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It was Dylan’s turn then to be unable to speak.

My third birthday present was The Star Chronicle publishing the article about Pumpkin Hollow on their website. We were flooded with bookings after that. Dylan came to find me just before we closed up for the day.

‘Willow, I just checked and we’ve sold out for half-term!’

I paused in lifting pumpkins out of the wheelbarrow to replace the gaps in the crates in the field. ‘What?’

‘Half-term is now completely sold out!’

‘Oh my God!’ I bounded over to him and fell into his arms. Dylan picked me up and twirled me around. ‘I can’t believe it!’

Dylan put me back on the ground and smiled at me. ‘Now we just need to sell out of pumpkins too.’

‘I might really save the farm,’ I said in wonder. Goosebumps spread down my arms beneath my wool jumper. ‘This is definitely the best birthday ever.’

‘Well, you deserve it.’ Dylan started to let me go but I held on to him. He raised an eyebrow as my gaze flicked to his lips. ‘You want another kiss, baby?’

‘Yes,’ I admitted.

‘How much?’ he asked, looking into my eyes hungrily.

‘A lot,’ I gasped out.

Dylan leaned in then but he passed my lips and pressed his close to one of my ears. ‘I’ll kiss you tonight if you still want me to. Come to my cottage after your party.’

And then he let me go and walked off, leaving me breathless.

I finished unloading pumpkins and helping the last visitors of the day but whenever I had a moment of not being occupied, my mind kept replaying Dylan’s words. Him buying me back my mum’s necklace had shown that he did know me, that he wanted me to stay here, that he knew what was important to me. I wanted to trust his feelings. I couldn’t deny the fact I had feelings for him. He had chosen us over his brother and I knew that had cost him a lot. I liked being with him. We made a good team. I wasn’t sure that I could resist the craving I felt to properly kiss him again. This morning, I had longed to deepen that quick kiss and now it was all I could think about.

After I closed the pumpkin patch for the day, I had a shower and got changed for the dinner that my dad and Sabrina had organised. I put on leggings and a long, striped shirt and kept my hair down as it had been all day. Then I added my DM boots and my mum’s necklace, and finished it all off with a spritz of my favourite perfume. I glanced out of my bedroom window before I went downstairs and saw the cottage was lit up. Would I go back there tonight? My pulse quickened at the thought of being in Dylan’s arms again. The pull to kiss him, to feel his touch, to be naked with him again, was stronger than my fear of being hurt when he left the farm.

Maybe we could make it work somehow.

Maybe this was real.

Maybe I would find out tonight.

45

‘He bought your mum’s necklace back?’ Sabrina hissed at me as we stood together in the kitchen, both holding a glass of wine. She wore a pretty, black dress, her hair curled and red lipstick on her lips. It had been a long time since she’d been at a party so she said she was making the most of it. I had asked for a quiet dinner party but this was Birchbrook and they didn’t do quiet.

I looked around at our bustling kitchen. The dining table was covered with food and drink; everyone had brought something along with them. Sabrina and her family were here, Dad, Dylan and Steve, Amy had come along and Steve’s sister with her boyfriend, the two Pats and Paul, Brian had turned up, shocking me that he’d left his farm and come all this way to see us, the landlord of the Birchbrook Arms and his wife, even Mayor Taylor had walked in and she was currently talking to my dad in the corner. A few more people had come too who I’d known all my life in town, including even my old headmistress, who was drinking a glass of wine and talking shop with the current headmistress, Sabrina’s boss.

I nodded at Sabrina’s question. ‘He said I should have it back.’ I touched the necklace. ‘It was a huge surprise.’ My eyes found Dylan chatting with Steve, a beer in his hand, leaning against the kitchen table. ‘I feel like maybe I do want to be with him.’

Sabrina clutched my arm. ‘Of course you do. There were sparks even that first day in the café when you gave him the wrong directions. God, Willow, that was hilarious!’

‘Not my finest moment,’ I said with a sheepish smile. ‘I thought he was completely not my type that day, although clearly handsome.’

‘I think he’s been your type all along; it was just hard to see past the suit,’ she said. ‘He stayed on a farm for you; that should have told you something from the start.’

‘It was pretty crazy to move in with strangers.’

‘I told you: you were both looking for something. Maybe now you’ve found it?’

My dad tapped on his glass then and asked for quiet in the room so I didn’t have to answer Sabrina. My eyes met Dylan’s briefly before my dad came to stand beside me. I hoped Sabrina was right. I felt more settled than I had since we lost Mum. I held on to her necklace as my dad started speaking.

‘Well, thank you all for coming,’ he said, looking around the room at everyone watching him, drinks in hands. ‘I was thinking earlier about when we first arrived at this farm; my wife immediately pictured us having a family here. We didn’t have a clue about running a farm but it felt like home instantly anyway. When we had Willow, that family dream came true. And to see her the past few weeks making changes around here, throwing herself into the project just like her mother would have had done, has really meant the world to me. I know Birch Tree Farm is in good hands and I know that my wife…’ Dad’s voice broke a little bit here so I took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled at me. ‘…would be so proud if she was here. Hopefully, she can see it wherever she is. So, happy twenty-sixth birthday, love; you have been through a lot for someone so young but whatever life throws at you, you always find a way through it. And I know sometimes, I haven’t been as supportive as I could have been, because we come at things so differently, but I really admire that about you. Raise your glasses to my daughter, please!’ He lifted his up and everyone followed suit. ‘Happy birthday, Willow!’