Foraged Love in a Berry Grove - Love Tales from Santa Margarita Island Book 1

Chapter 3 - Somebody Knock Me over with This Feather

Gage grasped Beth's offered hand. "Gage Sullivan." With effort, he let go.

To his delighted surprise, Beth's face turned bright pink. Her even tone belied the reaction her skin revealed. "So do you live on the island?"

"I actually tea-"

"Hey, Gage!" The bright holler came from Nikki.

"What's going on here?" The angry demand came from Wandy.

Both were hurrying over, one looking intrigued, the other looking like thunder.

Beth looked aghast. "You're with them?" Her tone was faintly accusing.

"Yeah, wh-"

Wandy, in an uncharacteristically snooty voice, remarked, "Well, well, well! Bethel Cohen, who'd have thunk? This where you work?"

"Yes. Hello, Wanda. Hi, Nikki." Beth simply replied.

"Can't find any other teaching job?" Wandy snapped.

"Wasn't after one. Excuse m-"

"Beth!" All four looked to the source of that strangled cry. There stood Patrick – always cool, calm, and collected Patrick, looking absolutely shattered.

"Y'all have a nice day!" With an expression midway between panic and something Gage couldn't quite pinpoint, Beth quickly took her leave. She power-walked to a horse that had lazily been grazing under a tree, swiftly mounted it, and galloped away toward the gourd patch and beyond.

Patrick's face as he stared at the retreating figure was one of pure anguish.

"What on God's green one is going on?" Gage was certain that there was a humdinger of a story behind what just happened.

Wandy was shooting furious death glares at her boyfriend. "Why don't you take a picture, you jerk!"

Patrick snapped out of his trance of hurt and saw his girlfriend's scrunched up face, eyes already brimming over with tears. As a sob finally broke through, Wandy turned and fled.

"Wandy!" Like a scene from a movie, Patrick chased after the sobbing Wandy.

Trying to hide her expression, which was a fine blend of concern and fascination, Nikki faked a yawn. "Too early for drama."

Gage had to agree. "Well, I'm already here, so I might as well pick berries."

Nikki nodded approvingly. "Good idea. I want some for baking."

"You bake?"

"Just as a hobby." From what he could tell, Nikki didn't really do anything else that could be constituted as more than a hobby. She was truly a member of the idle rich.

Together they continued picking, chatting amiably. In truth, Gage might have considered asking Nikki out. There weren't any fireworks, but she was attractive, cheerful, and nice to talk to. If only the Wandy factor hadn't figured into the scenario. Gage might have been dumb enough to have gotten caught up in her social web, but he was quick enough to catch on that it simply didn't do to encourage her. He had been trying to figure out how to extricate himself from the clutches of her friendship without provoking her ire. It's not that he was scared of what she'd do. He just wanted to be careful. He's virtually a stranger on her turf, so he didn't know the lay of the land and what kind of repercussions his actions could possibly have.

"I bet you're curious about what all just went down," Nikki ventured with a sly smile.

Gage shrugged. "I'm not one to gossip, but, heck, yeah, tell me everything."

"Well, Wandy and Beth used to work together- "

What? "At Slater?"

"Yeah, Beth taught French. She was engaged to Patrick, had a ring and everything." Gobsmacked wasn't a strong enough word to describe Gage. Good thing Nikki was oblivious. "They'd been together since they were kids. Anyway, Beth and Wandy used to be friends, or, at least, friendly. I can tell you though that Wandy has always had a crush on Pat. He's gorgeous, as you can see. Or maybe not, since you're a guy?" Nikki paused to look at him for confirmation.

What did she want? Gage nodded. "Yes, I'm a guy. Go on."

Nikki blew a different kind of raspberry at him. "Go ahead, play obtuse. Anyway, there was some hullabaloo at the church Beth's dad used to pastor, and then next thing we knew, the congregation was split and Beth had returned Pat's ring. A couple of months later, Pat and Wandy started dating. Beth was furious. She started giving Wandy the cold shoulder treatment, which Wandy didn't tolerate. She tried to make Beth see reason, explain why Beth had no right to be mad, and they had a screaming match at the faculty lounge. They were called to the headmaster's office. Beth finished the year, but didn't renew her contract."

No way! That girl and Patrick? She was so down-to-earth in her worn work clothes, unmade-up face, haphazardly braided hair... Patrick was the epitome of a yuppie. He drove a BMW. He was almost always in a button-down, even when wearing jeans. He was pleasant enough, but so straitlaced and unimaginative – definitely not one to date somebody living in a van.

"That kind of blew my mind," I admitted. "I just can't picture it."

"Oh, Beth cleans up well. Or she used to. It's been years since I last saw her."

They both looked up to see Patrick approaching with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, guys, but Wandy has a headache. We have to go."

Nikki and Gage glanced at each other before nodding at Patrick. They followed Patrick to the bench where they found Wandy scowling at the world. That's a sight to see. Wandy was rabid about being cheerful all the time.

At the checkout hut, a pretty young woman, no more than a teenager, weighed their berries and bagged them up. As she handed them their change, she bade them goodbye with a sweet smile. "Hope you enjoyed yourselves. Come again!"

That made Wandy pause and then turn back to the girl. "Yeah, about that. One of your workers was rude to us."

"What?" The girl squeaked, looking askance. "Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Some of our workers speak very little English. Did you get his name? We'll be sure to talk to him."

"It's a woman, and she speaks English just fine. Her name's Bethel Cohen!" Wandy spat out.

Gage looked at the others with eyes wide. What was Wandy up to? Nikki looked shocked while Patrick gritted his teeth. Gage was about to refute what Wandy was claiming, when the girl chuckled.

"Beth was rude to you? Then I can trust that she had good reason." The girl whose name pin said "Lisa" narrowed her eyes at Patrick. "You guys trying to make trouble for Beth?"

"No!" Gage exclaimed. "She was actually very friendly and helpful to me," he assured Lisa, trying to make up for Wandy's unfounded complaint. "You don't have to tell your boss anything."

Lisa smirked. "I still will. You see, the boss is Beth. She owns the entire thing, all 100 hectares of it, so, you know, thanks for dropping by. Drive safe." She dismissively turned away from the group to warmly greet a family with little kids sporting berry-stained mouths.

They silently followed Wandy as she thundered to the car. Patrick frantically unlocked the vehicle with his fob and winced when his girlfriend slammed the passenger door.

"It's going to be a looong, interesting ride," Nikki muttered to Gage.