“Oh. Okay.” Trent gulped from his milkshake.
“You should come out tomorrow. I’ll take you for a ride on the zip-line course.” Ethan, with his unruly shock of blond hair and easygoing smile, was the fun-loving adventurer of their group.
Trent’s eyes lit with interest. “Cool.”
“It’s way cool,” Ethan told him, digging into their plate of cheese fries. “So how long are you in town?”
The kid shrugged. “Awhile, I guess.”
“Need a place to stay?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve got a place,” Ethan said.
Ryan slapped the table. “Your condo? That’s perfect.”
His friend nodded. “I was thinking about renting it out soon anyway. I’m basically living at Gabby’s house now. She’s my fiancée,” he told Trent.
“You’ll need a job, too,” Ryan said. “We can always use some extra help at Off-the-Grid, long as you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.”
Trent definitely looked interested. “Yeah. That sounds great.”
“We’re all really glad you’re here,” Ethan said.
Mark nodded, always a man of few words. He’d left the Army last year after getting blown half to pieces in Iraq. A deep scar creased his right cheek, but the other scars—the ones you couldn’t see by looking at him—might cut even deeper. He’d never told them what happened, but Ryan assumed it had been bad.
“Do you have a lot of family back in St. Louis?” Ryan asked. It was flat-out weird knowing so little about his brother or how he’d grown up.
“Yeah, I guess. I’m an only child, though…I mean, for a while I thought I was. Once my folks told me about you, I started trying to find you.”
“You know he never quit looking for you either, right?” Ethan said, his expression serious.
“Yeah.” Trent fiddled with his milkshake.
“You’re welcome to stay with us here in Haven as long as you like,” Ryan told him. “You have family here now, too.”
* * *
Emma took a deep breath and clicked on the big, red Submit button in the middle of her screen. There. She’d done it. She’d officially applied for college. She’d taken the first step toward fulfilling her dream of owning her own landscape design business.
Moving to Georgia to get her degree was phase two of her “new Emma” plan. Phase one involved cutting loose and having fun while she was still here in Haven. And she planned to have alotof fun. Just not at this exact moment because, right now, she was borderline late for a meeting.
She closed her laptop, grabbed her purse, and headed for her car. Ten minutes later, she was hustling across the town square, careful not to lose her footing in the damp grass. Her bosses, Lucas and Mary Pratt, the owners of Artful Blooms Landscape Design, had asked her to meet them here, which meant this was probably a pretty big project, and she didn’t want to make a lousy first impression on the potential new client by being late.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she picked her way around a puddle. Last night’s rain had drenched things, but in her line of work, a solid soaking could be a blessing, too. It saturated deep down into the soil, which was great for the plants. She caught sight of Lucas and Mary on the far side of the square, talking with several well-dressed people. She was pretty sure one of them was Lorraine Hanaford from the Haven Town Council. And the guy in the gray suit looked like—gulp—Terrence Clemmons, the mayor of Haven.
What in the world? She usually got called in to consult with homeowners or small business owners looking to spruce up their landscaping.
Emma smoothed a hand over her hair as she approached the group.
“Emma!” Mary gave her a warm smile, waving her over. “We’re so glad you could join us.”
“Sorry I’m late,” Emma said.
“We just got here a few minutes ago ourselves,” Lucas told her.
Mary made introductions. In addition to Lorraine Hanaford and Terrence Clemmons, the other two men in the group were James Daniels from the Town Planning Committee and Donald Ray with the architectural commission.
