Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
“You’re quite the stud,” she’d told me with a wink after our trip to the doctor’s. “If you were a horse, I could sell you for a pretty penny.”
“You’d sell me off like that?” I teased back. “All for some money?”
Jess just giggled and threw herself into my arms.
The next thing I did was put my house on the market. I thought it would take a while to sell, but as it turned out, one of the guys from the rig bought it up right away. With the renovations I’d done, he gave me just what I was asking, and we were both happy.
I quit my job at the derrick as soon as the sale went through, bought a plot of land I’d had my eye on for a while just a half hour outside of Austin, and started the farm I’d always been dreaming of.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to quickly grow it large enough to turn it into a commercial farm that could compete with all the others in the area, but so far, I’ve managed to develop something that can provide for my family, and that’s all that matters.
We ship vegetables to several local stores in the Greater Austin area, we sell at farmer’s markets, and we also partnered with a company that buys strawberries and raspberries from us to make jams and jellies. Those have been doing very well and keep our pantry stocked throughout the year.
Of course, none of this could have been done without my wife. She’s been my rock throughout the entire process, has helped me take care of Jeffery, and has also been my business partner with the farm. She does the books, the financing, and helps me reach out to new business partners who might be interested in our produce. All of that of course has made her dad very happy after she chose not to go to school.
She tells me almost every day how her car breaking down on the side of the road that day was the best thing that ever happened to her, and I tell her back how much I agree. We fall deeper and deeper in love every day, which is something I never thought possible.
I lift Jeffery into my arms and carry him over to the strawberries and set him down beside the plants. There’s a nice, big, juicy one hanging down above the dirt that’s perfectly ripe and ready to be picked. I point it out to him.
“Pull that one,” I tell him. “It will come right off.”
Jeff reaches out, grasps the berry with three fingers, and pulls. Just like I said, it comes right off, but little Jeff still hasn’t learned he doesn’t have to pull so hard, and he comes tumbling back onto his butt.
He lands in a seated position but luckily doesn’t hurt himself. He looks shocked for a moment, but when he looks up at me and sees I’m smiling, he smiles too.
“Give it a bite,” I tell him, motioning to the strawberry in his hand. He does, and instantly his eyes light up when he tastes just how good it is.
“How about you give me a bite?” I hear my wife’s voice whisper in my ear. I turn and look up to see her standing behind me, a mischievous look on her face.
I grin back when I see her. We had a very busy morning this morning; I had to get out early and repair a hole in the hose that led to the south side of the farm, and I had to bring Jeff with me, which meant getting him up, cleaning him, feeding him, and all that toddler stuff too, because Jess had an early business meeting in Houston with a small local chain of shops that might be interested in buying from us. Basically, I’ve been on mega-daddy-duty all day, had lunch with my son, and I haven’t seen her until now.
“There’s my little lady,” I say, getting to my feet. She looks just as beautiful as ever. I can see she’s changed out of her formal business attire she was wearing this morning when she left the house and is wearing just a simple pair of farmer shorts, similar to what she was wearing when we first met, and a yellow tank top.
“There’s my big man.” She smiles as I walk a few steps over to her and slip an arm around her waist. I pull her to me and press my lips against hers. I don’t know what I’d do if she and I didn’t work together. Just having her away from me for half a day is bad enough. If she had one of those jobs where she was gone for stretches of a week at a time or more, I think I’d go crazy.