Page 2 of Feels Like Falling
It’s fresh starts and new beginnings. It’s my time to recharge in the quiet before the chaos each morning.
People joked that I’d been born in the wrong decade, preferring to spend time out in the fresh air with the sun on my face and dirt on my boots. But I liked the way being in the fields settled my nerves. I didn’t need to be anyone else but me—didn’t have to prove myself becauseheremy skills and knowledge spoke loud and clear.
The grass is green on my side of the fence, and I wasn’t about to dwell on the glory days when I’m happy each and every day to be able to do what I love.
We even managed to keep Blackstone University on the edge of town, effectively preserving the quaint and cozy atmosphere—neighbors helping neighbors, the requisite busybodies, and a community that rallies for the people they love.
Why would anyone need anything else?
The roads are sometimes paved, sometimes dirt, and almost always flanked with crops or cattle. Tennessee is known for raising soybeans and cotton, my family harvesting mainly the latter, but we still have enough variety here to be a well-rounded agricultural cornerstone.
We also have animals to keep us busy, but it isn’t something I am interested in expanding. Not yet at least.
ELLISON: Can I dress up the cows for Christmas?
I snortas I read the text from my best friend, her left-field question completely throwing off my morning musings.
MONTANA: You remember how big cows are, right?
ELLISON: (picture of cow wearing red and green antlers)
ELLISON: (picture of two cows wearing Santa hats and scarves)
ELLISON: Won’t that be so cute??
MONTANA: You already ordered everything, didn’t you
ELLISON: It’s en route to your house
MONTANA: It’s July
ELLISON: Can never start too early
Shaking my head,I pocket my phone, my smile stretching wide across my face. It has been a long time since Ellison Mills lived in Blackstone Falls, and in just a few short weeks, she’ll be back in our hometown.
Hopefully for good.
As far as I’m concerned, as long as she’s coming home single—and until she tells me otherwise—she’s coming home to me. We’d only given in that one night, but Ellison Mills has always been it for me.
There’d been a time where we’d drifted apart, but like a compass finding north, we found our way back to each other. She’s been one of the many that needed to stretch their wings beyond the county lines.
I understand it.
But I don’tgetit.
Growing up had been idyllic, and I never understood why everyone couldn’t wait to leave. My parents had been childhood sweethearts who’d gone away to college and come home to run the farm.
Mama had been obsessed with geography which is how she’d ended up naming me and my sisters. Being the firstborn son, I’d been given a state name. My sisters had been blessed with cities—Aspen for Mama’s love of the mountains and Vienna who had been a welcome surprise.
Vienna’s name had been a game-day decision in the hospital room. Mama had gone in thinkin’ she’d be naming my sister “Salem” but she said one look at the baby’s face and she knew that wasn’t right. She’d been delighted to learn that Vienna, in addition to being the capital of Austria, is also a small town in Virginia.
That last bit of information had been all Mama needed, and I’d been over the moon to have another sister. Most guys wanted a brother, but I’d loved my girls fiercely and had been proud to see them grow up with confidence and grace and a proper fighting stance.
It made Mama roll her eyes, but if I was letting my baby sisters outside our little slice of heaven, I had to make sure they knew how to protect themselves.
Even though I still worried.
Somehow, they’d both ended up in the lowcountry of South Carolina—Aspen in Magnolia Point and Vienna in Love Beach. Both sounded suspect but that was the big brother in me. Basically, any place they lived that wasn’t Blackstone Falls would most likely give me an ulcer.
