Page 33 of Where the Heart Is

‘Hmm …’ Addy murmured, absentmindedly, and for a second Mila could’ve sworn her gran had asked out of jealousy. ‘I’ll ask him if it’s okay.’

‘Great idea.’ Mila enveloped Addy in a quick hug so her grandmother couldn’t see her triumphant expression. ‘I can’t wait to see more of you.’

Mila hoped Jack shared the same sentiment.

* * *

Fate gave Mila a helping hand in playing matchmaker for her estranged grandparents. As luck would have it, she couldn’t give Addy a lift to Jack’s courtesy of an emergency meeting with her farm manager.

As Dazza approached, she didn’t like his sombre expression. He’d already given her a heads-up about a potential problem with one of the paddocks when he’d texted her to meet a few minutes ago, and by the looks of it, the news wasn’t good.

‘How bad is it, Dazza?’

The sixty-year-old who’d been Jack’s right-hand man for a decade wrinkled his nose. ‘Even though we undertook adequate paddock preparation last spring before sowing, somehow the weed is spreading.’

Mila’s heart sank. Because lentils grew slowly and couldn’t compete with a variety of weeds, maintaining good weed control was essential for a healthy crop. If her current crop had been damaged … she couldn’t contemplate the additional financial strain that would place on her.

‘Can we control the spread?’

Dazza paused before nodding. But his hesitation, combined with the worry in his eyes, told Mila the truth before he spoke.

If calm, unflappable Dazza was worried, she should be too.

‘You know we avoid sowing lentils in paddocks with a history of bad broadleaf weeds, and I thought Paddock 2 was clear. But the clovers and bedstraw are particularly resistant …’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe we should’ve delayed sowing and used a pre-emergent herbicide to ensure eradication? Regardless, we have a problem now.’

Mila had never cried in front of Dazza, despite the bad news regarding her crops that he’d delivered over the last year, but she could’ve easily sunk to her haunches in the dirt and bawled. ‘Is there any chance of controlling the spread?’

Sensing an incoming meltdown, Dazza patted her shoulder in reassurance. ‘I can try a post-emergent product to control those pesky broadleaf weeds, but I’ll need to be careful as some of our lentil varieties are sensitive.’

‘Do whatever it takes,’ Mila said, swallowing her rising panic. The cost of running a farm was never-ending and with her finances already stretched to breaking point … Damn Phil for reneging on their arrangement.

‘If it’s any consolation, I’ve seen worse,’ Dazza said, his smile laconic. ‘Leave it with me.’

‘Thanks, Daz. We still on for our weekly meeting later?’

He nodded. ‘I’ve got all the updates ready. See you then.’

As her farm manager strode away, the tears Mila had been battling while Dazza delivered the bad news burned the back of her eyes.

Yet another reason to lament her aborted marriage. Over the last year or so, she’d had Phil to lean on when farming life got tough.She’d offload at the end of a hard day, and he’d never fail to cheer her up. That had been a highlight of their friendship, his ability to make her laugh, and she knew his easygoing personality had been one of the reasons she’d thought a marriage between them might work.

But with Phil off chasing a romantic dream with his new woman, she couldn’t rely on him any longer. She hadn’t just lost a financial solution to her problems when he cancelled their wedding, she felt like she’d lost a friend too.

Which was silly, considering they were still neighbours—but the last thing he needed was her encroaching on a new relationship.

What about Sawyer?

She ignored the thought because offloading to Sawyer about her problems, knowing he’d want to help, would only make life harder when he ultimately left.

CHAPTER

20

Sawyer stepped out of the bakery and almost ran into Jack Hayes.

The man had been more of a father to him than his own. Not that he’d ever told him that. Will’s grandfather could strike fear into the bravest soul and Sawyer wasn’t that, always on edge that someone would see right through him. He had the feeling the old man could do exactly that.

‘Good to see you, Mr Hayes.’ He stuck out his hand and Jack shook it, his gaze coolly appraising as usual, catapulting Sawyer back decades when he had to stand by Will in his lies about why he’d broken curfew.

---