Page 33 of Honeycombs & Homecomings
“Thank you,” Jo said. “The honey for those comes from the raspberry bushes on my property—” she froze mid-sentence. “On my old property.”
Cash stomach jolted. He’d forgotten about that. That they’d sold their home. He still didn’t know the whole story.
Ryan licked some honey off the side of one of his fingers. “You’re going to show us some properties where you gather honey tomorrow, yes?”
Jo nodded. “The lavender fields, the orange blossom fields, and the wildflower fields all ready for visits,” Jo said.
Cynthia wiped her hands with a wet wipe that Jo and Allie had stocked the tent with. “Oh, do you still have the hives up?”
“No, we shipped our hives and our bees to California for the winter,” Jo explained. “They’re pollinating almond trees there until we bring them back in spring.”
Cynthia dusted her hands together. “Now, tell me about this miracle face cream I’ve been hearing about all over the place.”
“Right,” Jo said, pulling away from Cash’s side to reach the face cream. He felt her absence like the rush of cool air from his walk-in freezers in Santa Ana.
Kathy handed it to her before she could go far, and to Cash’s delight, Jo snuggled right back into his side.
Jo handed the cream over. “Here it is. It’s called Royal Jelly.”
“How does it work?” Cynthia asked.
“Like a lotion,” Jo took the jar and unscrewed the lid. She dipped her fingers into the pale-yellow cream and dabbed. She shut the container and rubbed the jelly over the back of her hand. “It doesn’t require a lot, as you can see. A little goes a long way.”
Cynthia took the container and rubbed a little over the top of her hand. “And this increases collagen?”
“Studies have shown that it can. We think it does, we’ve seen it work on our own skin and we have a decent test group here in Harvest Ranch that swear by it and have shown results. It also helps eliminate pigmentation, has antibacterial properties, and can help with inflammatory skin conditions,” Jo said. “I use it every day, as does my sister and my mom. And it’s our most sought-after product.”
Cash felt a swell of pride in him.
“This feels amazing,” Cynthia said, continuing to rub the back of her hand where she’d put the cream.
Kathy bumped into Jo, and Jo glanced back at her employee. At the same moment, Cynthia shot Ryan a pointed glance that he returned with a brief nod of his head. Then Cynthia winked at Cash.
Cash furrowed his brow. What was that all about?
Jo faced him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said, trying to push down the feeling of unease that’d just hit him.
Just then Caroline came over, and Ryan’s gaze raked her up and down—not only was he not remotely subtle about it, but he came off almost lewd.
There’d been no hiding that, and for a moment Cash had the desire to punch the guy in the nose, ogling Jo’s baby cousin like that—but they weren’t babies anymore and he couldn’t go around getting in fights like he had when he’d been a kid. And he couldn’t punch this guy in the nose. Not if it’d ruin things for Jo and Allie.
Caroline frowned at Ryan, then looked at Jo. “There’s a gentleman at the counter who wants a word.”
There was a guy here for Jo? Cash and Jo both turned at the same time.
A muscular man, taller than Cash by at least an inch, stood at the front of the line. He wore a black cowboy hat over quizzical brows.
Jo smiled. “Brandon!” She headed over to talk to him.
Brandon took off his cowboy hat as she approached and Cash made to follow when Cynthia grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“How’s it going?” Cynthia asked.
Cash stared back at Jo and the man she was talking animatedly with. “Good, good,” he said, and looked at the Warners again. He forced a smile, even though the last thing he felt like doing was that. “Looks like everything’s running smoothly, don’t you think?”
Ryan nodded and smiled at Cynthia. “It does.”
