Page 65 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

He stepped aside.

Jo kicked at the dirt. “Well, so much for getting investors.”

Allie’s face went somber. “Are we in trouble?”

Jo breathed deep. “It’s going to be hard, but we’ll be okay. We made this place from scratch, and we’re not going to lose it now.”

“We’ll just find other investors,” Allie said.

“Yeah, we will.” Jo pointed at her sister. “But no more Tony.”

Allie rolled her eyes. “You can say that again.”

Jo straightened her spine and looked at Brandon. “It was real lucky for us you turned up when you did.”

Brandon pulled his gaze off Allie, Cash thought somewhat reluctantly. “Actually, Cash called me and asked me to come.”

Cash smiled but said nothing.

Jo glanced up at him, and he squeezed her side.

“He got a hold of me this afternoon,” Brandon continued, “he told me y’all might be looking for an investor and if I came to the festival tonight, we could discuss me investing. And I got to tell you, after trying those honeys you sent me with the other day, I want to invest. I’ve been looking for smart places to put my money, and I’d say your company qualifies.”

Jo stepped toward him. “Are you serious?”

Brandon fiddled with his cowboy hat, and Cash belatedly wondered what’d happened to the one he’d been wearing. “In fact, even before Cash called, I’d been thinking about it. Your cousin, Jessie, told me you might be looking for investors, so I started looking into your company. I asked around the festival and was told by who knows how many people they came from all over the state, all over the country, just to buy your honey and lotions and things. And she took me to meet your mother, Clara, and to have a look at your business plan for the next five years. It’s very impressive.”

Allie and Jo made eye contact, both looking like they were in shock.

“Remind me to kiss Jessie next time we see her,” Allie said.

Jo clapped her hands to her mouth and started laughing.

Allie jumped up and threw her arms around Brandon’s middle. “Thank you!”

The big man stumbled back and went red as a turnip. He rested hands on Allie’s shoulders. “It’s nothing. Really. I look at it as you doing me a favor.”

Jo faced Cash and pushed a lock of her red hair off her face. Her sapphire eyes pinned him in place. “And you pulled it all together.”

Cash shrugged. Totally worth it to see that look on her face.

“I guess it was a good thing you came home, after all,” she said.

Cash swallowed thick and glanced around. The wrecked corn maze at the festival, in silly costumes, with sizeable crowds gathering around, wasn’t what he had in mind when he’d thought of telling her. He’d planned to make her dinner back in her little kitchen, explain everything, and confess his love. But he had a ticket to go back to California first thing in the morning. So, it was now or never.

He took her hand. “Jo, I need to talk to you.” He pulled her a few feet away, but Allie being Allie, trying to be subtle, not so subtly sidled closer.

“What is it?” Jo asked, her tone filling with worry.

He squeezed her hands. “I have a flight tomorrow morning at five am . . .”

Her face fell, but she quickly recovered with a forced smile. “Right, of course. Time to get back to the real, and probably much less crazy world, back home.” She chuckled and glanced down at her feet.

“What if I didn’t go?” he asked.

Her head whipped up.

“What if I stayed; with you?” His heart jumped into his throat. Let the chips fall where they may, Cash.

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