Page 56 of The Pumpkin Spice Romance
“Myvision,” she echoed, impersonating a zombie parrot, if they existed.
“Shall we get going? We have a full day to tackle, and there’s no time like the present.”
She walked in a daze, looking at the pasture and the barn and the tall trees and the powder-blue sky and the gossamer clouds and the grasses billowing in the breeze, but seeing none of it. Feeling completely out of her element in the midst of an enchanted forest, the tune fromSnow Whitehad popped into her subconscious. It being the only rational thought in her brain,Scarlett repeated it over and over like a lifeline as Noah led her back to his truck.
“Heigh-ho, heigh-ho,” Scarlett muttered under her breath.
“It’s off to work we go,” he agreed, glowing with delight.
4
Treasure your relationships,
not your possessions.
Anthony J. D’Angelo
“It’s a bit overwhelming,” Scarlett confessed, stirring the straw in her glass of sweet tea while she and Noah waited for their lunch plates at Luca’s on the courthouse square a little after noon.
After leaving Twin Oaks, they’d met with Jinx at the hardware store. He and Noah had described ways the pumpkin patch had been set up in previous years. Every other sentence began withYou could. . .
They’d pointed out hay bales, empty whiskey barrels, lattice panels, rope, string lights, and more metal buckets, tubs, and tins than Scarlett imagined finding at a rodeo arena. They’d listed tools, determining what Noah already had in his truck, what the church had in toolboxes, and what Jinx would loan from his own collection. More than once, Scarlett zoned out of their exuberant brainstorming.
That round of ideas had taken place at Jinx’s shop.
When Noah and Scarlett had followed Jinx to a big barn out in the middle of nowhere, a new barrage of ideas came at Scarlett faster than she could process them. The men had talked over one another in eager enthusiasm to provide possibilities. . .
The barn — filled to the rafters with wood, woodworking tools, and wooden furniture — was amazing! Antiques, midcentury modern pieces, and items still under construction. . .bed frames, headboards, kitchen tables, toy chests, armoires, custom cabinets, and enough chairs to fill an auditorium. . .smooth, stained wood polished to a pristine shine right next to rough-edged rustic wood fresh from nature. Scarlett fought to take it all in.
“See anything you like?” Jinx asked.
Scarlett turned his way with an expression of baffled perplexity.
“Do Iwhat?” she asked.
“See anything you like,” Jinx supplied with a chuckle. “Do you see anything that might work for your pumpkin patch?”
Blinking to clear the muddle of his words, Scarlett continued to stare at the man speaking Greek.
“What about this?” Noah hollered from somewhere inside the maze of beautiful furniture.
Jinx lifted an arm toward the vicinity of Noah’s voice, gesturing for Scarlett to lead the way.
With a furrowed brow, she studied his grinning face for a long second before shaking her head in confusion and walking into the maze where Noah had disappeared.
“This way,” Jinx said when they came upon a fork in the path. He signaled which way to go with a gentle hand on her back. Although strong and firm, it didn’t create the same tingle Noah’s guiding chivalry had triggered leaving the church building that morning.
Scarlett scolded herself for thinking about Jinx’s hands, Noah’s hands,anyone’shands on her back. She watched her step as they maneuvered past stools, benches, cribs, and bassinets. When she reached a clearing, her head snapped up to find Noah posturing like Charlie Bucket waving his golden ticket.
Her eyes dropped from his triumphant smile to the wooden structure Noah stood beside.
Magnificent. . .perfect. It was exactly what she needed.
“That,” she declared, speaking to Jinx but looking and pointing at a very old, very unique, veryawesomeMurphy wagon.
“It’s missing its cover,” Jinx argued, pointing out the obvious.
“I don’t need a cover,” she said, elated that a clear vision for the pumpkin patch had formed in her mind. The open wagon, filled with floor pillows, quilts, and throws. . . What a showpiece it would make, inviting and fantastic under a canopy of twinkle lights woven through trees and pumpkins—
