I shake my head. “What are you even trying to say? That youdon’tgive a shit about what anyone thinks after all?”
He shrugs. “No. I’m just trying to say that I give a shit about whatyouthink.”
I blink, struggling to absorb his meaning.
“I don’t need your approval,” he says with a mild shrug. “But I want it.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why?”
He lets out a long breath. “Because I like you, Evie. Ithink you’re charming and frustrating and kind of cute when you’re mad. You’re far smarter than you give yourself credit for, and I really respect how hard you work to keep up something you love.”
I rear back, certain that I need to saysomething, but it seems every word I’ve ever known has left my brain.
He gives me a small smile. “Thatis why I want your approval. I know I came here with a different agenda, but I guess things change.”
On one hand, I want to crash into his chest even more than I did before. On the other hand, I know I need to give my brain processing time before totally flip-flopping on every speck of logic that, until now, has been telling me to play it safe.
“I need a little time,” I tell him, watching his expression carefully, searching for a moment of disappointment. Or maybe one of relief, if this is all an act to get that easement signed.
But he only nods. “I know. It’s busy season. Take all the time you need,” he says. “I’ll be here.”
19
RYDER
Telling Eve I have a crush on her was not exactly a part of today’s planned activities, but apparently we’re throwing the plan right out the window.
Whenever she gets that look in her eye like she’s sizing me up, I get this urge to prove myself to her, and I think I’m done with trying to pass it off as anything other than liking her.
We’re grown adults, we’ve kissed, and we’ve now established that I’m her type. Herfamily’stype, apparently.
It’s about time we stopped pretending this is all about the land. Sure, I came here with the intention of eventually getting her to agree to an easement, but somewhere along the way, it became about getting her approval in general. About getting her to like not just my plan, but me.
She’s still staring at me, her lips parted and her eyes wide. Iknowshe likes me too, but it goes against everything she’s been taught in life.
But I wasn’t joking when I said I’d be here.
Sana’s been bugging me about coming back to the office soon—she’s essentially doing my job inaddition to her own—but something tells me I need to stay here until we get a plan in place. I’ll stop in at home for a few days next week to check in with her and make sure things are going okay, but I’m going to be right back here the second we sign off for the day.
There have been a few times in my life when I’ve been drawn to Sunflower Hill—when I was in college and missed the hominess of Gam’s house, or after my father died and I had a mini existential crisis about whether Iwantedto take over his business for good.
And I’m not sure I’m feeling a draw towardhomespecifically, but I am feelingsomething.
Something that I’m pretty sure has everything to do with the sunflower girl who seemingly can’t decide whether to kiss me or kill me.
I bite my lip, deciding it’s probably best to move on from this conversation, if only for the fact that Evie seems frozen in place. “We should probably pick a nice bouquet for my grandmother.”
Eve blinks, her eyes drifting all across my face as she turns to the sunflowers around us. “Um, right. Of course. Yes, let’s get a good one for her.” She clears her throat, letting out a shaky breath. She pulls a particularly tall stalk down toward us and clips it, handing me the flower. “You want to clip on a diagonal. Look for flowers that look like they’re just about to open. They’ll last the longest in water.”
I nod, following her directions and selecting a few that look just like the one she started with. I hold the stalk steady and she clips with her adult shears, so I’m spared using the kid scissors.
“These are going to look so pretty,” she says, holding up the few we collected and brushing her fingers over the closed petals. “Look at the edges here. This one is going tobe darker, almost a red. Oh, it’s going to be so gorgeous. We should get another darker one for her, really fill out the colors.”
I nod, glancing around until I find one with similar coloring. “How about this one?” I pull on the stem, holding it between us.
“Oh yes, that’s going to look so good. Nice job.”
My whole body warms with those two words of praise from Eve’s mouth.
