Page 7 of As It Was (Strawberry Springs #1)

“You don’t know the first thing about that kind of life.”

“I could learn.”

His voice grew deeper and louder. “And how would you keep your job? Working from home? In the middle of nowhere? You have a life here. A good one that people would kill for. And you want to add farming to it?”

“I do.”

“Mollie, no !” he snapped. He took a step toward me. “We’re selling that land, and it’s final.”

I retreated a step, but straightened my spine. “It’s my land.”

“And I’m gonna be your husband. Therefore, it’ll be mine. And I know you better than you know yourself.”

My voice shook as I let my rising frustration break free. “You don’t know anything.”

“I do. You’re about to turn thirty, and you’re flailing. You’re scared to do anything, so you think running will help you. It won’t. You think it’s bad here? You won’t fit in there either, because for some reason you have fancy ideas that nobody wants .”

“ I want them.”

“And you’ll fail. And then you will have left behind your mom and dad, who care about you, to do something there’s no way you can do.”

His harsh words felt like a punch to the gut. “But what if it makes me happy?” I asked. “Don’t you want that for me?”

“If it means you’re covered in dirt and in the middle of nowhere? No, Mollie. I don’t.”

Why did I say yes to marrying you? The thought came unbidden. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was truly having second thoughts, or if this was me reacting to him telling me no.

Mom told me that Dad pissed her off all the time. Sometimes, she said she regretted ever marrying him .

But sometimes didn’t equal all the time, did it? I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt excited about marrying Trevor.

“So, I just ... what, assimilate into what you want?” I snapped.

“Eventually, you’ll see that you want it too.”

I shook my head, but he was done with the conversation. He rolled his eyes as if I were a petulant child and brushed past me.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“But we’re not done.”

“Oh, we’re done. There isn’t gonna be any more talk about this.”

He pulled on his shoes and slammed the door behind him.

As soon as I was alone, I finally let myself feel all the emotions I had been trying so hard to suppress. What am I doing here? Why am I marrying this man?

I shook my head and looked down at my white-gold ring. All of a sudden, it felt like it shouldn’t be on my finger.

He’d said I wanted to run, and maybe he was right. I couldn’t be here anymore. I couldn’t do this routine, and I couldn’t keep looking at houses while pretending my heart wasn’t in Strawberry Springs.

I slid the ring off my finger and set it on the side table. I already felt ten pounds lighter without it.

I knew Mom would be disappointed. Dad too. They probably wouldn’t understand, and they would push me to get back with him.

My breath came out in stutters. I needed out of this life. Out of this relationship. But Trevor had inserted himself everywhere.

Well, everywhere except for one place.

On hour two of the drive, the calls started. At first, it was Mom. Then Dad. And eventually, Trevor. I turned off my phone, choosing to sit in silence as I tried to remember every single reason I was leaving.

But I was terrified that I was making a mistake.

There was only an hour left, and I wished it could go by faster. Buildings had turned into hills and fields, and I’d gotten off the two-lane interstate some time ago.

Instead of questioning every decision I’d just made, I tried to remember all the things I’d liked about Strawberry Springs when I was a kid.

I remembered a town square filled with people. There was a diner I’d begged Papa Bennie to take me to every day, along with an endless library and antique shop I would walk through when it was too hot to work in the fields.

Life moved slower there. People stopped to talk in the streets. They’d all known my name and asked how I was. It was the complete opposite of the life I knew.

And I needed it.

The Strawberry Springs welcome sign came up as I crested a hill. I slowed down to read it.

Strawberry Springs. Keeping the magic alive.

“Magic, huh?” I mused to myself. “I need some of that.”

I could see the town square from the main road, and it was as cute as ever, with two-story buildings facing one another. A clock rose high over the library.

I was tempted to see the town up close, but my sights were set on the farm.

It was situated on hundreds of acres of land.

Papa Bennie had split it between strawberry fields and livestock, which were situated on the back of the property.

In front of the house were gorgeous displays of flowers he’d kept up with in his free time.

He’d told me his grand plans of adding different kinds of berries to increase his income in the warmer months.

I wish he’d gotten to do it. I’d loved the days when the farm was open to the public and people would pick their own berries.

I knew it would be different, but when I almost missed the driveway because I didn’t see the wooden sign that announced its location, I saw firsthand how things had changed.

Papa Bennie had painted that himself, as well as built all the payment stands we would sell berries from. The sign was gone, and the fields where people would park were overgrown.

At least the gravel driveway was in surprisingly good shape. I turned onto it, eyeing the white home situated on the top of the hill.

It didn’t look all that abandoned. The siding was in decent repair and the wraparound porch showed no age. No lights were on, and no cars were in the driveway, but the land was mowed and kept tidy.

My eyes swept over the rolling landscape and the clear skies. I parked and got out of the car, hearing nothing but the birds.

And when I took a deep breath, I smelled fresh air.

Holy shit , I’d missed this. The air was so clean, even with the animals close by. The sky was endless, dotted with clouds.

What would it be like to see this all the time? What was working in the fields like? Had Papa Bennie enjoyed seeing the sunset from his porch every night? Or had he come to resent it over time like Mom had?

I grabbed the key left in the letter from my pocket and approached the front door. It didn’t fit into the lock, but I’d been locked out of dorms a lot. Maybe age had warped it somehow.

I knew how to use a credit card to get in. When the door was loosened, I took a long breath, preparing myself for dust and debris. I didn’t know if I could even sleep in the house tonight, but even my car felt better than anywhere near Trevor.

Slowly, the door opened, and instead of an abandoned mess like I’d expected, I walked into a fully furnished living room.

It was exactly like Papa Bennie had left it, though the furniture was newer. A three-seater couch under the bright window. A small TV on a nightstand. A few jackets around. The walls were painted a serene blue, with photos of the fields adorning the free spaces.

It looked like someone had just been here today . But that wasn’t possible. Surely, things would have aged. Surely, it should look worse than this.

Unless the magic of this town was real.

My thoughts were broken by the sound of footsteps, and I turned to the door to see a hulking figure staring at me.

All I could do was scream and grab the nearest weapon.