He took a breath, then pressed the Bluetooth button on his steering wheel. “Call Ashleigh.”
The phone made it through one full ring before she picked up. “Theo. I’m sorry—I know it’s late. You just had to leave so quickly—”
“No, I’m the one who needs to apologize. Believe me, that’s not customary for me. I’ve never walked out in the middle of a date.”
“Well, I’ve never had anyone walk out on me in the middle of a date, so we’re even.”
Theo heard the shy smile in her tone and felt the corners of his lips turn up.
But then he remembered where he was, and where he was about to return.
His headlights shone on another deep turn in the road, and Theo turned the wheel. “I would’ve called back sooner but I just got down the mountain enough to get service.”
“You’re still up there? With your employee?” The surprise in Ashleigh’s voice was understandable, but Theo frowned slightly at the almost imperceptible tone of disapproval. But then, when he’d explained the situation as he broke off their date and dashed out the door, the barrage of questions revealed she hadn’t quite understood then either.“You’re driving up to Whitetop to visit someone who takes care of the farm? At his home? Tonight? Now?”
“I was. It’s going to take longer than expected to deal with the situation up here. I need to gather some supplies back in town before heading back.”
“You’re staying?” This time the disapproval was clear as crystal. “Why?”
He recalled the image of Skye in her slouchy sweater opening the door. The millisecond of shock in her deep brown eyes. The emotions that swirled in her irises the moment before she blinked and the concrete mask dropped into place. He saw no hate or bitterness. Neither did he see blankness, as though she had removed him from her life and forgotten him.
Quite the opposite.
The look—a momentary, millisecond look—suggested she had seen someone she cared for in the deepest, most secret parts of her soul.
If he was wrong, if he had only seen the reflection of his own desire in her shining eyes, then, well, it didn’t change a thing.
“Theo? You still—there?”
“Sorry,” Theo said, “I’m about to hit another dead spot.”
“Why are you going to stay at the Christmas tree farm?” The threat of a lost connection heightened her urgency.
He knew his answer.
But here, now, with the voice of the woman who’d been a constant source of companionship these past few weeks filling the car, he found himself pushing the brakes on the words that had formed in his head. Felt himself turning in another direction to answer her question in another true, if indirect, way.
Theo grinned. “Why, to return to my heritage. To be a farmer,” he said, just as the line went dead.
Chapter 6
Skye
Someone was on her porch.
It was six fifteen in the morning, and someone was on her porch.
The sky was only just starting to break through the linen curtains over her window when she wrapped her robe around her and followed the sound of the creaking porch swing to her front door. When she opened it, there was Theo, clad in what appeared to be knockoff Carhartt pants, still crisply creased in that hadn’t-been-washed-yet way, holding two cups of steaming coffee. He wore an ill-fitting orange flannel as his shirt of choice, the crisscrossing plaid of blue and orange so bright it would no doubt glow in the dark.
He was just breaking off a sip of his coffee, looking toward the creek with one ankle resting on the other knee, when he heard the sound of the door opening.
Seeing her figure in the doorway, he dropped his boot to the ground. The porch swing creaked. “I realized last night we never set a time.”
“Honestly, I’m surprised you made it out of the woods alive.” Skye’s voice was hoarse, making her wonder what shape the rest of her was in at that precise moment. She wrapped her robe around her tighter. “But good grief, Theo, I would’ve gone up and gotten you.”
“Would you have?” A somewhat challenging smile lifted the corner of his mouth. He returned his gaze to the babbling brook. “Anyway, I don’t mind the wait. It’s nice sitting out here. I have my coffee. I made you some if you’d like it. Very peaceful.” But even as he spoke the last word, a branch snapped in the distance, and she could see his neck tense.
Her eyes almost missed the black sedan sitting in the grass beside her Prius.
