Page 47 of Middle Ground

My eyes narrow on him. “How did you find me?"

He grins at the annoyance in my tone. “I asked Pippa where you were.”

I shoot my best friend a look. She offers me a not-so-guilty smile in return. We’re going to have to talk about this later because that issonot cool. She knows exactly how I feel about Jackson constantly being in my space, yet here she is, encouraging it.

I’ve begun to open up to the idea of working with him, but being out here in the strawberry patch ismytime. Away from the inn and the constant pressure I feel to succeed, I can justbeout here.

I turn back to Jackson, crossing my arms. “You’re interrupting girls’ day. What do you want?”

He arches a brow. “Atticus is here.”

“Honorary nephews don’t count,” I reply. “So?”

“So,” Jackson says, “I thought I’d come help. Pippa said something about receiving a pie as payment for my services.”

I cut her a glare this time. Pippa, to her credit, looks slightly apologetic now. Good. She should be. Baking is my love language, and Jackson hasn’t earned that.

“Come on, Ellison.” His eyes are full of amusement.Of coursehe’s enjoying my displeasure. “Put me to work.”

“Ugh, fine.” I thrust an empty basket at his chest. “Fill this.”

Thankfully, he takes the basket without a word and follows Atticus over to his plant of choice. While they’re occupied, I grab Pippa’s arm and haul her away so my voice doesn’t carry.

“Why would you invite him?” I hiss.

“It’s hard being new in town,” she replies, raising her brows at me. She would know—it had taken her a while to feel settled when she first moved to Fraisier Creek. “Even harder when the people aren’t totally welcoming.” Another pointed look. “I didn’t want him to be alone this weekend.”

My irritation slips and in its place is begrudging empathy.Fucking shit. Leave it to Pippa to make me feel sorry for Jackson Vaughan.

“Alright, you win. I’ll play nice. For this afternoon.” I point a finger at her. “After this, I make no promises.”

She smiles, eyes twinkling in amusement. “Thank you. That’s all I ask.”

My eyes search the row ahead of us, landing on Jackson.His back is to me as he crouches low, helping Atticus pluck a particularly troublesome berry from the plant.

The last thing I want to do is ruin my day with Pippa and Atticus, so if that means including Jackson, I’ll do it. But I certainly won’t be happy about it.

After a long afternoon full of strawberry picking, we head inside the barn-turned-market for food and drinks. Along with baked goods, they sell a lot of local produce and they have a deli counter that sells fresh sandwiches. It’s one of my favourite places to come in the summer.

Despite the fact that Jackson has never gone to pick his own fruit before, he was annoyingly good at it. He always managed to fill his baskets faster than me. And by the end of it all, I was actually smiling. At him.

I think it’s safe to say the heat has gotten to my head.

Atticus drags Pippa across the building to look at some candy he’s eyeing, and Jackson goes to save us a table while I head up to the food counter. Just as I’m about to step up to place our order, a familiar voice stops me.

“Hey, Meyer.”

Rudy sidles up to my side. As far as ex boyfriends go, Rudy is a good one. We weren’t together long—hell, we weren’t even reallytogether—but it was fun while it lasted.

“Hey,” I say. “Not working today?”

He shakes his head. “Damn pizza oven malfunctioned and screwed up some electrical shit. My dad had to close the shop for the next couple days while it gets sorted.”

I bump his shoulder. “Looks like it’s a blessing in disguise. You never take a break.”

Rudy laughs, bumping me right back. “You’re adorable when you’re being a hypocrite.”

“Whatever. I’ll just keep your pie for myself, then.”