“Oh, come on.” She rolls her eyes. “Insta-family? This isn’t a cheesy reality show. Yes, Olivia is a single mom, but she’s also got her own business. She’s pretty. Think of it more like a fast track to getting to where you’d like to be.”
“I just said I don’t want a family, Evie. No time.”
“Whose fault is that?” Every once in a while, Evelyn slips into these moods. I know she’s been mad at me for my Grinch status, but I’m trying. Yet today, it seems like I’ve picked the short straw when it comes to just about everything.
Our house boasts a lot of space, something I’m grateful for. There are days when we don’t cross paths unless it’s for business, food, or coffee. Yet, until this moment, I’ve never considered a coffee maker in my office. Or maybe even moving my office to one of the barns, toreallydial in my recluse status. I can learn to live with whatever is out there. It’s probably less scary than Evelyn when she sets her mind on something.
I’m finally getting why the Grinch lived on a mountaintop with his dog.
“I’m going to go make sure we’re ready for the field trip.” Refusing to give her a chance to continue on her tirade, I bolt out the door and head toward Owen.
Once Evelyn wraps her mind around something, she’s a dog with a bone. I have my suspicions about why she’s so insistent about harping on my marital status, but it’s my decision.
Maybe, for once, I’ll get lucky, and the girl of my dreams will just wander onto the tree farm, and everything else will just fall into place. Not that life has ever handed me a fairytale—if anything, it feels like I’m stuck in the part of the story where the beast scares everyone off long before the happy ending.
But if there’s anything I’ve learned in the last couple of years, luck is rarely on my side.
three
AIDEN
As it turns out,I need luck.
A whole Who-Ville-sized sleigh of it. Scowling at the email on my phone, I debate dropping everything and hacking away at a tree for the second time today.
We were already struggling with a lack of income. But the clause in Dad’s will I’ve actively avoided since the moment we became aware of it is now butting up against an even bigger issue. A looming tax penalty that’s nearly impossible to square away without a miracle.
Selling our trees was the sole reason our land was tax-exempt. After reading that email, I know there’s no point in contesting it. We owe Colorado a substantial sum, all due to my grief-driven decision to step back.
If I can’t pay for it, every sacrifice I’ve made for this farm over the years won’t have mattered. The state will break up the farm and sell it—piece by piece. We’ll lose the land my family acquired generations ago, the house that’s been a home to family after family.
Whatever was left behind for us to continue on will fade into oblivion.
And it will be all my fault.
I jam my phone back into my pocket, where I swear it’ll stay until afternoon.
Somewhere up in the bright blue winter sky, Dad is shaking his finger at me, and I deserve it. Both problems exist because I avoided them, and the chickens have come home to roost. If I don’t fulfill the stipulation in his will—sign the papers, start a family, prove I’m truly settled—then I don’t inherit the rest of the trust.
He was old-fashioned. Family meant the world to him, and he wanted to ensure thefamily would continueto run this place. Which means settling down with a wife and rooting my family here.
Only I don’t have a wife. And I don’t have prospects either.
Taking two years off has been a financial hardship, but we’ve managed to survive. Mostly.
And now, as the reality sinks in, only one solution keeps circling back. One I swore I’d never consider—not even to save the only home I’ve ever wanted.
But it’s no longer just about me. It’s about a legacy. Marrying someone on paper just to keep the farm afloat was never supposed to be an option. Let alone theonlyoption.
I wasn’t lying when I told Evie I don’t have time for a relationship, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to fake one to save this place. Somewhere inside this broken heart, I still believe in what my parents had.
I’m not fulfilling his will without love being involved in the plan. And I’m too scared of losing anyone else to try. It’s a vicious cycle.
Owen claps a hand down on my shoulder. “Troops have arrived.”
“Who?” I blink, reorienting myself.
“The field trip,” he reminds me. “Are you okay?”
