Raspberries and Vinegar (A Farm Fresh Romance Book 1) by Valerie Comer

property line.
    Numerous golden willows nestled in a hollow, thin branches littering the ground beneath them. A knotted rope dangling from above collided with Jo’s head. It disappeared through a square hole in a wooden platform. Her pulse quickened. A tree house. She rolled a stump closer and managed a good grip on the rope, then hoisted herself up to the first solid branch.  
    Zach’s childhood tree house. It had to be. She hesitated only an instant, then climbed the rest of the way up and through the hole.
    Jo was in a space more than eight feet square with the willow’s trunk taking up a fair bit of the middle. A rickety railing surrounded it and another knotted rope dangled from above. She grinned, delighted, and took the challenge, clambering to the next level a dizzying height above the ground. Not that she could see the forest floor through all the drooping branches. This platform was a little smaller. She sat down, her back to the trunk, and closed her eyes.
    The sweetness of willow sap mingled with the aroma of wet decaying leaves. Dampness saturated the air, and Jo shivered slightly. She tugged her Bible and notebook out of her jacket pocket and opened both, staring blankly while chewing on her pen cap.
    The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. Here in the woods, far from any manmade sounds, Jo could easily believe in His control. People had a way of ruining nearly everything they touched. She knew she was doing what God wanted, raising awareness of the needs of the planet itself. And yet her mind would not stay on the passage she’d meant to read.
    Zachary Nemesek interfered with her capacity to think. If only he were content to live a quiet life in the countryside. But no, he longed for the bright lights and the fast pace of the city. Galena Landing and its valley full of farms did not beckon him.
    Jo’s university years had provided enough sirens, car exhaust, and flashing neon lights for an entire lifetime. She couldn’t go back. Not even for the love of a man. She took a deep breath. She was deluding herself anyway. He’d looked like he might kiss her — yeah, right — but gave her a friendly hug. Nothing romantic. Just the mark of a simple friendship that would soon be merely a memory.
    There was no reason to think he was falling for her, but maybe he wasn’t enchanted by Sierra either. That thought put everything on new ground.
    No, it didn’t. He was leaving as soon as he could get a new job and his dad was back on his feet. There was no new ground. Jo’s own deepening roots into this farm provided the only reality. God had given her and her friends a mandate, and they intended to complete it.
    That left no room for a city slicker like Zachary Nemesek.
    Jo opened her eyes, and her gaze fell upon a rusty coffee can tucked into a crook of the willow. Curious, she reached out and tugged it free, then peeled off the plastic lid. A little spiral notebook and stubby pencil lay inside.
    Telling herself it was none of her business did nothing to slow her reach for the notebook. She turned its pages and saw a boyish hand state a desire to alleviate suffering in this world. God made the animals, and they needed doctors, too. She thought of Domino, and Zach’s obviously strong bond with the pup.
    She flipped through the pages. Words in a more mature hand stated, As God is my witness, I, Zachary John Nemesek, do hereby vow to reserve my body for my future spouse.
    Jo snapped the notebook shut. The images those words produced were way too personal. Had Zach kept that vow through the intervening years? If only his dream of doctoring animals could be fulfilled here.
    She leaned back against the willow trunk and closed her eyes. In her dream, Zach worked beside her building a house, harvesting a garden, working the land. Kissing Jo.
    Only a fantasy.

    ***

    Zach poked his head around the open door in the rehabilitation unit. Four beds lined the ward. His father lay in a semi-reclining position next to