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“I’m lucky to have you. Thanks for this.”

I gather my own trash, slipping my plan and the still-wrapped and uneaten hamburger in my bag. “I really just want him to talk to me.”

Deacon puts his arm around my shoulders as we walk slowly to where our cars are parked. “Tell him that, too.”

I give him a brief hug, and he steps to his car. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Need anything… I need a notebook and a pen for starters. I need to deliver this watercolor, and then I need to have some facetime with a certain stubborn man.

18

Sawyer

“Three more days.” I’m in the kitchen, bone tired, and Noel is sautéing thick steaks in a cast iron skillet before putting them in the oven.

“Do you wonder how we do it every year?” She glances up at me.

“Ask me again in ten years.”

I wonder a lot how the older guys must feel approaching a new harvest season. It’s the hardest thing I’ve done. Harder than Marine boot camp, harder than leaving service and coming back here…

Patton, Marley, and Taron would tease me that I never seemed to mind basic training, getting up early, busting my tail. Only Taron came to the orchard with me to find out why. Patton and Marley went back to Nashville.

“Oh, sure, Min!” Noel shouts at the window, startling me. “Don’t come in the house and speak. I’m just your best friend.”

“What the heck?” I lean closer, looking through the glass.

Noel mutters something about some friend and returns to cooking. “Mindy just took the three-wheeler and didn’t even bother to come inside.”

Tension moves through my chest. I can guess why she wouldn’t come inside, and it has nothing to do with my sister. “Maybe I should check on her.” I clear my throat. “Make sure everything’s okay.”

“Be sure and tell her I saw that.” Noel opens the oven and bends down, using both hands to load the massive skillet.

“Can I go, too?” Dove looks up at me, her blue eyes wide.

She’s standing in a chair at the table folding our napkins into swans, something she started after her art teacher taught them simple origami.

Akela perks up from where she’s lying under the table. Her ears move forward and she studies me with those mis-matched eyes.

“Ahh…” I look around, trying to think of an excuse.

It’s hard to tell her no, but my sister saves my ass.

“Dove, I need you to help me make the mousse. Uncle Sawyer needs to hurry so he can be back for supper.”

“Okay!” She hops off the chair. “I’ve never made a moose before!”

“It’s actually a dessert, and you have to be very careful…”

I leave them talking about egg whites as I charge into the yard, not even looking back. It’s been a long-assed week, and the glimpse I caught of Mindy reminded me how great last weekend was. Missing her is like not realizing you’re hungry until you catch the scent of food. Suddenly, I’m ravenous.

The three-wheeler is parked in the brush beside the pond, as I hustle up to the pier, I see her dress, cowboy boots, and bag of art supplies in a neat pile in the corner. Dashing to the end, I stop to watch her, mesmerized.

The noise of the fountain eclipses the sound of her swimming, but her tan skin cuts through the water. Her hair is piled on her head in a messy bun, and I think this must be how the sailors felt when they spotted a Mermaid swimming in the ocean… Weary fishermen, who’d been out to sea too long, horny as fuck, seeing a beautiful woman in the water, clearly loving it.

“Hey,” I call out, and she turns slowly to face me.

“Hey, yourself.”