Page 26 of Wish You Faith

They were a couple of hours away from sunset. The sun was still up in the sky. Even with the wind whipping in from the Atlantic, Evan didn’t need his winter jacket because the temperature was sixty degrees in the afternoon on this first Monday of December on Tybee Island.

He was fine wearing a charcoal-colored sweatshirt layered over a t-shirt, but he thought it needed a pop of Christmas color, so he wrapped his red-and-green checkered Burberry cashmere scarf around his neck. It had been a gift from Connor several Christmases ago. Yet another reminder of his family ties on the West Coast.

Sooner or later, he’d have to go home to Seattle and confront his family about his career. Right now he had no idea where he was headed. Until he knew, he had nothing to say to his parents, who had hoped that his Master’s in Business Administration might have helped him ease into the Vice President position at Cavanaugh Shipping, when Connor became the President.

Mom and Dad wanted to take a half-year world cruise and leave the business to their two sons.

Evan didn’t feel particularly rebellious about his decision to walk away from the family business. The much-needed break would give him time to think and consider his options.

If only he had factored in an unexpected variable in his flowchart: Rosie Hamilton.

From the first moment he’d seen her at the greenhouse, he’d been instantly attracted to her. Whether it was love at first sight or not, he had no idea. All he knew was that he was drawn to her and he didn’t want to pass up this opportunity to get to know her, and…

Someday he wanted to marry her.

It felt crazy. How could he know so quickly that she was the one?

Must pray more about this.

He recalled the lunch episode, when they had fled the tree farm—well, fled from Travis, to be more accurate. Evan had held Rosie’s hand when they dashed from Sonya’s hammock to the delivery truck outside the greenhouse.

As he recalled, her hand was warm and she didn’t pull away from him until they made it to the truck. What did that mean? Was she interested in him too? Or did she think that they were only running away from Travis, and not toward each other?

Rosie might not know that Evan was attracted to her to the point of wanting to spend the rest of his life with her. However, if he came right out and told her that he was in love with her, it might scare her off—just like Travis had ruined his chances with his loud and public overtures.

What?

What am I thinking about?

“Hey, daydreamer!” someone shouted.

When Evan registered that it was Rosie’s voice, she was already standing in front of him.

“Not a lot of hours left before dinner,” she said. “Can we hurry along? What are you doing standing by the wheelbarrow?”

Thinking about you.

He dared not say it to her face because he didn’t want her to run away from him. Would she? He had only known her for a few days.

Maybe it wasn’t love at first sight. Maybe he was simply lonely. She had smiled at him, and he didn’t feel alone anymore. Maybe that was it.

“Ah…” Evan looked down at the wheelbarrow in front of him. It was empty. He had forgotten what he was doing with the wheelbarrow. Stress sometimes did that to him.

Stress?

What was he stressed out about?

“You were taking the wheelbarrow to the storage shed. Remember?” Rosie asked.

She was still wearing the Christmastown Tree Farm apron. Her candy cane patterned winter sweater was tied around her waist.

“Yes. I forgot.” Evan scratched his head.

“After you store away the wheelbarrow, take a five-minute break.” Rosie waved to someone and went to talk to him.

Evan watched her chat happily with the man who looked like he just came out of college. He was tall and had curly hair.

And Evan felt a pang of…jealousy?

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