Page 1 of No Bed Of Roses

CHAPTER 1

Buy The Farm

Isla Duggan stood ankle-deep in the mud of a field she’d never seen before, in a state she’d never visited until today, and felt like maybe she’d found home.

Vermont’s spring air smelled crisp and sharp. Full of promise and possibilities. If she stayed here, she could live in the future, in those possibilities, rather than living with her past and her mistakes peeking over her shoulders.

The fields cried out for attention. The faded barn, too. At one time, someone had painted a scene on the side. Two horses pulling a plow with a farmer walking along behind. The scene could have occurred any time over the past couple of hundred years.

The painting stood at least fifteen feet tall. Who painted it and why? Was it an act of ego or an act of love? The paint had faded, and she wondered how many decades had passed since it had been bright and fresh.

Could she bring this place back to life? She had no aspirations to paint the barn, but she could tend to the rest.

A flat space of land stood next to a fence dividing this property from the next. That farm didn’t look like anyone had tended it in decades, either. Its barn was triple the size of her own and the land was probably five times as wide.

She didn’t need or want anything that big. With that property size, she would need help, and Isla wanted to be on her own for a while. She wanted to make her own decisions. Keep her work private from greedy eyes and ridiculous expectations.

The sound of a car horn had her flinching. She turned to see a small car pull into the driveway and park.

When Tansy Cheveyo jumped out of the passenger seat before the car fully stopped, Isla relaxed and squelched her way through the field toward her friend. She waved Tansy toward the cottage. “Stay there. This section is super muddy.”

Seconds later, she was wrapped in her friend’s arms as Tansy bounced. “Isla. I’m so happy to see you. I’m so glad you’re moving here.”

Which she hadn’t been sure she’d be brave enough to do. But having a friend within hailing distance sounded like a wonderful thing. “Me too. So far, I love it.”

Tansy laughed and hugged her again. “I knew you would. The cottage is small, but it’s adorable.”

Isla laughed. “I haven’t even looked at it yet. I like the fields and the barn. There’s a good flat space for my greenhouses.”

“Have you decided which experiments to start yet?”

A man with enough muscles to lift the barn behind her laughed and slung his arm over Tansy’s shoulder. “Let the woman breathe, Tans. She just got here. Let her breathe before you two start improving the world.”

Tansy laughed and leaned into the man. “You’re right. I’m just so excited. Isla Duggan, I’d like you to meet Sam Young.”

So this was Tansy’s Sam. She spoke about him as if he was a superhero. His physique matched, and the love directed at Tansy told Isla his heart did as well.

Isla held out her hand. “Hi, Sam. It’s nice to meet you. Tansy’s told me lots about you.”

Sam ignored the hand and wrapped his arms around her in a friendly hug. “Nice to meet you as well, Isla. Tansy’s been vibrating with excitement at luring another good friend to Vermont. We hope you love it here.”

“Me too.” Her echo of her previous words held some trepidation she hoped they wouldn’t notice. Of course, Tansy was more perceptive than that.

She patted Isla’s arm. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure this is the right place for you. If that doesn’t happen though, I can buy out your half of the property if you need to go. I don’t want that to happen, but the option is always there. You need to do what’s best for you.”

Sam nodded firmly. “Take your time to decide. Setting up in a new place takes time and comes with a lot of emotional swings. There’s no rush. And if you want to stay with us out at Midnight Lake and simply be, you can do that too. The fields and experiments will still be there next month or next year.”

She hadn’t said a word about what had prompted her sudden need to leave the lab in Texas, but these two had intuited that there were problems. She needed time to heal, but she also knew that work was the best thing for her. Having a purpose and a goal would stop her from overthinking her past.

Tansy looped her arm through Isla’s. “Let’s tour the cottage first. Sam already installed a security system in it. We’ll get one on the barn and anywhere else you’d like, too.”

That had her staring at them. Sam shrugged. “I’m sure Tansy has told you I’m part of the team who runs Midnight Security. We might be overly cautious with our security systems, but they’ve come in handy once or twice.”

Isla knew a bit of the story that had brought Tansy and Sam together, but she didn’t know the extent of what had happened when some jerks had wanted to steal Tansy’s technology and turn it into a weapon. Now that she was in Vermont, she’d find out the whole story one day.

As it was, the security system helped settle some of her nerves. She didn’t expect any of the issues from her past to follow her across the country, but it would be nice to have an early warning system if she was wrong about that.

“Now, let’s tour your cottage, and we’ll let Sam show off his security system. Then you can decide if you want to stay here for the night or if you’d prefer to come out to Midnight Lake with us.”

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