Page 19 of Lovewell Lane (Honeyfield Dreamers #1)

“Great choice. Write it on the side.”

She wrote basil on the side of the tray in her typical smooth cursive lettering. I waited for her to finish and inspected her freshly painted nails. “You’re going to ruin those with this next part.”

Margo did a double take. “My nails? Oh, that’s fine.”

“Alright then, we’re going to fill it up with dirt. I grabbed a bag of potting soil and pulled it closer to us. We each grabbed a handful before smoothing it down into the tray together. Our hands brushed against each other and I did my best to focus on the planting.

“You want it to be about halfway full,” I added. “This looks good. Now, you want to press your thumb down into the tray.”

She pressed the tip of her thumb right down into the soil in the center of the entire tray. I tried not to laugh but failed to hide my amusement as she looked up at me with an innocent confusion.

“What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing, that’s great. This is where you make your wish. So think of a good one while I get out the seeds for you.”

Margo closed her eyes and held out her hand while I fished through the bag of seeds. I dropped a couple into her open palm and was half-convinced she was going to try doing this blind when she opened her eyes again.

“I have my wish,” she said.

“Good, now drop them in the hole your thumb made,” I coached. Her face scrunched up. “I know. Weird phrasing, sorry.”

She fell into a fit of giggles at that. “At least you realized it.” Then she reclosed her eyes and covered the seeds with dirt with her pointer finger. “Is now when I make the wish?”

“Go for it.”

I watched her standing there in a room full of people with her eyes closed and her smile wide.

There was a lot going on around us, families singing along to whatever song was playing, kids screaming and chasing each other with bubble wands in their hands, and a few dogs running around the birds outside.

Yet, the only thing I paid attention to at that moment was her. Everything else fell away.

I snapped back to reality when her eyes opened again, only to look straight at me. “You like staring at me,” she murmured quietly.

I scoffed. “Next time, you want to wait until the end to cover the seeds up with dirt. We have to plant the rest of this tray and will lose your original seeds.”

She smiled at me despite my pickiness. “Okay, Derek,” she said, her voice far too intimate for this setting.

Tessa ran up beside us. Somehow she’d found herself a flower crown in all of the chaos. “Are we planting seeds, Daddy?”

“Yes, Margo just planted hers. Want to do yours in the same tray?”

Tessa nodded excitedly. I reached down to lift her up to stand on the bench. The tables were higher than her eye line, so she needed a boost up. At six, she was already a pro at this and jammed her thumb into the dirt while I fished out more seeds for her.

“Is this how you plant all of your crops?” Margo asked.

“Hell no,” I laughed. “This is more for fun. A lot of our friends take these trays home and use them for their own gardens. We just keep the leftovers.”

“Sienna said she’s making a fairy garden at the Inn with her mom,” Tessa said.

“What’s that?”

Margo laughed at my gruff question. “You’re telling me you seem to know all about fairies and you don’t know what a fairy garden is?”

“You do?”

“Yeah, they’re just cute little gardens where you add in mini figures and stones and houses for the fairies. I’ve made one before.”

Her excitement was endearing. If she talked about anything with that level of happiness, I’d make it for her in a heartbeat.

“We can make one in the backyard, then,” I decided. “Tessa, you should get pointers from Sienna.”

“I will, Daddy,” Tessa said proudly.

“Alright, time to make your wish, honey.”

Margo and I shared a look while Tessa squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could.

Somehow, she’d gotten soil on her forehead, blue Powerade stains all around her mouth, and what I could only guess to be soap from the bubbles in her hair.

I watched as Margo brushed some of the dirt off of her face gently.

Tessa looked up at her and smiled gleefully. “I made my wish!”

“Great job, alright, help me finish this tray before you run off again.”

All three of us pitched in to plant the rest of the tray before Sienna stopped by and offered Tessa some sort of candy.

“Sienna, have you gotten to plant one yet?” I asked.

My hand held Tessa’s shoulder so she wouldn’t run off again without another word.

Big events usually made her pretty uncomfortable.

Usually, she stuck beside me and avoided talking to others.

The only exception was when Sienna was around, suddenly she was happy as a clam to run around and play without any care for who was watching.

The blonde little girl looked up at me. She was much less timid than Tessa and had no problem voicing her opinions. “Yes, my Mama helped me do one earlier.”

I let go of Tessa’s shoulder, and she immediately ran over to grab the candy Sienna offered her. “You two take it easy on the pop rocks, alright? I expect you to eat a full lunch later, Tess.”

“Yes, Daddy,” Tessa said while looking at Sienna with a mischievous smile.

“Mr. Weston,” said Sienna.

“Yes.”

“Can we go look for four leaf clovers out by the pig pen?”

I sighed. An entire barn filled with things to do and the kids wanted to look at grass. “Ask your mom first. But it’s okay with me, as long as you stay in view of the barn.”

“Thank you, sir.” The two ran off to find Lila.

I turned to Margo. “I have to go sit outside now, so I can watch them. Want to join? Or are you planning on planting more seeds?”

“I can join,” she said.

“Do you want to try some of Kenny’s punch?”

“Kenny’s punch?” Her face looked at me like I was offering her hard drugs.

“It’s good,” I laughed. “Just don’t drink too much of it.”

We walked over to the table with food and drinks and I poured her a cup before we headed outside to find empty chairs that had a view of the clover patch in the distance.

As beer was running out and kids were getting tired, Sam stood up in front of the crowd of lawn chairs. Over the last few hours, people shifted to hanging out outside to watch the sunset and be near the campfire we created.

“One last announcement, if that’s alright with you guys,” Sam said over the chorus of chatter in and outside of the barn. He was egged on by a few hoots and hollers.

“Derek and I wanted to let you all know that we’re moving forward with the Honey Festival this year. We know it was up in the air after the letdown that was last year, but we will be participating once again.”

Slick and his older friends clinked their drinks together while other people in the circle whistled and clapped. Calli looked over at me, grinning ear to ear, and leaned over the arm of her chair to kiss my cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Margo and Tessa, who were both sitting on a blanket on the ground and playing Uno along with Sienna and Lila, shared a giant smile and fist-bumped. Margo then looked up at me and caught me staring. ‘Wishes come true’ she mouthed. And maybe they could.