Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“Okay, then two pizzas?” I suggest. “You know what we have between us. You know you’ve never felt it before. I’m sure I haven’t. And yeah, our situations make things look impossible at the moment. I get it. I really do. But there’s a solution out there. I know there is. And maybe it will become more obvious if we just spend some time together. Maybe life will show us how we can be together if we just give it a chance.”
She sighs and sits on the bed, pulling on her socks. “No more marriage proposals?” she asks.
“I think I can hold off for the evening.”
“Okay. But not tonight. I have some making up to do with Stephanie after ditching her last night. You can take me out tomorrow. Pizza. But I’m not sharing.” She shakes her head. “I just can’t say no to you, Jack Alden.”
I know that feeling. My stiff upper lip vibrates with the need to claim victory. I settle with a grin.
“Tomorrow night, then,” she says again.
My pulse starts to race at the thought that I won’t see her until tomorrow night. I don’t have long until we’re due back in New York. I don’t want to waste time not being with her. “You talked about the fruit pickers arriving at seven.”
She checks the time on her phone. “Yeah. I need to go. I have to grab a shower before work.”
“They seasonal workers?” I ask, as I grab her keys and we head out.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“You need an extra pair of hands?” I suggest. “I don’t know much about fruit, but I don’t have anything planned today. I could give you a hand.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You want to come pick fruit at Wilde’s?”
“Yeah,” I say, a little uncertain. I don’t want to embarrass myself. It’s not like manual labor and I are closely associated, but I had a gap year I spent in South America, building pathways. Presumably someone will show me the ropes.
“I don’t know,” she says. “Bray always handles the seasonal recruitment.”
“Great. So, I’ll get a shower and I’ll turn up around seven?”
“You know that I’m not going to be picking fruit, right? I’m in the office all day long. You won’t see me at all.”
Somehow that doesn’t matter. I like the idea of meeting her brother and her father. Of seeing the family farm. And I can’t get what she said about margins being squeezed out of my head. I wonder if there’s something I could do to help.
“I know,” I say.
“If you want to pick fruit all day, then who am I to stand in your way?”
“And for the record,” I say. “I’m not sure my heart would make it if I get in any deeper with you.”
FIFTEEN
Iris
Getting to my desk felt more difficult today. Not just because of my lack of sleep, but also today I’m so aware of why I’m here. I feel resentful. Resentful that Wilde’s Farm is the reason I had to stay in Colorado.
Of course it wasn’t the farm, it was my brother and father’s need for the business side to be covered that was the problem. But still, this place represents an anchor. Something that’s chained me to one way of life when I wanted another.
I don’t want to have to make that same decision again—the farm over ballet. Star Falls over New York.
I did it before and I know what it cost me. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to do it again.
“Iris, do you know anything about this Jack guy who just showed up?” my brother yells as he limps into the barn. My stomach flips at the mention of Jack’s name, and I screw my eyes shut tight in a futile effort to stop pictures of naked Jack from last night filling my brain.
Why Bray can’t wait until he gets into my office, I have no idea. My office has been carved out of the barn closest to the house. I like the fact I actually have to get off the couch to come to work. There’s a work life and a home life. Yeah, I can see the barn—and my office—from my bedroom window, but there’s some separation.
My brother puts his head around the door and looks at me like he’s waiting for me to reply. “Iris. Who’s this Jack?”
I shrug. “Some guy. Said he was looking to work for the day. Don’t like him, then don’t hire him.” Some guy who made me come last night until my body shook and my mind was blown. But Bray doesn’t need to know any of that. Not that there’s much to know. I keep out of his romantic life and he keeps out of mine. That’s how it’s always been since high school. I guess that’s why I never knew he and Stephanie kissed. For a split second, I think about asking him about it and then I change my mind. If I ask him about Stephanie, he might think he has free rein to ask me about Jack. And I don’t want any more questions about Jack from my brother.