Chapter 16

Sixteen

Lily

T he meeting with Zoe, Max, Gia, and the rest of the Happily Ever Afters crew went better than I expected. I showed them pictures of the farm, including the barn, pond, and ceremony area I had in mind. Everyone was excited about the possibilities. Weddings on farms, especially rustic-looking barns, were popular, and the closest option was an hour away, outside of our service area. Gia said she would help in any way she could to get it ready in time for their June wedding.

Gia worked her magic, conjuring up help for the day we needed to clear the barn of boxes and tools and the property of debris and weeds. She couldn’t be there because she had a family gathering.

On the morning of, I prepared pitchers of lemonade and iced tea and put water bottles in coolers on the porch. Sophie brought baked goods for breakfast, and Max dropped off beer for later. Everyone in the Shops on Main group was here, including Jake, Ryan, Corey, and Hailey. Everyone who worked with Gia was here too, including Harrison, who’d offered his truck. Anything we needed to donate or take to the dump went in it.

I directed everyone, telling them where to put the boxes from the barn. I decided on the dining room in the farmhouse.

“Are you sure you want all this in here?” Jake asked me, carrying in the first box.

“I need to go through it,” I said, not quite meeting his eyes.

“You think you’ll do it soon? Otherwise, we could put it somewhere out of the way until you can get to it.”

“This will force me to get it done sooner,” I said.

Jake put the box in the corner of the dining room. I didn’t use it for meals anymore. No one stopped by except for Jake, and we ate in the kitchen.

When he left, Max came in with two more boxes, and the morning continued in that fashion. Everly directed people outside. I’d hired a landscaping company to give us a plan for the property, and we decided to do the removal of bushes and existing plants ourselves, to save a little money. Then the company would come this week to plant. Gia came up with a plan for me to pay her back for the cost when more weddings were booked here. She was confident it would be an attractive option for couples.

The boxes continued to fill the dining room and, feeling a little lightheaded, I stepped outside on the back porch for water.

I sat on the rocker, wiping the sweat off my forehead with a towel. It felt good to be outside, watching everyone work on the property. It felt alive with people here. Grandma and Grandpa would have loved this. So many people coming together to make it beautiful again.

The back door opened with a squeak. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just taking a breather,” I said to Jake with a smile.

The truth was, moving my grandparents’ stuff was harder than I thought. It was a reminder that they weren’t coming back. I’d never see my grandfather rocking on this chair or my grandmother putzing around in her vegetable garden. They were gone, and when all these amazing helpers left, I’d be alone again.

Jake sat on the rocker next to me. “You’re thinking pretty hard about something.”

I tried to smile to reassure him, but it felt brittle. “It’s hard to move their stuff. Like it’s final somehow.” More final than their memorial services or the gravestone. “I didn’t really deal with it when it happened. I hadn’t been living here when my grandfather died, so it was easier to move on with my life and not think of it. The only change was checking in on my grandmother more often. When Grandma died, I dove into the business.”

“You didn’t deal with it at all,” Jake said, his knowing gaze on me.

“I guess not.” And now it hurt to think of having to put my grandmother’s things in more boxes.

“You want to clean out the house while we’re here?”

I shook my head hard. I didn’t want others touching her things. It was something I needed to do by myself.

“This house is your grandmother’s.”

“I know it looks that way, but—”

“There are no buts about it. I expect your grandmother to walk in and offer me tea at any moment. Other than the bedroom, there’s nothing that says you live here.”

“So, what are you saying?” I asked, my chest filling with dread.

“You should make it your own. Dealing with their things might help you grieve. It sounds like you’ve been avoiding that.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that.” But the idea of coming home to rooms that had my things in it was attractive.

“You can start by clearing one room at a time. Slow but steady. Then think of the things you can fill the room with.”

“It would be nice to have a doily-free space.” I smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“If that’s your style,” Jake said.

I raised a brow at him.

“It might be. I don’t know.” I loved sitting with him on the porch and talking like this. If I didn’t feel bad that everyone around us was working hard, I might have been content to stay there and talk the day away. “We’d better get back to it.”

I stood and started to move past Jake. He stopped me with his hand circling my wrist. “Are you okay?”

I smiled softly. “I will be.”

I knew Jake was right. I hadn’t grieved properly, and going through the house was something I needed to do. It was a step in the right direction. This house was my future, not just my past.

He squeezed my wrist before letting it go.

When we moved back inside, the dining room was full of boxes.

“Do you want to get started now?” Jake asked.

“I’ll do it when everyone leaves.” We headed to the barn, which was mostly empty. Only a few tools remained. It was things I’d move to a garage if I had one. In the meantime, I’d have the guys move it to the summerhouse.

Then we joined the crew clearing the property. With all of us working through the afternoon, we removed all the old shrubbery and dead branches. It felt good to do physical labor, to ignore what I needed to do in the house. At least for a few hours.

Plus, I felt good having all these people come out to help me. I felt like a part of the community in a way I hadn’t before.

I ordered pizzas for late afternoon when it looked like we’d be finished with the majority of the work. When everyone was almost finished, I stood up to get everyone’s attention. “I wanted to thank everyone for coming out today. You didn’t have to, but you did.”

“That’s what friends do,” Remi said from where she sat on the steps.

My parents hadn’t helped when I moved here or opened the store, so I wasn’t used to friends coming through for me. It was nice. “I appreciate you taking your Saturday to help me.”

“We hope to get married here. We’re happy to help,” Max said, with his arm around Zoe.

When I sat down, Sophie stood. “I created the Shops on Main group so that we could help each other out. I never envisioned we would get this big or have this much impact, but I’m proud that we do.”

Cheers erupted through the group.

Sophie raised her glass of tea, and everyone followed suit. “To Shops on Main.”

“May our community of shops and businesses continue to grow,” Max said as he nodded in Ryan’s and Jake’s direction.

The original group had expanded outside of the shops on Main Street to include Remi’s Juice Shop, Hailey’s Spice & Tea Shop, which she’d sold to new owners, and Ryan and Jake’s garage.

I didn’t know about the group when I opened my store, but I appreciated it now. I had a group of people I could go to if I had a business question.

“If you wouldn’t mind spreading the word about weddings here on the farm, and Petals on Main Street, I’d appreciate it. If you haven’t heard, I started a new subscription service for flowers. It’s a great way to treat yourself or your significant other. If you know of any events where I could spread the word, let me know.”

“The best bet would be at one of the local events. We have the Cocoa Crawl in February, the Craft Beer Festival in the summer, and the Chili Cook-Off in the fall,” Sophie listed off.

None of the events they’d listed were immediate, but I’d figure out something.

When everyone broke apart to talk in their own groups, Ethan, the owner of the hardware shop, The Red Toolbox, stepped up to me. “If you need someone to build anything, a gazebo, an arch, I can help.”

“Thank you. I appreciate the offer.”

Everly stepped up to our little group. “Gia will probably take you up on that. We get requests for interesting and unique things. Harrison has a few props we can borrow, but some brides would love custom arches.”

“I’m happy to help,” Ethan said.

One by one, everyone started leaving. I stood in the driveway so I could thank everyone again. I was so grateful to them. I just hoped I could repay everyone at some point. Finally, everyone left, and it was just Jake remaining on the porch. “You can head home. I bet you’re tired,” I said as I sat next to him on the steps.

“We can get started on the inside if you want.”

I sighed. I knew if he left, I’d put it off.

“I don’t want to, but I should.” I stood and brushed off the dust on my shorts as I made my way inside. “I went through a few boxes to find framed photographs of my grandparents and the GTO for the barn walls.”

“Can I see?” Jake asked.

I’d stacked the best ones in my grandfather’s rolltop desk in his office. Jake grabbed them from the desk and moved them to the leather couch in the room. We sat side by side so we could both see them as we sifted through the photos.

Jake went through each one with interest. “These are great. It’s clear your grandfather loved that GTO. I can’t imagine being alive at that time. To experience the muscle car firsthand.”

He smiled over at me.

“I guess there’s nothing like that now.”

Jake shook his head. “Maybe the Tesla. But it’s not the same. The GTO was the first of its kind.”

“I can see how boys would have gotten girls driving one around.”

“Are you saying if I drove a sports car, you’d be more attracted to me?”

“I mean, you drive a motorcycle, so it’s really the same effect.”

“You think me driving a motorcycle is sexy?”

“I thought that was obvious. I jump on you every time you arrive on one.”

He tipped his head back and laughed. “I thought you were happy to see me.”

I enjoyed his unbridled show of joy. It wasn’t usual, but I wanted to see it more often. “I was.”

“It’s almost like we were made for each other,” Jake said, his expression soft.

We did seem to be attracted to what made us different from each other. “Like opposites attract for a reason.”

Jake nodded. “You make me see life differently, and hopefully, I do the same for you.”

He’d taught me not to be so closed off, to deal with my grief and business head-on, which was ironic, considering how shut down he could be at times.

“You want help with putting these up?” Jake asked.

“That would be amazing. I’m not too handy with a hammer.”

“I got you.” He gathered them in a pile and stood to leave. “You want to tell me where these go?”

“Sure.” I followed him to the barn, pausing for him to grab tools from his truck.

I loved having the help of my friends today, but it was even better having Jake here. The crazy part was, I could see him coming home to me every night, clearing out the house and making it ours. Possibly even raising kids here. Maybe even getting some animals for our kids to take care of. A couple of goats. Growing old. Rocking on the porch and watching the sunset. I was getting ahead of myself, though.

Placing the frames on the floor, I told him exactly where I wanted each picture. I’d discussed it with Gia first, and she’d drawn a diagram for where things could go so that if a bride wanted them to be removed, we could easily replace it with alternate decorations.

Watching him work, holding the nail between two fingers with his eyes narrowed in concentration, I knew Jake was good for me now. I just wasn’t sure if he had staying power. Would he run at the first sign of trouble, or would he stick by my side? Only time would tell.

We finished hanging the pictures, ate cold pizza on the kitchen counter, and then went upstairs to start a fire in the master’s hearth. Even though I spent most of the day directing people, I was exhausted, and my muscles were sore.

Jake rested his back against the pillows. “We didn’t get through many boxes.”

I climbed in next to him, curling my knees underneath me. “That’s okay. We cleared out the garage, got the photographs hung, and cleared the property for the landscapers to do their job.”

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “We did get a lot done today.”

“Thank you for helping. You closed the shop for the day.” It was a big deal for Jake to do something like that.

“You needed the help. And you heard everyone, we help each other. Our businesses support each other. If they fail, then we won’t survive either.”

“I suppose that’s true, but it’s more than that.”

“I wanted to be there for you. I want you to be able to count on me. I know you don’t have many close friends, and your family isn’t supportive. But I’ve got you.”

I nestled into his chest, breathing in his scent and savoring his strong arm around me. “I have your back too, you know.”

“Do you, now?” he asked, his lips twitching.

“Yeah, if you need some help with moving furniture, or some bouquets of flowers, I’m your girl.”

“Mmm. I might take you up on the flowers, but I can handle the furniture.”

“Good. That’s not really my area of expertise.” It didn’t escape my notice that Jake was more relaxed than when we first met. I had mellowed him.

He clicked on the TV, which was mounted above the mantel, and we settled in to watch a movie. It was the perfect end to a productive day. I felt more content and happier than I had in ages. I had people who supported me, friends, and Jake. I wanted him to be my future. I just hoped he could see it and didn’t run away from it.

He pulled a throw from the end of the bed over us, and we snuggled in to watch the action movie. With my cheek resting on his shoulder, I didn’t care what we watched. I was content to rest on his hard body, reveling in his warmth. His fingers played with the strands of my hair, and, as usual, it lulled me to sleep.