As I approached the porch, I saw a small basket set outside. Inside was a pie, but it was the note that caught my attention.
The flowers are gorgeous. You know how to brighten a girl’s day!
There was no name. Just a casual but confident message that implied familiarity with its swirly, feminine handwriting.
A sharp and unexpected surge of jealousy hit me.
It wasn’t any of my business. I had no claim to Chase or his life. But he’d never indicated that he was seeing anyone. And in the time I’d been here, I’d never noticed a sign of any visitors, much less a woman. Unless, of course, she disappeared before I arrived. Or he slipped away in the evenings to meet someone after I went back to my cabin.
I frowned, picking up the basket and carrying it as if it held something contagious. The sweet scent of blueberries drifted up, but I couldn’t help but note with some satisfactionthat the edges of the crust were a little too brown. For a brief second, I thought about throwing it away.
Jack nudged my legs and peered up at me with his big brown eyes, silently judging me as if he knew I was being petty.
Ridiculous. I was being ridiculous.
With an irritated shake of my head, I forced myself to turn away and busied myself with my chores. But no matter how forcefully I wiped down tabletops, no matter how aggressively I jerked the vacuum around, the note lingered in my mind, an unwelcome reminder of everything I’d lost.
A short time later, I was in the bunkhouse’s kitchen. The building wasn’t often used for housing anymore, but the large kitchen and long table made it the perfect place to prepare a hearty lunch for the crew.
Everyone put in long hours working in the fields, loading trucks, hauling trees and shrubs, or any number of other jobs. Slowly, I was learning their names and getting to know them. Bodie, a giant teddy bear of a man, had quickly become a favorite. Chase’s other right-hand man, Marcus, I was less certain about. There was something about him that was hard to read, but after years of living with Mason, I’d learned to trust my instinct and didn’t engage with him as much.
I learned a lot by listening and found most of it fascinating. Despite spending hours here at the farm when I was a teen, I never appreciated the amount of work it took to make it run. I was glad Chase had reliable people to help him.
Bodie oversaw the fields, keeping tabs on soil health, irrigation, and pest control. He ensured newly transplantedtrees and shrubs were spaced correctly and coordinated seasonal maintenance necessary for their proper growth. Marcus ran operations at the Christmas tree farm farther up the mountain, making sure each tree was properly sheared in the early spring and summer to maintain the classic triangular shape that buyers expected. It was also a full-time job keeping the grass trimmed beneath the trees to ensure the lower branches had room to grow evenly. That left Chase to handle the greenhouses and oversee the entire operation, both wholesale and retail. He managed plant propagation, coordinated shipments, and maintained relationships with buyers ranging from local nurseries to large landscaping contractors. On top of that, he handled payroll, inventory, and more paperwork than I think even he cared to admit. It was clear he had his hands in every corner of the business, and it was just as clear that the crew respected him.
The rest of the team filled in wherever they were needed, rotating between fieldwork, transplanting, loading trucks, and prepping customer orders. I learned that about half of them worked full time on the farm, while the rest were seasonal hires brought on during the busiest months in spring and summer.
Honestly, I didn’t know how Chase had any time to sleep with everything he had to manage. But no one had to look twice to know he loved it here, that he lived and breathed for this farm that had been passed down to him. The one he kept running to pass down to his children someday. A quiet ache pressed inside my chest at the thought, but I shook it off before it could settle.
Chase’s team could be loud and rough around the edges, but they loved to joke, worked incredibly hard, and treated me like the best thing since sliced bread. Or at least since Marta. I’d learned early on that their appetites seemedto have no end. No wonder it was too much for Em and Mama Rae to keep up with.
Never in the past few weeks had I felt like I was only there to serve them. The guys, including Chase, insisted I take my lunch with them. They loved to give Jack his fair share of attention, and they chatted about anything and everything. And when they talked about business, I was keen to listen to learn more about what Silver Creek Farm was like now that Chase had taken over.
I finished cleaning the kitchen, then got started on dessert for tomorrow. One thing everyone had in common was a sweet tooth, and the peach pies I planned would be even better if they sat overnight. I’d just finished crimping the edge of a third pie crust when my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“I just wanted to make sure you were still alive and kicking since you haven’t bothered to call me.” Mallory’s voice came through, dripping with mock indignation.
I felt immediately guilty. “It’s been a whirlwind, but you’re right. I owed you a call.”
“What are you up to? Please tell me you’re holed up in a barn hiding behind a haystack waiting for your secret lover like in a country song.”
I smothered a laugh. “Um, no. Not exactly.”
“Elaborate, my dear, before I assume you’ve been kidnapped by a farmer and forced to wear a prairie dress and bonnet while you churn butter.”
I chuckled again before briefly catching her up on my reception—or lack thereof—by my father and how a deer caused me to run off the road.
“Oh, my god! What did you do? Is Bambi okay?”
My mouth twisted. “Thanks for asking about the deer instead of me,” I joked. “The deer was finesince I ran my car into a ditch to avoid it. Ironically, I ended up just outside of my old boyfriend’s home.”
“Theboyfriend?”
“That’s the one.” I sighed, rubbing my temple. “I didn’t have a lot of options at that point. So, I knocked on his door.”
“Please tell me he took you in, fell to his knees, and swore his undying love for you.”
