“Are you more uncomfortable now, Sam?” I realized this was the first time I’d called him by name. It gave me an odd thrill. “Does it make you nervous when I stand this close to you?”
He looked down into my eyes as though he had no other choice. “Only because you smell like bug spray and onion juice.”
I let a smile curve my lips, and I stood on my tip-toes so that my lips were even with his ear.
“Liar.”
I stepped back, still smiling, as Ali came over. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I picked up my basket again. “Sam was just giving me some pointers.”
“Really?” Ali didn’t look convinced, but she only held out a hand to me. “Here, let me have your basket. I’m taking mine over to the truck. Just get a new one and you can start on the next row, if you want.”
“No problem.” And because he was still standing there motionless, I made it a point to step close enough to Sam that my arm brushed him as I passed.
Just because I could.
I HELPED WITH THE onions again the next night and was there when Ali carefully loaded the last basket into the truck. A little cheer went up from the eight of us who’d been working.
“Onion harvest is officially finished for another year.” Sam stood by the truck. “Thanks, everyone. I’m going to get these over to the barn.”
“Sam, Bridge and I are going home so she can go to bed. Art class starts tomorrow, and I want her to get a good night’s sleep.” She slid her eyes in my direction. “Meghan, why don’t you ride over to the barn? You can see what happens to the onions in the next step and give Sam a hand with unloading.”
If looks could kill, Ali would have been flat on her back in the soft dirt. Sam glared at her and opened the door to the truck cab. “I’m good. I have help over there already.” He glanced at me for a scant moment. “Besides, if class begins tomorrow, maybe the teacher needs her rest, too.”
“Oh, I’m good. I don’t need much sleep.” I went to the other side of the truck. “And I really wanted to see what happens to all those onions I picked.” I climbed onto the wheel well so that I could see him over the truck bed. “Unless you’re not comfortable with me riding over with you, Sam?”
Ali laughed. “I’ll leave you two to work this out. Bridget, get a move on, darlin’.”
I looked down at Sam, one eyebrow raised. “Well? What’s it going to be? Are you man enough to handle a little ride to the barn with me?”
He growled and swung up into the cab. “Get in the damn truck. I don’t have time for this.”
I jumped to the ground, opened the passenger door and hoisted myself in to sit next to him. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
Sam turned the key in the ignition and shifted into gear. “I don’t know why you’re making this such a big deal. It’s onions. There’ll be people cutting tops and roots. It’s not that exciting.”
“I just want to see the whole process.” I leaned back against the door and drew my knees up onto the seat. This was the old farm pick-up that they only used to transport things back and forth on the property. The paint was chipping on the exterior; in fact, in some places it was completely worn away. The inside smelled of cigarette smoke and sweat, and the seatbelts had been cut out years before. There was something about seeing Sam in the driver’s seat, with one elbow bent over the rolled down window and the other hand resting on the wheel, that really turned me on. I had a sudden vision of the two of us parked in some hidden corner of the farm, making out in this cab. The idea of Sam’s hands on me definitely made me hot and bothered. I shifted in the seat.
Sam glanced at me, the dark expression still on his face. “If you wanted to see the whole process, you should’ve been here last winter when we planted. Or in the spring when we weeded. Or even last week when we started undercutting. You’re getting the tail end of it. I don’t get why it matters to you.”
That was an easy one. “I like to learn. I want to know how everything works, and why. It makes me happy to think that the next time I pick up an onion in the grocery store, I’ll have a better idea of how it came to be there.”
Sam grunted. “Wonderful. Glad we could help with your education.” He sounded anything but glad, and I smothered a sigh as we stopped at the barn.
The sun had already set, leaving us in the dim twilight, but the interior of the big building was flooded with lights, and the wide doors were propped open. Three women stood at a long table, their hands moving so fast as they trimmed the onions that I nearly couldn’t see them work. They called greetings to us as Sam and I got out of the truck.