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“You did?” My eyes are wide.

“I asked him to look out for you like he did for me when I first took over, but it’s your place. You’re the boss while I’m gone.” Hazel eyes meet mine, and I’m sure he sees the shock there. His brow furrows. “If that’s okay?”

It only takes a second for me to snatch my jaw off the ground. “Yes! That’s great!”

He nods in that quiet way of his. “I watched you this summer. You’ve got what it takes to be in charge. Leon can take over with the high school kids… You’ll have to hire somebody to work as a foreman, Digger or someone else.”

“Sawyer!” I step forward, hugging him hard, feeling the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. “Thank you.”

Strong hands go from my sides to around my back, and he hugs me firmly. “I believe in you, sis. Make me proud.”

My nose is hot, and it takes every bit of will-power I possess, but I suck it up. “I will. I promise.” I wipe my face with my hand. “Come back safe to us, okay?”

His lips curl into a smile, and he does a short nod before climbing into his truck and driving away.

13

Noel

September

“So I should form an LLC as soon as possible?” I’m lying on my bedroom floor, leaning on my elbows over an accounting textbook, and Mindy’s beside me eating popcorn.

“Why is this so hard for you?” She crunches loudly. “I think you have a mental block.”

Before Sawyer left, I got him to agree my idea for a store had merit, primarily because everything sold out at the festival, and I made almost four thousand dollars—enough to cover half my first semester’s tuition.

I officially launched Autumn’s Bounty as an online store, and I’ve already been inundated with orders. I sold out of the candles and lip balm in the first twenty-four hours, and I only have a few bottles of the lotion and sugar scrub left—not to mention the fragrance melts and taffy.

It was good in two ways, actually. I didn’t even get out of bed after Sawyer left. I started sleeping in the foreman’s cottage, wrapped up in Taron’s sheets and crying myself to sleep… Akela stayed at my feet with her head on her paws as if she knew I was grieving.

Leon finally brought me around—mostly because he ran out of leftovers and said he was going to starve to death if I didn’t get out of bed and start taking care of us.

Slowly, I came back around. I stripped the sheets off the bed in the cottage and washed them… except for the pillow case, which I still keep under my pillow every night. My class schedule arrived in the mail, and I called Mindy, who came over at once to compare and rearrange.

Then she helped me get the online store up and running.

Now she’s making straight As in all our business classes, whereas I’m studying my ass off and still feel lost.

“I guess I thought it would be easier.”

My best friend sighs loudly, shoving her hair behind her shoulders. “With a single-employee S-Corp, you are responsible for everything, but the limited liability protects you from being sued if anyone’s hurt by your business.”

“Sued.” The word makes the blood drain from my face. “Like if I make somebody sick?”

“Or if somebody claims you made them sick. Bitches be crazy!” She cocks her head, sitting straighter in her Flo

ss like a Boss PJ pants and navy tee. “Your store is a great idea. Your cosmetics are a hit. The bigger it gets, the more vulnerable you become. How is the orchard set up? I’m sure it’s an LLC.”

“Hell, I don’t know!” I fall onto my back, throwing up my hands. I’m in a pink flannel button-up and leggings, and I feel very ignorant. “Sawyer never told me anything about that stuff. He just let Johnny take care of it all.”

“Well, Johnny can keep taking care of it, but you have to pass this accounting course.”

“Why did I want to be a business major again?”

“Because you’re a smart, independent woman, and you’re running a business now.”

The Facetime app on my laptop starts to ring, and my whole body perks up. “Taron!”