My gaze lifts, meeting Finn’s as he walks toward Noah and me. “Hey, Finn.” A hopeful smile crosses my lips as I rise to standing as my oldest brother stops in front of me.
His chocolate eyes search my face before he drags me in for a hug. “What are you doing here?”
“My lease was up and I finished my internship.”
He releases me and lifts an eyebrow in question. “What about vet school? I thought the plan was to start that?”
My heart rate quickens, and my palms grow clammy despite the cool fall air around us. A soft laugh slips from my lips, and I wave my hand dismissively. “I’m taking some time off. You know, the programs are so hard and time consuming. I think I just need some time to decompress.”
His eyebrows tug together. “What about U Penn? You still haven’t heard anything?”
Otto jumps up against my legs, pushing me off balance. I stumble to the left and knock into my brother. Noah chuckles, lightly pushing me away. “Oh, sorry!” I say, staggering past him as I center myself. “Damn dog.”
“I swear he doesn’t know his size,” Finn says, shaking his head as he takes one of the mugs from Noah. “He has an appointment tomorrow to get neutered. I’m hoping that might calm him down a bit.”
Laughter bubbles in my throat as Otto gets the zoomies and starts running circles around the three of us. “One can only hope.”
“So, are you home for a while then?”
Shifting from foot to foot, I chew on the inside of my cheek and nod my head. “Yeah,” I say softly, not bothering to dive into why I’m here and not at U Penn. Now doesn’t feel like the time to explain how I did everything right and had all the perfect grades and still didn’t get accepted.
Finn lifts an eyebrow. “You are planning on going back to school then, right?”
“Right.”
He purses his lips, gives his head half a shake, and looks at Noah. “Do you think you can take Otto tomorrow? I have that meeting with the realtor, remember?”
My brow immediately furrows. “A realtor for what?”
“The store,” Finn says matter-of-factly as he scratches his jaw. “We just closed it last week and are going to sell it.”
The store. That’s why it looked the way it did when I drove through town.
My eyes widen, my stomach churning. “What do you mean you closed it? You guys never mentioned anything about it to me.”
Noah kicks at a stone by his feet, his eyes trained on the ground as he shoves his empty hand in the front pocket of his jeans. The rush of fluid as my heart pounds fills my ears, engulfing the silence as I wait for an answer from one of them.
Finn blows out a deep sigh, his shoulders sagging. His lips purse as he pushes a frustrated hand through his hair.“You weren’t here, Willow. Between handling the sugar-making on the farm and the large amounts of shipments we’ve been fulfilling, neither of us have the time to manage the store.”
I look between both of my brothers, my heart about to pound out of my chest. “Why can’t you hire someone?”
Noah frowns, his eyebrows cinching closer. “That’s not where we make our money, so it doesn’t seem like the smart choice to invest more in a storefront that only serves the town.”
My breath lodges like a lump in my throat. “But it was Gram’s store,” I choke out, my nostrils flaring as emotion wells inside my chest. “It was her dream.”
Our family farm has been passed down from one generation to the next. What started out as a two man show with our great-grandfather and his brother, has now turned into a booming business with a team of sugar-makers. Growing maples, tapping the trees, and producing maple syrup and candies that are now shipping to stores all across the country.
Finn corkscrews his lips, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he slowly shakes his head. “I know, kid. It was her dream that built this entire empire. It’s part of the history of Alder’s Maple Farm, but I don’t think it’s part of the future anymore.”
“Give me the store.”
Finn’s head tilts to the side as Otto finally comes to a stop and flops down on the ground by his feet. “What?”
“I can run the store.”
“Willow,” he says, shaking his head. He steps closer to Noah and me.
The muscle in my jaw tightens as my spine stiffens. I shake my head, looking at Noah and then back to Finn. “I know I wasn’t here, but I am now and I refuse to give up on it like the two of you.”
