“I got some great feedback from that couple on apple farm operations. We’re going to meet up with them at dinner to talk more.” Jorie clutched Hilary’s arm to her side, looking at Dane. “You’ve had her for three whole days. Now it’s time for us to catch up on what I’ve missed so we can move forward.”
Dane’s gaze darted from hers to Jorie and back again. He flashed a quick grin, throwing up his hands in surrender. “Of course. Don’t let me get in the middle.”
Jorie pulled Hilary away, rattling on about pruning season and pest control. Hilary glanced over her shoulder at Dane. He stood there, arms crossed, watching them leave the store. His expression was unreadable, but if it was similar to the disappointment she felt inside, he was wondering when they’d get another moment alone now that Jorie was here.
Chapter Fourteen
Dane pushed back the curtains inside his cabin as soon as a rosy hue seeped through the cracks around the window. The morning dawned bright with an effervescence only seen by those who rise with the sun. He took a deep breath. Off to the right, Blueberry Point Lodge stood on the expansive lawn, its sandstone walls bright with golden light. He scanned the second-floor windows, trying to calculate which window was Hilary’s. For a second, he let himself imagine that she stood there in the window, looking back at him as he looked at her. It would be an intoxicating vision, sharing a silent, sensual moment like that. Frustrated, he sighed.
Thatwasn’t going to happen as long as Jorie was here.
Dane moved away from the window and slipped into his boots. He’d take a walk down to the beach before everyone boarded the buses for a farm-to-table breakfast on the outskirts of town. It would give him time to think.
Outside, birds chattered. He filled his lungs with the clear Northwoods air. Dane stepped off the porch of his cabin and walked toward the beach. He found the spot where he and Hilary sat yesterday, talking, and realized he could have stayed on that blanket all afternoon. She was finally opening up to him, but then her sister-in-law ruined the day.
Jorie was a hard read. He didn’t miss the looks she gave him during the field trip yesterday. Her sunglasses hid the direct stare, but he knew by the angle of her head that she studied him off and on throughout the afternoon. Then at dinner last night she kept Hilary inaccessible, suggesting she sit here and he there, with someone always between them. Every opportunity he lost to be with Hilary frustrated him.
The rocks ground together underneath his feet. The water was calm today, undulating as it crawled up the shore before it was pulled back into the lake. Dane picked up a thin, gray basalt stone. He threw it into the water, glancing it off the surface one…two…three times. He’d never been good enough to get more than three or four skips. The riverbanks back home didn’t yield good skipping stones.
Dane raked both hands through his hair. What was he doing?
He’d barely dated in the last few years, and then all of the sudden he flips for someone he barely knows. Who has an intrusive sister-in-law. And lives in another state.Nice work, Dane. You don’t make it easy on yourself.
If they spent another week together, their connection might have strengthened. They were perfect for each other. She’d told him so. Not directly, but in the way she leaned into his shoulder when she talked to him. Or how he caught her staring at him when he looked her way each time during the morning sessions. She’d startle and look elsewhere only to catch his eye two seconds later and smile like she knew it was such a teen crush thing to do. She’d asked him in detail about the lavender farm and they weren’t questions from a professional standpoint.
How do you not wake up happy every day in a place surrounded by lavender fields?
Have you ever wanted to do anything besides own a lavender farm?
I bet I know what your wedding flowers will be when you get married someday.
That last one threw him for a loop when she hooked her arm around his as they lingered next to one of the stalls inside the alpaca barn. The rest of the group had already left, heading toward the farm shop again to buy souvenirs before returning to the inn. Jorie was deep in conversation with Meg and Yandi, the three of them silhouetted against the outdoor light as they left through the barn door. Dane sensed the shift in Hilary’s mood as soon as she was out from under Jorie’s scrutiny. She’d sidled up to him, her hip touching his as they watched the new mother alpaca nuzzle her days-old cria. Dane couldn’t even remember how the subject of flowers came up. He didn’t bother mentioning that lavender had no part in the wedding arrangements or bouquets when he’d married Felicia.
He walked the beach for another fifteen minutes, then doubled back once he noticed the buses pulling into the driveway near the inn. Dane was first on the bus this time. He grabbed a seat near the front and only moved next to the window when Hilary boarded.
“Do you have room for me?” she asked as she plopped down next to him, her coffee sloshing through the hole in the lid. She grumbled, brushing the spot from her jeans as she dumped her bag at her feet. She wore a sky-blue fleece jacket this morning. Hilary caught him looking at it. “It’s Jorie’s. She always overpacks.”
He smiled and looked through the window. Outside, Jorie’s pinched expression was in sharp contrast to those closest to her. The line was slow-moving outside the bus, but everyone looked well rested and in good spirits, most carrying steaming coffee cups too. Jorie was near the back, clearly irritated.
“It’s a good color on you.”
Hilary stopped midsip to look at him. The jacket only deepened the blue of her eyes.
“Thank you.” She looked him up and down. “I didn’t see you after dinner last night. Did you turn in early?”
He wasn’t about to tell her he thought Jorie was sabotaging his attempts to talk with her. “Sort of. I figured you and Jorie had more catching up to do. I didn’t want to get in the way.”
She frowned a little. “I’m happy Jorie is finally here for one of these tours. If she wants to get into agritourism, she needs to talk to these people, not just hide behind the financials.”
Dane chuckled. “Listen to you.”
Hilary’s jaw was set in righteous indignation. “I’ve told her countless times that I don’t have a head for the business side of this, except for maybe a little marketing. I’m more of a follower than a leader in this scenario.”
“So you like the grunt work, taking orders.”
She nodded emphatically. “Just give me a list and I’m good.”
Dane leaned toward her. “It sounds like you two are overdue for a conversation.” The pressure from her arm against his was a delightful distraction. He wracked his brain to keep up the private conversation so they could stay linked.
