Page 36 of Hand Picked
I took a deep breath. Was I really going to share this with him? “To find a place with an accepting community and friendly neighbors, as well as enough land to build a fiber arts studio where people from all over the world could come to learn the skills my mom tried to teach me over the years. I wanted her love and legacy to live on, even if lung disease stole her from me.” I stared down at my hands. “Hokey, right?”
Webb stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head solemnly. “Not at all.”
For some reason, his acceptance hit me harder than his earlier judgment had. Hot tears pricked my eyes.
Webb levered himself off the bench, and a second later, he sat beside me so he could bump his shoulder with mine.
“I live my great-grandfathers’ legacy every day, remember? I work hard so I can pass that on to Aiden.”
I lifted my gaze to his. “Oh.” I hadn’t thought of it that way.
“You said your mom’s doing better?”
“Yeah. She had surgery and pretty intense pulmonary therapy, and it hasn’t been easy, but she’s a fighter. And when she learned I won the contest, she lost her mind with excitement. It was all gonna be a fairy tale, she said. An adventure. And she wanted me to live it for both of us. So…” I shrugged.
Webb nodded again, and I thought maybe he understood.
“She agreed to move in with her sister and follow her doctor’s orders, so within a couple of months, I’d signed papers on my new property, googled teaching jobs and credentials in Vermont, packed up my stuff, and turned in my resignation at my school in North Carolina. It was all so easy, it felt like it was fate. And then I got here.” I chuckled, then sighed.
“And you realized the dream was a nightmare.”
I looked at him, startled. “Well, no. I mean… it’s still a dream. But it’s gonna require a lot more work than I initially thought.” I huffed out a laugh. “Like, alot.”
“So, why not leave? Why not let the house sit here for a couple more centuries and go back to your old life?”
I frowned. “Just… give up? Wouldyoudo that?”
“Well, no, but…” He hesitated, then blew out a breath. “No. I wouldn’t.”
“Of course not. The house is mine now. Mine to take care of. Mine to complain about and sweat over and possibly fall off the roof of—”
“Not funny,” he said gruffly. “It willneverbe funny.”
I smiled softly. We’d have to agree to disagree about that, because when the mortification wore off—assuming it ever wore off—I was going to spend long private minutes remembering the feeling of his hands on me out in the snow.
“Anyway, I try to stay positive—”
He snorted. “Of course you do.”
“—and focus on all I’ve accomplished so far. Like the back porch stairs, and—”
“And the barn for your sheep.”
“Exactly. Those sheep livewell,” I told him proudly. “Though I still have some work to do on the supposedly enclosed pastures. My sheep see them as a personal challenge to hurdle.”
Webb chuckled and gave me another friendly shoulder bump.
I was suddenly very aware that I was shirtless, and he was not, and he was really,reallywarm. I wanted to move much closer… which was why I scooted away and stuffed my mouth with more ice cream.
“And I’ll get the rest of the repairs sorted, too. It’d definitely be easier to take care of things if I could get a loan, but when they said the place is mine ‘in perpetuity,’ they weren’t kidding. I can’t mortgage or sell off any of it to raise funds since I don’t have a clear title on the place. And, according to my lawyer—”
“Him.” It was pretty clear what Webb’s opinion of Stephen Fox was.
I snickered. “Yeah, him. He said it’d take months. And if he’s talking about land surveys or whatever, it’s gonna take even longer because I’m a man living on a teacher’s salary with three hungry Romeldales to support… and a premium ice cream habit.” I shook my empty carton at him.
“You might end up with more land after the surveys are done, though.”
I cocked my head. “Seriously, what part of this story suggests that I want more land, Webb? Besides, I told you I’d happily give you—”
