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

“I hear they’re giving away free stuff,” he said with a wink.

They were. As part of the grand opening, they were offering free samples of several signature items, including Tina’s new vanilla-peach ice cream, peach tea, and of course, bite-sized baked peaches topped with zabaglione. They’d been working extra hard to make sure everything was perfect. In fact, she probably would have pulled an all-nighter had Doc not literally tossed her over his shoulder and carried her out to the cheers of the staff.

Her man was a patient man, but he had his limits, especially when she tended to push herself too hard. That was when her gentle medic stepped back, and her commanding SEAL took over. She didn’t mind so much—as long as he didn’t do it too often. Her SEAL was hot AF.

People smiled and waved and slapped the Jeep when they saw Tina.

“This is insane.”

Eventually, they made it to the mill and were waved through by the volunteers handling traffic control.

“I hope you don’t mind, but we started without you,” Aggie said, ushering Tina and Doc in through the back service entrance where Lottie and Mr. O’Farrell were waiting with smiles and hugs. “The natives were getting restless.”

“It’s not even supposed to open for another hour.”

“Honey, some people have been sitting out there since early this morning.”

“Why?”

Aggie grinned and looked at Doc. “She still doesn’t get it, does she?”

“Get what?”

Doc laughed. “Come on, Peaches. Your public awaits.”

* * *

Doc

She was so fucking beautiful, inside and out.

And she had no idea.

All day, she was in a constant state of amazement, shocked that so many people would come out for her grand opening.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Lottie said to him, beaming at her granddaughter.

She had, but he hadn’t believed it.

“I’m counting on you to watch over our girl, Dr. Watson,” Lottie had said.

“She doesn’t need anyone to watch over her,” he’d said in response. “Tina’s one of the strongest, most capable women I know.”

“That’s what Tina wants everyone to believe, but inside”—Lottie had shaken her head—“there will always be a part of her that feels like she’s not good enough. That’s why she works so hard at everything. Because she doesn’t believe she is.”

He’d thought that was ridiculous and told her so.

“It is,” Lottie had agreed, “but it’s true. Her whole life, she’s been told she’s not good enough, not strong enough, not healthy enough. First from her father and then her brothers. You hear that often enough, and you start to believe it. Her grandfather and I tried to tell her different, but it’s far easier to believe the bad things people tell you than the good, eh?”

* * *

The grand opening was a huge success. At one point, it seemed as if the entire town had converged on Tina’s new business—with a few notable exceptions.

Doc never strayed far from Tina, his eyes watchful and his ears alert. He wasn’t expecting trouble, but he wouldn’t be surprised if there was someone out there who wanted to ruin Tina’s special day.

Sadly, Tina’s oldest brother was at the top of that list. Rick Obermacher was still skulking around Sumneyville, licking his wounds and blaming everyone else for his bad choices. He was living in the other half of Lenny Petraski’s double-block these days and picking up the occasional odd job. According to Sandy’s Franco’s connection, he’d become even more of a dick after his wife filed for divorce and forced him to pay child support.

Cage had tracked Gunther and his wife to Vegas. Gunther had taken a management position in one of the casinos out there—ironically enough, for one of Anthony Tollino’s biggest competitors. He was on Ian Callaghan’s watchlist, so if he ever decided to return to the East Coast, they’d know about it.

Kiefer had simply disappeared. No one had seen hide nor hair of him since the night they signed the contract with EHI. For all intents and purposes, he’d gone completely off the grid. Even Ian hadn’t been able to pin him down. Given the digital resources at Ian’s disposal, that was saying something.

Throughout the day, Church, Mad Dog, Smoke, Heff, and Cage had been watching, too. They’d shown up, not only to support Tina, but to make a statement as well. One that said Tina was one of them, and they took care of their own.

“I can’t believe we sold out of just about everything,” Tina said later as the last customer left.

“I can,” he said, lightly resting his arms around her waist. Not touching her all afternoon had been hard, spoiled as he was. “You have a way with peaches, Miss Obermacher. Speaking of, did you save some of that zabaglione for me?”

She gave him a wicked smile. “You know I did.”

“Good. Ready to head home?”

“So ready. You are going to give me one of your special massages, right? I worked very, very hard today.”

“Count on it. Hey, what’s that?” He pointed to a small wrapped package on the counter.

“I don’t know. Someone must have left it.”

“Check it out. Maybe it’s got a name on it or something.”

Tina picked up the box and frowned. “It’s addressed to me.”

“Huh. I guess someone got you a present to celebrate your grand opening.”

“But who?” She turned it around in her hands. “It doesn’t say who it’s from.”

“Maybe you should open it and find out.”

Her brows drew together. “I don’t know. Aren’t you the one who told me never to open any unmarked packages?”

Shit, he’d forgotten about that. It was a cautionary warning he’d issued months earlier after Obermacher Farms was sold. Unsurprisingly, Anthony Tollino had not been pleased to discover he’d been outbid by EHI. Plus, there were a few window lickers—a term of Tina’s Doc had become quite fond of—like Eddie Schweikert, running around.

Not Eddie himself though. Not too long ago, he had been picked up in the next county on a DUI, but only after he’d sideswiped several vehicles, including one driven by the daughter of the state attorney general. After he failed a