I think we need to address the elephant in the room.”

He wasn’t sure to which elephant she was referring. There seemed to be a whole herd. “Okay.”

She gave him a sideways glance and cleared her throat. “You might have noticed that some people call me Bertina or Bert, not Tina. My real name is Bertina. Bertina Matilda Obermacher, to be specific.”

He waited for her to say more. “And?”

“And I just thought you should know.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“It’s just that I really hate it,” she admitted. “That’s why I go by Tina.”

He thought about that for a moment. “You do know that Bertina means intelligent, right? And Matilda means might, strength, and battle?”

She gave him the side-eye. “How do you know that?”

He shrugged. “I find it interesting how closely people’s given names reflect their personalities. I’d say yours are pretty accurate.”

“Hmm,” she hummed. “I’ve never thought of it that way. What does Cole mean?”

He laughed. “It actually means swarthy and coal black.”

“No offense, but that doesn’t exactly fit you, does it?”

“No,” he agreed. “In my case, it’s a shortened form of Nicholas, which is my father’s name.”

“Ah. Do you see your family often?”

“Not really, no. My parents moved to Cornwall after my father retired from the Navy. His family owns property there.”

“What about your sisters?”

“They’re scattered across the globe. We moved around a lot as kids, and I guess we each had our favorites.”

“And you chose to settle in Sumneyville,” she said with a smile. “Why?”

“Because that’s where Church was building Sanctuary. And I hadn’t decided on a settling-down place yet.”

“And now?”

“Now, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Although I wouldn’t mind traveling occasionally. I do miss that.”

“Me, too,” Tina admitted. “I got to see some amazing places in college. But farming isn’t really something you can take a break from, you know?” She exhaled and offered a small smile. “I guess I won’t have to worry about that for much longer, huh?”

* * *

After a tour of the orchards, a quiet dinner, and some intimate time at Tina’s, she gave him a ride back to Sanctuary. Once again, she refused his offer to spend the night, promising to call immediately if anything happened.

He made his way over to the main building, surprised to find the team hanging around, waiting for word. Apparently, Church had filled them in.

“How’s Tina holding up?” Church asked.

“Losing The Mill was a big blow, especially on top of everything else she’s had to deal with lately.”

“Arson?” asked Smoke.

“Petraski’s not saying one way or the other,” Doc told him, relaying the morning’s Q and A at Sumneyville PD. “But I’m thinking it has to be.”

Murmurs of agreement sounded from around the room.

“It’s the why of it that eludes me. Someone sending a message maybe?” Doc hated the thought that it had anything to do with Tina’s recent involvement with Sanctuary, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

In the last six weeks, Tina had been followed, sabotaged, and shot at.

Maybe those incidents had nothing to do with Sanctuary and everything to do with the clusterfuck her brothers had created. But maybe it did.

“Insurance is my guess,” Cage said.

“Tina wouldn’t burn down her own mill for the insurance money,” Doc said firmly.

“Relax. No one thinks she did. But one of her brothers might have. Financially, they’re fucked, right? What have they got to lose?”

Doc shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. They’d have no claim on an insurance payout. The Mill wasn’t part of Obermacher Farms. It was owned and operated solely under her LLC.”

“Misplaced guilt maybe?” mused Heff. “They had a moment of regret for screwing Tina out of her family legacy, thought it might be too painful for her to stick around and watch the farm go condo, so they gave her the means to start over?”

Church shook his head. “I can’t see Rick doing regret. Or Gunther for that matter. They’re selfish pricks. If they had anything to do with setting the fire, it was in the hopes of getting Tina to give them