“They tolled when Leticia fell for me, too,” he said, his voice dropping. “And you know how that ended.”
Chapter 26
Honey
Three days passed, and Honey still hadn’t talked to Ethan about her ideas to turn the Hale family orchard into an experience destination. She was under the suspicion he was purposely avoiding her, which was fairly easy to do considering she was also avoiding him.
Every morning since the kiss—and the heart-wrecking confession that followed—she crept out of her room early, tiptoeing across creaky floorboards with a muffin tucked into her jacket pocket. She told herself getting right to work helped her get into a productive headspace, which wasn’t entirely untrue, but mostly it let her disappear before Ethan and the girls emerged for their day.
The girls, unfortunately, had not gotten the memo. They continued tracking her down in the afternoon with schoolyard gossip, wildflower crowns, and a million pressing questions about all kinds of things from well logistics, to magical ethics, to whether Honey could teach them how to do eyeliner.
Still, she’d made decent progress. The audit paperwork was nearly finished, and her financial analysis for the farm planwas color-coded and tabbed. Today, she wore one of the soft cotton shirts Ethan had purchased for her and the slightly-too-baggy boho cargo pants she’d picked up at The Kettle on a solo trip into town. They weren’t exactly her style, and to be honest, she didn’t really remember deciding to purchase them, but she had to admit they were comfortable.
“Never mind that,” she said aloud, as she tucked the blanket around Pickles and grabbed her file in her hand. Distraction or not, Honey did need to talk to Ethan soon. The plan was solid. She was proud of it. She’d spent every evening poring over the numbers and crafting the pitch. The audit was almost done, and the hearing was fast approaching. If she wanted to help—if she could help—it had to be now.
Her phone buzzed. 5:44 a.m.
One minute before Ethan would shuffle out of his room and head straight for the coffeepot.
Now or never.
She stood at her bedroom door, clutching the file folder to her chest. Her plan was simple: hand it off, blurt her pre-prepared speech, and flee toward the wishing well before he had a chance to say anything. He wouldn’t have time to follow her because he always had to rush any morning orchard chores in order to get the girls ready for school. It was a perfect, well thought out plan.
She opened the door.
And nearly dropped the folder.
Because Ethan Hale was standing right there.
His fist hovered in the air, but he promptly dropped it. His eyes widened, and for a split second, he looked like he might bolt down the hallway.
Honey blinked. “Oh.”
“I—uh—” Ethan cleared his throat. “Morning.”
Her heart thudded in her chest. This was not how she’d planned it. She instinctively moved the folder behind her back. “Good morning, Mr. Hale.”
“The audit’s going well?”
“Is that supposed to be a pun?”
He laughed hollowly. “I guess it was.”
The floorboard creaked, and they both looked down the hall towards the bedroom where the girls slept. When no other sound came, Honey cleared her throat.
“Was there something you needed?”
“No. No. Just checking in. Anyways, have a good one.”
Ethan walked away, past the coffee pot and out the door to do morning farm chores before getting the girls ready for school.
She turned her back to the door and eyed the goat still snuggled up in bed.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered to herself. “You don’t just get to kiss a person and then vanish like some emotionally repressed”—she waved a hand, grasping for something appropriately dramatic—“bureaucrat,” she finished, well aware of the irony.
A soft rustle came from the bed. Pickles blinked up at her. He rose halfway to standing, yawned, and promptly lay back down.
“I’m going to talk to him,” she told the goat.
