She rolls her eyes, gesturing for me to follow her into the barn. Rohan is at the stove, gathering ingredients to make dinner, and nods over his shoulder when he sees me.
I follow Sana to the armchairs by the water wheel outlet, and we sit down across from each other.
When she raises her eyebrows—my cue to get on with it—I tell her about my negotiation with Reed.
She nods along, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at different parts of my story.
“So, you want me to deal with the real estate lawyers?”
I give her my best grin. “I’ll deal with the architect and get something drawn up.”
She sighs, leaning back in her chair as she eyes me. “You seem inordinately excited about this.”
I nod. “I think it’s going to be better than we ever expected.”
38
EVE
Ileave Sana and Rohan to get settled in the cabin, reminding them probably a few too many times that I live in the bungalow just up the road and if they need anything—anything—they should feel free to come knock. We make a tentative plan to get dinner together over the next few days, but I leave the details to Ryder and Sana to work out. I don’t want them to feel like theymustcome have dinner with us if they’d prefer a relaxing vacation, just the two of them.
And as I head back to my house, I can’t help staring at the cabins on the hill in the distance. They’re mostly obscured by trees—you’d never know they were there unless you were looking for them—but it strikes me as odd that someone was up there.
Mostly because as long as I’ve lived here, those cabins have been abandoned.
Of course, I’ve gone up and poked around because sometimes curiosity just gets the better of you. The hike is a little treacherous, but the view of the sunflower farm is unmatched. I’ve never been inside—allthe boards covering the windows and doors remind me a little too much of a horror movie—but I suppose someonecouldfind their way up there, if they knew they could squat there in peace.
I brush the thought from my mind as I head inside and flip the laundry Ryder started, wondering how his talk with Reed is going. I wanted to go—purely for the drama of it all—but more than that, I wanted to relish this feeling of someone fighting for something I love as hard as I would.
It’s one thing to fight for a person. Another thing entirely to fight for what matters to them even if it has no consequence to you.
It’s something a man has never done for me before.
And though part of me wants to run for the hills because everything he is reminds me of thelasttime I was abandoned by someone who was supposed to care for me, I want to trust him. I want to put aside all of those scary feelings and trust that he’s going to show up for me time and time again. That he’ll fight not just for me, but for the things that matter to me, too.
I used to think that life was a matter of choosing between love and this farm that matters so much to me. At least, that’s what my mother taught me.
But maybe it’s about finding someone who doesn’t make you choose.
I make a sincere attempt to focus on anything other than Ryder, but I fail miserably. I read the same page of my book a good five times before closing it and accepting that my mind is going in too many directions to focus on words. I pull the laundry out of the dryer and start folding instead, the basket on the coffee table in front of the couch so I can shamelessly watch for his return.
And when he finally does, I drop the sheets without a second glance and run out to meet him.
He parks his car in Izzy’s usual spot alongside mine, and when he gets out, a grin takes over his face.
I can’t help but mirror it right back to him.
“Your water wheel’s going to get fixed,” he says, wrapping his arms around my waist and hoisting me into the air.
“It is?”
He spins around slowly, kissing my neck and my cheeks and my forehead as he gently lowers me to the ground. “By the guy you liked. We’re not putting the fate of the water wheel in the hands of some guy who only cares about a quick buck.”
“Really? Oh, I thought for sure you’d just get him to lower the cost of materials or something.”
He shakes his head, still holding me close. “Nope. We actually had a very fruitful negotiation. We’re going to get everything we want, Sunflower.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Yeah?” I pause. “Wait, is he going to approve your development plan too?”
