Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

JESS

I t had been a wild few days since Slate and I had found that document. Ever since, it felt like all hell had broken loose. I doubted that the house had been quiet at all since and I certainly hadn't slept peacefully.

The secret was out in Firefly Grove and every neighbor, friend, and acquaintance in town had dropped by to congratulate us and ask questions. Mom and I had made more coffee, baked more cakes, and uncapped more beers in the last couple of days than we had since my grandfather had passed away. Only back then, people had come to share in our grief.

Now, they were sharing in our joy, and while it was great, it'd also been overwhelming because it felt like it would never end. Like we'd never answer all the questions.

Keeping up with the farm by myself while also trying to help my mom and make small talk with all the well-wishers had meant that the days had passed in a blur.

Meanwhile, Slate had been maneuvering my father through all the hoops to secure the oil legally. Apparently, one had to get that done first before you could commence drilling. They had been hard at work and it seemed like things were going to be moving fast from now on.

All the attention we'd been getting had made me nervous about the market, but I was still waiting on the porch on Saturday morning for Sophie to pick me up. It was our usual Saturday tradition. The only difference was that I'd never been nervous about it before.

Sophie's cute little sunshine yellow Beetle appeared at the bottom of the driveway, a small cloud of dust behind her as she carefully navigated her way to the house. It'd always frustrated me that she drove like an old lady, but she believed in slow and steady winning the race.

And she'd never budged when I'd pointed out to her that I'd won plenty of races in my time and none of them had been by going slow and steady.

As she parked in front of the house, I hurried down the stairs to meet her while she waited for me in the car. Today, though, she wound down her window and looked past me, smiling at something—or more accurately, someone , behind me.

Crap .

I knew without even having to look that my friend had just spotted Slate coming out the screen door after me. With everything that had been going on, I'd decided against inviting him to the market with us.

He and I had barely seen each other with how busy we'd both been and I'd figured I would leave him to rest unless Dad needed him today. Sophie, however, didn't give a damn about how busy he'd been.

"Are you coming with us, handsome?" she called out the window, flashing him a megawatt smile that I only ever saw her break out when she was trying to convince a man to do something for her.

"Shut up." I reached the passenger door, hurtling inside and slamming it behind me. "We seriously need to discuss these expanding horizons of yours."

She laughed but ignored me, playfully continuing her bid for Slate's attention. "There's a really nice market in town this morning. We'd sure love to show you around."

Slate had paused when she'd called him "handsome," but she'd caught his interest now, his eyes hidden behind those expensive sunglasses but his head facing us. His posture changed too, becoming more cocky as he smirked and sauntered toward the car.

"A market, huh? That could be fun. I haven't seen much of Firefly Grove outside of the flash I got of the town on my way in."

"We can't have that now, can we?" she asked him cheerfully and jerked her head toward the backseat. "You can barely see any of the town from the bypass. Hop on in and we'll show you where the action is."

"There's action around here?"

"No," I said.

Sophie smiled sweetly at him. "Of course. What do you take us for, a bunch of boring old country bumpkins?"

I groaned, but that had been the final nail in Slate's coffin of reluctance. Convinced to join us for the morning, he grinned and climbed in. Sophie spun away. Shania Twain blasted over her radio and she sang along, bopping her head and shimmying her shoulders.

Mentally burying my face in my hands, I wondered just what she was trying to achieve here. Since she already knew how I might feel about him, I knew she wasn't hitting on him, but I wondered what she was getting at.

Once we'd left the farm, the song changed and she lowered the volume, flashing him another of her megawatt smiles in her rearview mirror. "If you'd like, I can tell you a little bit more about Firefly Grove while we're on the way in?"

Slate was still wearing his sunglasses, so I couldn't see his eyes, but he nodded and leaned forward. "Yeah, I'd love that. I didn't have much time to look into the place before I came and I've been a little busy since I got here."

"It's a good thing you have me, then," she said. "Obviously, our little town isn't exactly a metropolis, but it's a pretty awesome place to live and an amazing place to grow up."

He glanced at the window, watching the scenery roll by for a few long moments before Sophie found her inner tour guide. "We're mostly a farming town full of families who have been here for generations. Everyone knows each other and there's only one high school and one elementary school. The only theater we have is a drive-in, which actually just opened for the season a couple of weeks ago."

She grabbed bubblegum from her ashtray and popped it into her mouth. Chewing it and blowing cutesy little bubbles, she glanced at him again. "Horror movies are the best to see there. Just in case you decide to check it out while you're in town. Something about being exposed in your car makes it even spookier. If you want, maybe we can even take you one night. You'll see what I'm talking about."

"Sounds fun," Slate said.

I shot daggers at Sophie the entire drive into town. I'd finally realized what she was doing and it had nothing to do with her hitting on him. She was trying to get a feel for the guy but in a really obvious, over the top way.

She was doing it because she wanted me to hit on him. To realize he wasn't hiding anything so that I'd get over my uneasiness and go for it with him.

I sighed. Slate was too busy for these kinds of games right now. Too busy to mess around with the daughter of one of his clients—and what he was busy with could change Merrick Meadows' entire future. It could give my parents their retirement and it could make my dreams for the farm come true.

I couldn't jeopardize all that over a crush.

While I appreciated her effort, I really wished she would just leave well enough alone. We arrived at the market, and for the next few hours at least, he was stuck with us. In town, we parked and showed him around, Sophie still happily acting as his guide while I followed after them like a reluctant child.

"Everything sold here is local," she said proudly. "There's fresh produce, baked goods, jams, jellies, and other homemade products, like soap, candles, jewelry, and even clothes."

As we walked past Mrs. Arnold's store, Sophie slammed on the brakes and shot over to the jewelry display. "Mrs. A! I need those earrings. Please?"

She pointed at a dangly, delicate silver pair. "I've been looking for some just like this. I should've just come straight to you. You've always got exactly what I need."

Slate watched on as she bought them, then slid the little packet into her purse instead of slipping the earrings into her ears right away. I knew that meant she thought they didn't go with her current outfit, which was a pretty pink sundress complete with frills and pearly buttons at her cleavage.

As far as I was concerned, the earrings matched it perfectly, but what did I know? She was the girly girl between us, as well as the designer. I was just a girl, anxious about being with the community she'd known all her life and annoyed with her best friend's antics.

"This is too much," I hissed at her as we strode away from Mrs. Arnold's stall. "Can we please just go?"

"No way," she replied softly. "We just got here and you asked me to get a feel for the guy. He's not setting off any of my creep alarms so far, though."

"I know. If I'd known you were planning this, I'd have told you that I'm starting to think I overreacted. He's been a blessing the last few days."

She grinned and pumped her eyebrows at me. "Well, then. At least now you know that if you do start something with him, he's got a bit more information about Firefly Grove that will help him make up his mind."

"Make up his mind about what?" I asked.

She winked. "Staying here with you, of course."

I groaned, but Slate suddenly spoke up from behind us. "Those clothes over there are really nice. They're unexpected, though. Are they local too? They don't really seem to fit in with the rest of the stuff around here."

Sophie beamed at him. "I'm so glad you think so. They're mine."

He stopped walking and cocked his head at her. "They're yours? What does that mean?"

"This is my boutique," she explained. "For now, anyway. I'd love to open my own store here in town someday, but at least this is something. It's pretty new, but it's been a lot of fun so far."

She snapped her fingers, looking around for her sister and only employee. Kristi was two years younger than us. She looked up from her phone where she'd been lounging in the shade. She rolled her eyes when she saw us and went back to work at the register.

I smiled at Slate, deciding that I'd let Sophie do all the talking for long enough. He was here with us now, and while I was still sure he'd had better things to do today, the least I could do was to be hospitable.

"Sophie will have clothes everyone wants one day," I said.

He looked around the market, and I could tell he was observing all the denim, plaid, and Blundstones on offer. Eventually, he glanced back at me. "Uh huh."

"I'm sorry about all this, by the way," I said softly. "I know you could probably have used a break today."

To my surprise, he shook his head at me. "There's nothing to be sorry about. You need to stop apologizing to me about stuff, Jess. This is a break and I'm enjoying getting out and seeing a bit more of the town."

Before I could say anything else, I spotted Tag hurrying over to us. He thrust his hand out at Slate, introducing himself enthusiastically. "It's so good to finally meet you, man. Doug told me you're the brains of the operation. I'm Tag. I was there when they found it."

"What a claim to fame," I joked, and he wrapped a playful arm around my shoulders, shaking me so vigorously I felt my boobs jiggling.

Slate glanced down and I jabbed Tag in the ribs, stepping out from under his arm. "Stop being such an idiot. I know every village needs one, but you don't always have to step up."

"But I'm so good at it." He laughed. "How're you holding up, Jessie? I heard things were crazy at the farm."

"They really have been," I said. "Slate here has been good enough to keep things on track, though."

Tag turned his attention back to the man in question, slowly looking him up and down. "Speaking of which, if you dress like that, everybody around here is going to know you're the Oil Man."

Slate arched an eyebrow at him, clearly confused. "The Oil Man? What on earth does that mean? Why wouldn't I want people to know?"