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“But if I don’t, then you would be in my boat.”
He crossed his arms but nodded. “I know. And I can’t fault you for putting in the work. But Icanfault you for not being able to walk tomorrow.”
“Because then you’d have to work on the fields?”
“Becauseyou’d be miserable.” His eyes were firm on mine. “Enjoy your bath, Mollie.”
My jaw dropped as Cain left without another word. I was torn between being insulted and wanting to let him do whatever he wanted to do to take care of me.
The man that I’d planned on marrying had never done any of this. And I wasn’t sure if I’d been with a complete dick, or if Cain was much more kind than any man I’d known.
Maybe both were true.
The bath didn’t solve all my problems, but it fixed a lot of them. I was somewhat sore, but I felt alive after scrubbing all the dirt off myself in the standing shower and then sinking into hot water.
Life didn’t feel like as big of a mess when I finally went to my room. Or at leastIwasn’t as big of a mess.
And I definitely owed Cain a thank you.
I flopped onto the bed, listening to nothing but silence until my phone rang. I groaned and grabbed it, but any frustration I felt vanished when I saw who it was.
“Wren!” I exclaimed. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you.”
“Hey! Ifinallyhave a moment alone.” She sounded good. Happy. “Figured we needed to catch up.”
“We do. I’ve reached a new level of busy.”
“Busy? Didn’t you move to a small town tonotbe busy?”
“I still work for Dad.” I let out a long sigh. “And it’s strawberry-planting season. I’ve never been so tired in my life.”
“Can’t you take a leave of absence or something? Use PTO?”
“I tried. He said he needed me working, which I’m trying to do. I’ve definitely overstayed his two-week limit, though.”
“Probably because you like it.”
“I love it,” I replied. “And even though I’m more tired than I’ve ever been, I’m having fun in the fields. Now I get how you feel when you’re tearing up old tile.”
“It’s a feeling nothing else can compare to,” she said. “Any reason you’re not doing it full time?”
“I’m keeping doors open,” I said, discomfort growing in my stomach. “I could plant all of this and immediately kill them. Which would be humbling.”
“I somehow doubt that,” she replied. “Do you really see yourself being happy back in Nashville?”
I wasn’t sure. For so long, my life had been there. My future had been there. I had thought I’d go to college, get my degree, and work at Dad’s company until I retired.
What I was doing now wasn’t anything close to that. But it was hard to fully separate myself from what I’d planned on for so long, especially when Trevor seemed to want me fired.
“No idea,” I replied. “I’m taking it one day at a time right now.”
“All right, I won’t push too much. You’ve done a lot of growing over the past few weeks. Literally and figuratively.”
I huffed out a laugh, but then yawned. “Yeah. It’s beena lot.”
“You sound exhausted,” she said. “Which means I’m on borrowed time.”
“Tell me about the show. I watched the first episode with Cain.”