Page 40 of Hometown Girl

“Come hang out. Pretend you don’t have anything to worry about.” Molly grabbed her hand and tried to tug her up.

“Maybe in a few minutes,” she said.

But an hour passed, and Beth still sat in her chair, away from the fray. They would probably say she was antisocial. She’d heard that one before, but small talk didn’t suit her. She’d never been one for pointless conversation. Maybe that’s why her attempted chat with Drew had gone awry.

Or maybe he was even worse with small talk than she was.

Beth glanced at Molly, her shoulder pressed up against Bishop’s, oblivious to the way he looked at her as she led the group in some of her favorite songs. Everyone seemed to be having so much fun.

And then there was Beth, sitting several yards away in the same chair where Drew had eaten his lunch. Alone. Maybe the two of them had more in common than she cared to admit.

She’d watched him get in his truck and drive away, that big old dog’s head sticking out of the passenger window, and a knot had formed at the center of her stomach. Ben had specified Drew was the guy to hire, and she hadn’t even asked where he was staying. Was she sabotaging their efforts before they even started?

Maybe Ben would agree to hiring someone from town. There had to be someone who would put her brother’s mind at ease. Surely Drew wasn’t the only guy who knew how to work the land, repair old buildings and take care of animals.

But as she scanned the crowd, surveying the many able-bodied young men who stood around the bonfire, Beth knew none of them had the same qualities they’d all seen in the handsome stranger.

Few men did. Hard work seemed a thing of the past.

On the other hand, she knew all of these guys. She’d either gone to school with them or knew their families from church, or she’d babysat them (not that she’d readily admit that). They might not be workhorses, but they were familiar. Beth did better with familiarity than she did with change, which was, she supposed, why she had been running the office at Whitaker Mowers instead of hunting for a job in Chicago.

Maybe losing that job was all the change she could handle right now. Besides, what did they really know about Drew Barlow? The few details hehadtold them could, for all they knew, be fiction.

It didn’t really matter anyway; Drew was long gone. Finding him again might be as easy as an online search or as difficult as locating buried treasure—who knew?

Thoughts of what to do next tumbled around in her mind, and while she wanted to relax and have fun like Molly, she seemed unable to turn her brain off.

Something wet brushed against her hand, and she quickly pulled it back.

“Roxie. Sit.”

Beth looked up and saw Drew’s silhouette cut through the darkness, dimly backlit by the fire.

“Sorry, she has no manners,” he said.

What did they say about dogs resembling their owners? Her embarrassment came back in an unwanted wave.

He stood across from her for a long moment, awkward, as if he wasn’t sure what he was doing there.

Whatwashe doing there?

“Mind if I sit?”

Her body stiffened, but she managed to nod. Why did this guy make her so nervous? For years, she’d run an office full of employees. She’d stood in front of them every week and told them how to do their jobs better. She was good at running an office. She usually managed people well. But around this guy she was fourteen again, unsure of how to carry on a normal conversation.

She tried to tell herself he was just a guy. That it didn’t matter that he looked like he’d stepped off a Times Square billboard advertising trips to Colorado. She even tried to tell herself his image on such a billboard wouldn’t have had her booking the first flight to Denver.

She tried all of these things, but as soon as she dared a single glance in his direction, the bubbling nerves were back.

It wasn’t on her to start a conversation with Drew. After all, she’d already tried that. And he was the one who’d shown up onherfarm. The oddity of that didn’t escape her.

After several long, tense moments, she realized he had no intention of talking. While she didn’t much feel like talking either, the silence was a less desirable alternative to tortured conversation.

“I’m surprised you came back,” she said at last.

“Me too,” Drew said.

Roxie circled their chairs and finally sat down, her tail draped over Beth’s feet. It was the smallest, silliest thing, but it caught her off guard. The dog seemed comfortable with her. Beth wasn’t a dog person, yet something about that tail on her tired feet made her feel like she had a friend.

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