Page 23 of A Field of Beauty

But what if she asked him to come? Join her for just one year, like he’d done at Mountain Blooms Farm. After all, he was a man who understood a good cause.

Then again, Dawson had often accused Tessa of playing the damsel in distress. She didn’t even realize she did it, but once he’d said it, she recognized it. She didn’t want to play that card anymore.

Maybe it was time to not ask or expect anyone to rescue her. Not even Dawson.

But she did need a little help. She looked up at the sky and spotted the first star. “What do you think, Almighty God? Should I do this?”

She waited, as if listening for an answer. None came, not audibly, anyway. But inside, she felt a sweep of peace warm her from head to toe.

She smiled.Okay. Decision made.

Good or bad, she was returning to Sunrise to stay, despite everything she’d done to run from it. She felt her phone buzz from a text and reached into her pocket to read it.

Dawson

You OK?

Better than OK. I’m going to accept the developer’s offer. And then ...

She paused. Once this was declared, it would be real. No turning back.

Then what?

Then I’m going to buy a 3-acre plot in Sunrise and start another flower farm. I’m looking at the property right now.

Pause. A long, long pause.

I know.

What do you mean?

Turn around.

She spun around to see Dawson standing by his truck, parked across the road. He must have followed her all afternoon, quietly keeping an eye on her but never interfering. So like Dawson. She started toward him, slowly. She felt a wash of shyness come over her. He pushed off from his truck and walked toward her. They met in the middle of the road.

“Were you following me?”

“Maybe.” He tried to sound super casual, as if he hadn’t been trailing her for the last few hours. He took a few more steps to close the gap between them. He was so close that she caught his unique Dawson scent—soap and earth and fresh air. “Looks like the house has been deserted for quite some time.”

“It sure does.” She turned slightly from the waist to lift a palm in the direction of the property. “What do you think? Can you see the possibilities?”

He lifted his chin to look over at it. The sun was starting to set behind the trees. “You’ve done it before. Ready to do it again?” He looked at her as if her answer was extremely important.

“I am. First thing I want to do is to knock down the house and start again.”

“You’ll need a good farm manager.”

She tipped her head. “Do you have anyone to suggest?” He was pretty well connected in the farming world. “I know it’s asking a lot of someone. Moving to Sunrise is a big deal. It’s a very small town. And I couldn’t even pay a base salary. I was thinking I could offer a sixty-forty split of the profits.”

To her surprise, hands on his hips, his gaze swept the property. It was a familiar stance that she’d seen him do hundreds of times at Mountain Blooms Farm. “I can think of someone. For a fifty-fifty split, I think he’d do it.”

“Who?”

He pointed his thumbs at his chest.

She almost couldn’t breathe. “You’d come to Sunrise? You’d help me farm this land?”

He lifted a shoulder in a shrug, like it was no big deal. “Look what we did with an acre in just a year. Might be interesting to see what we could do with three acres.”

---