They left. I set a timer and pretended it needed my full attention. Harmony and I were being civil to each other. We didn’t need to pretend everything was okay between us when it wasn’t. Did the sight of her make memories flood my mind like a bad dream? Maybe. Was she more beautiful today that it took my breath away? Also maybe. None of that mattered anymore. She came back for I don’t know what. . . closure, to reconnect with her family, with Nico? Nah, I doubted that last option. Harmony was better than her family always had been, and Nico never deserved her.
By late morning I ran back to the orchard. I checked that irrigation was fine; two trees needed a hard prune but the early morning shift had done their job. On the drive back to town, the radio I carried on my waist, which connected me to the fire department as one of their volunteers, gave me two routine updates and a false alarm.
After dinner, I texted Isabelle, my baby sister. She was a married woman now, her husband, Luc, played in the NHL.
Me:Thinking about building on the ridge. Do you or Luc have a contractor who won’t vanish mid-foundation? I know you’re in Philly, no rush.
She replied twenty minutes later.
Isabelle:Luc will send two Quebec-side names. We’ve been looking into a contractor too. Want to build a cottage-style home on the Chabot property.
Me:Sounds fancy, Bean. Happy for you. Tell Luc thanks
Good luck on your exam and don’t forget sleep.
Isabelle:Bossy
A small smile tugged at my lips. She and Luc had been best friends growing up. It was good to see how happy they had madeeach other. At twenty-six, I was very single with no prospects of settling down. It wasn’t that I was allergic to the idea of a relationship, I just hadn’t found someone who fit the bill.
I looked at the drawing of my house. I was making the dream of building a home a reality. I’d always been a hard worker, but I expected to have more downtime. Time to take hikes in the forest, time to stop and breathe in the fresh air. Instead, I worked so hard that by the time my head hit the pillow at night, I was out. This house would give me something to look forward to. I had enough money saved up that I could have it built without taking a mortgage or a loan from Dad. On some level, I would’ve hoped I would have found my match and then built the home, but it seemed to work out okay for Phoenix, my older brother. He built his house on the property and then Elyna Chabot came back to town, and the rest was history. For a moment my mind jumped to Harmony, but I closed the thought down before it materialized.
By the lunch rush, Main Street had that steady hum of people who knew where they were going. A man in a fleece paid for a coffee and glanced out our window at the flower shop. “Must be nice having a lease like that when you’re dating the police director,” he said to nobody in particular.
Harmony stood next to our counter, picking up a pre-order. She didn’t raise her voice. “Sandy pays like the rest of us.”
The man’s face went red. “Didn’t mean anything.”
She took the bag. She didn’t look my way. I didn’t look hers. That felt about right.
Back on our side, Maya slid next to me. “You going to let people say that about Sandy?”
“I’m going to let Sandy handle her own business,” I replied.
Maya pinched her lips together and didn’t say a word. She was good at gauging my moods, and I appreciated that she turned around and walked away. Between orders, Sandy addedHarmony to a vendor group chat for festival deliveries and garbage pickup. Ten minutes later, Harmony showed me her screen from the doorway. A stranger from the chat had already DM’d her:After-hours collab? Quick Story shots in your alley—thirty minutes max.
She forwarded it to Becket with one line:Public link?He answered fast:Looks like it. Don’t engage. I’ll clean the list.That was the end of it. No drama. Just one more reminder the rules mattered. Harmony’s return home was complicated. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. She was on bad terms with her brother, since she walked away from her family’s business eight years ago, and I may have heard her talking to Dad on her last visit here about helping the police secure her father’s arrest, which meant she had enemies. Enemies who could pop up out of nowhere. Since I was on the security committee for the festival and Becket, my younger brother, was a police officer, we were making sure there were no red flags involved.
By midafternoon, Dad stepped in to the bakeshop, took one look at the line, then the display case, then out the window to the florist’s shop. “Isabelle texted me,” he said, not wasting time. “Luc has two contractors for you. You aren’t wasting any time.”
“There’s no reason to waste time. I’ll meet them after the wedding,” I said. “I’ll bring you a plan. I’ll budget so the orchard and the bakery don’t bleed. I don’t want you worrying. I have it all under control.”
“I know.” He pinched his lips. “I worry you have too much on your plate. You don’t have time to breathe. I may know a thing or two about that lifestyle,” he said.
“I’m fine, Dad.”
“Yeah,” he sighed like he didn’t believe me. “I was fine. I was handling it.” He set a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Volunteer shift tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Right, okay,” he repeated like he was worried, but I liked staying busy. He left with a nod to Maya.
By late afternoon, I could feel the tired behind my eyes. Work didn’t stop because I wanted a different life; it stopped because the last tray was done and there wasn’t anything else to bake. I wiped the counter, checked three timers out of habit, and made myself stop checking.
Harmony crossed the street with a small vase and a card:A little green keeps people calm.Maya put it by the register. It looked right there. Nobody commented on it. That was for the best.
The next day, Noah from the Community Trust showed up with a laminated badge and a tech, who moved like a guy who’d done this a hundred times. Sandy met them at the her door with her clipboard ready.
“Fifteen minutes, business hours,” she said. “No alley. Copy Officer Thorne on anything else.” Her response made me smile. Dad was clearly teaching her how to be careful and take care of herself. She had been good for Dad too. He wasn’t a grump anymore, which was both shocking and inspiring.
