Page 45 of Beehives and Broken Heroes

“And you should see him interacting with the customers when he’s here,” Jo added. “Aunt Doe was in here the other day—”

Allie put a hand to her heart. “I love Aunt Doe!” The woman was so friendly and seriously tough, still working hard on her farm and with her chickens in her late eighties—she’d brought Allie a dozen eggs once. Best eggs ever. Allie hoped she had that kind of energy at her age.

“Right?” Jo grinned. “Well, you know how tough she is and occasionally crotchety. Well, she was that day until Brandon started talking to her. Within five minutes, she was smiling ear to ear.”

“It was adorable,” Kathy said.

Allie’s heart warmed. They were right: she’d been worried over nothing. Brandon was making a place for himself in this town, whether he came to the cleanup or not. She’d been getting herself worked up over nothing.

“And besides,” Jo added, giving her a sly grin as she folded the towel and shoved it in her back pocket. “Now that he’s dating you, I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Jo’s cell rang, and in her rush to answer it, she nearly flipped it out of her pocket. “Hello?” Jo covered the mouthpiece and took a deep breath, her eyes widening like the harvest moon. “Yes . . . It is?” Pause. “That’s so great. Thank you so much.” A breath. “Yes, have a good day. Bye.”

Allie leaned against the counter. “What was that about?”

Jo sat her phone down, took a deep breath, then squealed. “We got the lavender field!” She jumped up and down.

The lavender field? Oh! Lark’s Lavender Fields, the one out of town on the outskirts of the county where they got their lavender honey from—Jo wanted to have her wedding there. “You did?” Allie rushed to her, arms open.

Happy tears gleamed in her sister’s eyes. Without a word, the sisters both started jumping up and down. The place was a dream. Allie had known the moment Jo had mentioned it that it would be the place Jo would want to have her wedding. Allie was so happy for her.

A knock sounded from the door, but they both ignored it.

Kathy laughed and passed them to answer it. The bell overhead dinged as the door opened and closed. But the sisters were still hopping around and laughing and happy dancing.

“Looks like the party’s in here,” Brandon said.

Allie spun around to face him, her heart thudding in her chest, then even harder when she got a look at him. He wore his work jeans and boots, his cowboy hat, and his work shirt—all clean. He hadn’t been out working in them today. And he was freshly shaved. The side of his mouth ticked up, and it was all she could do not to fling herself at him. She was working on composure this week.

She pointed to her sister, who still had her hands clasped in front of her and a big ol’ smile on her face. “Jo and Cash are getting married at Lark’s Lavender Fields.”

Brandon smiled. “That’s the place where your Uncle Mark and I set up the hives a few weeks ago?”

Jo nodded.

“It’s beautiful there,” he said. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Jo said. She crossed to Allie, turned her back on Brandon, flicked her gaze back toward Brandon, and raised her brows. The gesture said it all:Look, he’s here. Jo grabbed her phone from the counter. “I’m going to run next door and tell Cash. See you at the gazebo in ten?”

Allie nodded.

“I’ve got to run, too. My brother’s expecting me,” Kathy said.

The women waved their goodbyes, leaving Allie and Brandon alone.

“What are you doing here?” Allie’s voice was an octave higher than normal. She cleared her throat as she crossed to him and went up on her toes to kiss him hello.

“Well, I’ve heard tell of some cleanup going on today, and since this is my town and I plan to dig in roots, I thought I better come help out,” he said.

She looked him over again in his work clothes, and it all came together. Why was he so great? Tony had flat-out turned his nose up at the idea of helping with the cleanup last year, like the work was beneath him. And here was Brandon, not only showing up but surprising her as well. He was so dreamy.

He continued, “Plus, my girl’s been dropping some not-so-subtle hints the last few weeks—”

She shoved his shoulder. “I wasn’t that obvious, was I?”

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. “Sunshine, if you were any more obvious, I’d probably have woken up with a tattoo on my forehead reading ‘town cleanup, the fifteenth, be there or else.’ I figured I’d better make a date of it.”

She stared off to the side, her cheeks heating. So much for composure.

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