The house was covered in shadows by the overhanging trees, but as Theo squinted he made out the simple frame of the cottage. And the bulky object parked beside it.
Theo squinted even more and the compact form of a Prius evolved. “Is that... a car?”
“It’s my car.”
“You? But why”—he ignored the growing pressure in his chest, the sense of something about to unfold he wasn’t quite prepared for—“are you parked there?”
“Why? The only reason why. Because I live there.”
Theo whipped around from the house to her. He took a step toward her. Then back toward the house. “Youlivethere?Here? Inthat?”
Skye’s smile slipped from her face as she tugged the door open. “Yeah, well, I know it’s not asgrandioseas the cabin you have up there—”
Her eyes darted to the Evergreen Farm sign swinging oh so slightly above the long gravel driveway where, at the end, the Watkins family cabin nestled in a stand of pines.
He’d offended her. But honestly, how she could have been offended was unfathomable. The old cottage was at least a hundred years old; it had been uninhabited for more than fifty. There was a reason they’d snuck in there for wild adventures as kids: it was deserted, every window was either cracked or shattered, and half the floor was missing.
But then something else startled him as he pulled his gaze away from the house.
She had moved back. Here. To Whitetop.
Skye wasback.
The realization hit him like a tidal wave.
“How long have you been here?”
“Twelve weeks,” Skye said, reaching inside and flicking off the light switch. The living room blackened, leaving only the porch light above her head to illuminate them.
The door creaked as it shut, and she turned the lock with her key.
“Well, thank you for coming,” Skye said in a perfunctory way, hopping down the stairs instead of stopping to look him in the eyes. She spoke like she was passing a mailman on the way to the mailbox. “I’ve gotta get some things sorted out if I’m going to spend the next week running the farm.”
“You mean helping me run the farm.”
Her foot hovered over the bottom step. For a long moment she was silent, her silhouette tipped downward as she stared at the mud-slopped grass. Then, with a determined jerk of her head, she looked up. “Look. I appreciate you”—she seemedmomentarily stuck as she waved her arms around—“coming out here to check on Dad . . . but . . . I think we can go ahead and give up this illusion about you running the farm. We both know this is about as far out of your arena as humanly possible, and anyway . . . I’m sure you have plenty of . . .”—she indicated his coat, again seeming to search for words—“duties of some sort to handle with your life in Abingdon, so I’m going to make it easy on you. I know how to handle a tractor. I know how to put the seedlings in. Frankly, this will all be easier if I handle it myself. Consider yourself off the hook.”
Theo stood rooted. He heard everything she had said, but the words and sentiments flew by faster than he could snatch them. He wanted to speak, felt the need to speak, but also felt the sneaking suspicion that if he didn’t choose each of his words wisely, he’d miss an opportunity he couldn’t identify. Frankly, he needed to get alone and think.
After several seconds ticked by, she jutted a thumb behind her. “Well, my shack is calling. I’d better run. Good night, Theo.”
Theo nodded, which she seemed to take as release from the conversation, and began walking down the driveway and across the road.
He watched her figure slowly disappear beneath the overhanging trees as she stepped onto the small bridge leading to her—most unbelievably enough—new home.
A single car and its beaming headlights momentarily lit up the road between them on its trek up the mountain.
There was so much to process.
Skye had returned. Half a lifetime had passed since their last conversation. They had no doubt changed since their lastmeeting. He was in a steady relationship with a woman who brought more life and joy to his days than he’d experienced in years.
It was clear Skye wanted him to stay out of her life.
But at the bottom of all the mess and complication was one thing Theo realized the moment she opened that door. One thing he could not deny when he saw her face after all these years.
She was the one person in the world he had never, ever, stopped wanting to see.
Chapter 4
