The air smelled sweet with ripening fruit, and she found herself reaching toward a blackberry bush.
"They'll be ready to be picked in April," he said.
Above them, the sky was darkening again, but it wasn't too bad. It looked like they would have plenty of time to tour the place before it rained again.
Roy showed her where other buildings had taken a hit from fallen branches or wind-blown debris and explained how he was going to need to do some major repair work soon if he wanted to keep his crops safe from any more damage. He pointed out broken gutters and shards of glass that were scattered about, which would all need cleaning up as soon as possible.Several other buildings had sustained damage to their roofs, walls, and windows. She pulled out her camera to capture images of each building before they continued on with their tour.
They made their way further into the orchard, Beverly stopping to marvel at the rows of apple trees stretching off into the distance as far as she could see. Roy explained how he and his team assess the damage done to each one; some were uprooted entirely, while others simply needed pruning back since they were still standing but damaged beyond repair. Every so often Roy would stop her to point out a particularly wonderful view of a meadow blanketed in wildflowers or a gorgeous pond surrounded by willow trees and framed by mountains in the background.
"So," he said once she had seen it all. "What's the verdict?"
"I'm afraid it's not good," she said.
Roy looked a bit disappointed, but he quickly put on a smile and said, "I knew it would be a lot of work, but structurally..."
"There are more buildings than just that one that has been damaged beyond an easy repair, I'm afraid."
He sighed. "The ones with the cracks in the basement."
"Yes. That's never a good sign. Actually, some cracks are just because of settling and age. Settlement cracks tend to be vertical, and they’re easy enough to fix. Other cracks, though, the ones that are horizontal, those are the ones that are worrisome. They can be caused by poor soul or, in this case, water damage."
"That makes sense." He nodded. "Do you think you could handle the repairs to the ones that need to be broken down and started anew? I'm sure we can manage what you don't think needs to be completely overhauled."
She smiled back at him, feeling energized by his determination."You want to hire me, just like that?"
"You seem to know what you're talking about, and we can talk about the plans for restoring the orchard. Oh, and the price of the consultation."
Beverly winced. "We can work that into the final bill," she said sheepishly. "I sort of jumped the gun by not discussing the payment for it before we set out here."
"No need to apologize! I was just so eager to get you out here."
For a long while, they continued to talk about the orchard. She loved how much Roy paid attention to detail but also to what she had to say. She appreciated that so very much.
Once he drove her back to her office, she spent another few hours making lists of what she would need. Oh, and she didn't know if they had a generator at the orchard, but given that storm, they might want to consider getting one. She hadn't seen one during the tour.
Finally, she was nodding, her head almost dropping down. It had been a long time since she had almost fallen asleep at the desk. Not wanting to risk driving home when she was so tired, she pulled out the pillow and blanket from the back that her father had used a few times when he had been too tired. The blanket still smelled of him, but despite the sorrow the scent brought, she fell sleep quickly, hopeful for what tomorrow might bring.
ChapterFive
The next morning, Roy couldn't get to the orchard fast enough. To his surprise, a car was already there, the same one he had seen outside of Nails R Us. He had been listening to the radio as he had worked yesterday, mainly picking up glass and clearing away debris from the storm, when he heard an advertising for the business that claimed to not say a job was finished until the client was one hundred and ten percent happy with the finished project from roof repairs to constructing new buildings to much, much more.
It sounded like an answer to his prayers, so shortly after he would have then his lunch break, he had looked up the company and met Beverly. He honestly didn't know how large her team was, but he almost hoped it was small.
Mostly because he hadn't told Colton about this expense.
Roy was possibly willing to even foot the bill. Honestly, he felt like he should. It had been his idea, and he had already hired her without talking to Colton first. Why should Colton be forced to pay the bill? Besides, all of this was on Roy because he had opened his big mouth in the first place.
If pressed, Roy wasn't entirely certain that he could explain why it was that he was willing to hire outside help instead of accepting the help of the other cowboys, but it felt different, hiring outside help. Having his brothers or the Spanglers help most felt like cheating, whereas hiring help was merely. way to ensure that the repairs were done properly and also that the work was done before Easter, as Roy had promised.
That Beverly was already here and working, clearly, since she isn't still in her car had Roy grinning. He had absolutely zero regrets about hiring her.
Roy got out of the truck. It didn't take him long to find Beverly. She was dressed in jeans and boots, a hard hat on her head. The belt around her waist had all kinds of tools on it, but she wasn't using any of them as she cared at the notebook in her hand.
Beverly glanced over as he approached, and she smiled.
Roy could've been knocked off by a leaf. She had a truly lovely smile He hadn't expected that from her.
Why not? She was a beautiful young woman, maybe a few years younger than his twenty-eight years.