“I’m very good at following directions,” he says, leaving the bag on the coffee table and pulling out a bottle of white wine. “Wine glasses?”
I nod, crossing the living room to the kitchen and pulling two out of the cabinet.
I rest them on the coffee table, and he quickly unscrews the top of the bottle, pouring two generous servings. He hands one to me and clinks his against it. “To a good working relationship between neighbors.”
I crinkle my nose rather than taking a drink. “Can we cheers to something less boring? Like a dry sunflower season? Or respecting property lines?”
He gives me a flat look before clinking his glass against mine again. “Cheers to respecting property lines,” he deadpans, raising his glass to his lips.
“Cheers to impersonating a lumberjack.”
He nearly spits out his wine as he takes a sip. “For your information, these are well-worn clothes from the back ofmy closet. The only impersonation happening here is of my younger self.”
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see you split a log.”
“Give me an axe,” he says, throwing his hands out in front of him. “I grew up on the other side of town. BMX bikes in the woods until we were old enough to get our hands on dirt bikes. Later, smoking weed in the town square and making fun of tourists despite tourism being the main source of income in this town. I’m not a foreigner here, Eve. I’m just someone who decided to focus elsewhere.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why did you leave?”
He purses his lips, his eyes dancing around my face like he was expecting a different response. “Opportunity.”
“Taking over your dad’s business?”
He nods.
“Well, I guess we’re not so different in that way.” I take a sip of my wine. “You took over your dad’s business, and I took over my grandmother’s farm.”
He nods again, seemingly unsure. “So you understand.”
I shrug. “In a way, yeah, I understand. But there’s a big difference between taking over someone’s legacy for money and doing it because it means something.”
He raises an eyebrow, a smile coming to his face. “Who says I did it all for the money?”
“Common sense?”
He shoves one hand into the pocket of his jeans. “And I suppose common sense also says that the cash-strapped caretaker of the sunflower farm does it all for the honor, huh? Not because it’sherflowers that have a minor monopoly in this town that she squanders by selling them too cheap. And certainly not because being thenamesakefarm of this town comes with a certain amount of prestigethat gets her just drunk enough on power to demand that the rightful owner of adjacent properties bends toherwill.”
I take a sip of my wine, staring him down.
If he thinks calling me power drunk is going to affect me, he’ll need to think again.
If anything, I’ve been struggling to retain the tiniest inkling of power since taking over this farm. It’s not like money grows on trees here—or stalks, unfortunately—and though I’ve done my best to take advantage of opportunities when they crop up—the influencer partnerships, the tea garden off the gift shop, even the barn—I don’t get comfortable. Because while I’ve done the best I can with what I have, I’m ultimately the only one looking out for the wellbeing of the sunflower farm.
“I think anyone with an objective perspective and two brain cells to rub together can see the dynamic here. The sunflower farm that no one believes could ever get hurt because it’s always justbeenthere versus the big-shot developer next door who promises to do no harm?—”
“Can we stop with the ‘big shot’ stuff?”
I give him a once-over. “You don’t fool me. I’m willing to entertain this idea of a healthy working relationship you’re so keen on, but don’t think for one second that I don’t see through it all.”
He nods. “You’re smart. I get it.”
My eyes narrow. “Flattery will get you nowhere with me.”
He holds his hands up in surrender. “Not trying to get anywhere with you. Just saying things as they are. I’ll be as real with you as I can if you’ll do the same for me.”
I eye him, wondering how much of this to believe.
The reality is, he’s going to do exactly what he wants to do, regardless of how it’ll affect me. The best thing I canprobably do for my farm is to keep him close. Help him when it’s convenient and maybe I’ll be able to extract bits and pieces of what he’s planning to do next door and slowly but surely ruin every single one of his plans.
