Page 33 of Handling Skylar (Hope Parish #5)

When the time for the meeting rolled around, I walked in on pins and needles mad at myself because I was sure she meant for her comment to put me on edge, whether she knew anything or not.

This town was my home, and I wasn’t about to let her ruin it, bring that horrible time back into my life.

People talking about me, speculating. It was almost more than I could bear.

I glared at her as she rose to speak. “Let’s get this meeting underway. As you all are aware, our very own Pecan Queen is Skylar Bransom. Let’s give her a round of applause. All the Belles clapped and Jake’s mom encouraged me to stand as she beamed at me.

I plastered a smile on my face and sat down as soon as it was polite.

“As you know, in the past, I have always been the one to represent the Belles with dignity and honor, so with that in mind, I will handle the dresses. I will just need your measurements.”

I stood up unable to stop myself. “I’ve got that covered,” I said.

Anna Kate waved her hand. “Oh, don’t worry about that, Sky, dear. You’ve got enough on your plate with all that important planning you’re doing. And, with the added task of handling the Pecanettes, you’ll just be swamped.”

“What?” I said dumbly. “Pecanettes?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention that. The music teacher over at the high school had to deal with her ailing momma.

She won’t be able to continue with the musical numbers.

But I hear that you were good with music and can even carry a tune.

So, I decided you were the best candidate for the task.

Rehearsals have been spotty, so you’ll need to make that up by working with the girls every night until the festival. Is that a problem?”

How could I say no? I didn’t want anything to go wrong with the festival that had been my idea and now was on Jake’s shoulders to make a success. “That will be fine.”

“Good luck and we’ll look forward to the performances.” I smiled again with that plastered on smile, but inside I was fuming. Really, this woman was evil.

Verity whispered in my ear. “Do you want me to nix the dresses?”

“No,” I whispered back. “Do them. Let Anna Kate spin her wheels. I’m not going to be forced into wearing something ill-fitting and inappropriate.”

She nodded. Breathing a sigh of relief. I had the Outlaws on my side. Nothing could go wrong.

***

I stood facing Jake’s new grove that was rescued from the ravishes of time.

He said the nuts were in excellent shape and they were going to start harvesting what they could this year.

“We’ll see how the Elliott nuts do in production next year.

” With a twinge, I realized that I might not even be with him in a year.

Nothing was guaranteed. I lived my life from day to day and wasn’t going to think about the future right now.

He looked wistful, and I took my eyes off the mechanical shaker that went from tree to tree and rattled it until all the nuts were loosened from the branches. “That doesn’t hurt the tree?”

He shook his head. “The trees are very resilient.” He held my gaze for a moment, the disquiet in his eyes deepening; then he looked away.

“What is it?”

“I might not be here depending on my daddy’s decision. Either I will be managing everything, or I’ll be doing something else with my life. Lord knows I have enough money for just about anything I want to attempt, but I couldn’t really see myself doing anything but growing pecans.”

I turned away from the activity of all of Jake’s workers and slid my hand along his jaw.

I lifted my head and kissed him, softly stroking his mouth with mine.

I wanted to comfort him in this trying time in his life.

I remembered what it had been like to be alone and set adrift.

To lose everything that mattered in one devastating blow.

His home hadn’t burned and his parents were still alive, but that didn’t change the fact that Jake felt as if he was on shaky ground.

Death wasn’t the only permanent change. Estrangement was just as devastating, maybe even more so because the people he loved were alive, but closed off to him.

I broke the kiss and said, “I know this is scary and a big, big change in your life. But, this is good. You know what you want. That’s what’s important. You can make your own decisions once you know what is happening with the business.”

He tilted my head up and looked into my eyes, capturing me with dreamy silver blue. “We haven’t really discussed what’s going to happen with us. This living situation…Sky, I want you in my life. Moving in permanently…is that something you’d want…with me?”

I was caught flatfooted. My motto was just take one day at a time and don’t plan because things could change, turn on a dime. Then I would be left with disappointment and heartache. When I didn’t answer right away, he inhaled unevenly.

“Sky—”

I pressed my fingers against his mouth to silence him. “We’ll take it as it comes. Okay? You can stay with me until things change.”

“Things won’t change, Sky, not with how I feel about you.”

Suddenly feeling shaky and out of my element, a flutter of nerves climbed into my throat.

The devastation of first losing my brother, then Seth, then my parents overwhelmed any warm feelings I might have for Jake, the fear of experiencing that pain again almost overwhelming.

A wave of guilt washed through me. I shouldn’t judge him by what had happened to me in the past. Ignoring it was my way of dealing with the loss.

He had given me so much of himself. I was ashamed I couldn’t give him everything.

Closing my eyes in remorse, I hugged him against me.

“Of course they won’t,” I said with a smile, burying my face in his throat, not trusting my own words.

“We can discuss this more after the festival.” I needed to get us onto another subject, my stomach twisting with the implications of my deep feelings for this man. Nothing lasted forever.

“All right. Let’s leave them to it. I want to show you something.

” We got into the cart and tooled over to another grove, this one clearly held young trees, the trunks noticeably thinner, they were tall, lush, and well-cared for like loving children.

“I haven’t tasted one of the nuts yet, as my test grove had only matured just this year.

Six years of looking over every step of the process and my personal nut, my grafted trees are ready to harvest.”

“What am I looking at?” I said as we sat there for a minute without talking.

He got out, and I followed. He went to the nearest tree and looked up.

“I grafted these on my own when I was twenty. He bent down and picked up a ripe pod and pried it open, took out the unshelled pecan. He pulled out a nut cracker and broke the shell. Cleaning off the meat, he handed it to me. “There you go. Can’t get fresher than that.”

I popped it into my mouth and closed my eyes, the buttery taste exploding on my tongue. “Mmm that is good. You created these?”

“Yes. My first yield.”

“Your Dad doesn’t know about them?”

“No. I’ve kept them secret for now. It was easy with so much acreage, and we’re always growing and planting.

I wanted to see the yield of them before I showed him what I’d done.

” He picked up another nut and went through the same routine.

He broke it. “Nice snap of the kernel.” Then the moment of truth.

He put the nut on his tongue and chewed. He closed his eyes.

“Well?” I watched his face for the verdict, although I expected it was going to be really good.

He was blown away by how much I cared about everything he was doing.

Cared that he had a lot riding on this project.

He reached out and pulled me to him, overwhelmed by the thick emotions crowding my chest. “That good, huh?” I murmured, my voice husky and warm as I stroked the back of his head.

“Jake, I’m so happy for you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, as he buried his face in the hollow of my throat, breathing in my scent and simply basking in the most perfect day of our life.

“Sassy, bold and buttery sweet. Outstanding. Just like you.”

I smiled into his eyes. “What kind of yield do you think you’re going to get?”

“From the full orchard?” He grinned widely. “Approximately two thousand nuts per acre.”

“And you have how many acres?”

“Eight hundred.”

“That is overwhelming and exciting.”

He nodded as we parted. “You ready for the madness today?”

“Yes.” I looked at my watch. “The tours begin in an hour and the town’s hotel and B&B’s are full already, as well as accommodations in the immediate area. I think we’re going to get a sizable crowd for our first festival. Did you rent a tux?”

He smiled. “I don’t need to rent one. I own one. I’ll drop by the house sometime today to pick it up. I’ll be ready to escort the Pecan Queen to the ball. You ready for all the craziness?”

I smiled wryly, saying a small prayer everything went off without a hitch. “Are you kidding? After playing Scarlett O’Hara, this should be a piece of cake.”

The next day we stood at Jake’s orchard with Reverend Fairchild as he blessed the crops.

Jake’s family, the Outlaws, his workers and some of the people who had come to town for the harvest and would be taking the tours attended.

The vendors would be opening on Main Street at eight and the cooking contest would begin.

I had submitted my cookies and needed to get home right after this to get them baked.

At noon, when the carnival and antique carriage show opened, the Pecanettes would be in the limelight.

I had thrown out the program because, truly, I knew nothing about dance routines, but what I did know was two-stepping.

Teaching it to these women who had grown up waltzing and fox trotting had actually been a labor of love, even with the long hours of rehearsal. Two-stepping was also downright fun.