Page 2 of No Bed Of Roses

Isla wondered if she’d ever felt as welcome as she did at the moment. She was the kind of person who kept to the background and the sidelines. Sometimes, people didn’t even notice her, and that was just fine.

But being welcomed, being wanted? That was a pretty spectacular feeling.

She squeezed Tansy’s arm and smiled. “I can’t wait to see inside.”

The cottage held a large mud room with laundry and a main room with a kitchen and living area. A tiny bistro table and two chairs divided the two spaces. To the side was a bedroom and bathroom with an amazing clawfoot tub.

Instead of the dusty interior she’d imagined, the space sparkled. The furniture was old, some of it antique-old, but all clean as well. There was fresh bedding on the bed, covered by a beautiful quilt that made her want to dive right in for the night.

“I can’t believe you did all of this, Tansy. It’s so bright and fresh and welcoming.” There were even flowers on the tiny table and a kettle on the stove waiting to make tea.

Tansy smiled. “We really want you to stay here in Vermont. I had lots of help from our friends. You’ll be able to meet them soon, but I thought it would be overwhelming if everyone arrived here today.”

Sam pointed at the fridge. “We’ve stocked you up with some food, and Graham fixed up a few ready-to-go meals for you.”

She wasn’t sure who Graham was, but she already liked him.

“There’s currently only one diner in town. It’s open until three in the afternoon. The local B&B does an occasional dinner service and the Saloon will open soon, but everyone’s mostly on their own for food in the evenings.”

Tansy nodded. “You’re always welcome to come to the lodge for anything you need. We’ll keep a bedroom open for you there as well. With the two-mile hike in, we tend to get overnight guests. There are plenty of rooms.”

Isla swallowed, the emotions filling her. There was no doubt she was going to love it here.

Sam grinned again. “Now that we’ve completely overwhelmed you, why don’t we walk through your muddy fields and you can tell us some of what you might want to do?”

That sounded like the perfect antidote to her overwhelm. Focusing on the plants and her plans was definitely her happy place.

Levi Connors wondered what in the hell he was doing. But he kept aiming his truck north instead of west or even south. Vermont was a state with about eight months of winter.

He wasn’t sure of much anymore, but he was still sure that he was a farmer. And farmers who worked in Vermont faced a ton of challenges that didn’t exist in Nebraska or Iowa. Or Kansas. But he couldn’t face Kansas again, and none of the properties he’d checked out in the other states had felt right.

Not that he could identify why they felt wrong, just that he couldn’t set down his money for any of them.

So he was heading north, giving in to the not-so-subtle hints from his former Army teammate Troy Phail. Phail was a terrible surname. It was also the name of the town where Troy lived.

The town where Levi was headed. Who headed to Phail?

Apparently, people who hadn’t been able to find their own space and who felt lost and alone. Phail might be a terrible name, but Levi felt like a failure, so it pretty much fit.

It was spring, and there wouldn’t be snow. At least, he hoped the snow was gone. It was the end of March. Back in Kansas, the wheat would be swaying in the wind. The corn would be going into the ground.

He wasn’t sure what growing zones they had in Vermont, but if they had snow in March, the growing season was much shorter than the ones he’d lived in.

If he decided to stay, he had a ton of research to do. Not only the growing zones, but the land’s personality and needs. Things that could only come from someone who’d worked it.

He couldn’t make any plans until he knew things. What were typical farming crops in Vermont? Did he know anything about them? He didn’t particularly want to dive into something new. He liked the tried and true.

His parents had grown wheat and corn like their parents before them. And their parents and grandparents before them. There were best practices involved and traditions, too. He knew the ebb and flow of the seasons. He understood the land and the crops. Even understood the weather disasters that devastated the lands on a whim, like the tornado that had wiped out their family farm and his parents right along with it.

He didn’t know sweet diddly squat about snow and how it affected the land and the growing.

Still, he kept driving north. Troy often lived up to his call sign of Epic, as in Epic Phail. The man was always concocting plans and had more ideas than an ear of corn had kernels. The man was always thinking of ways to improve. Even when things were fine just the way they were.

Hell, Epic had talked Arrow and Falcon into living in Phail. That left him, Slick, and Scooby on the outside. Levi was tired of being on the outside of everything.

Once he crossed the state line, Levi paid more attention to the GPS. He wanted to be done driving and get out to stretch his legs. He also wanted to drive forever until he found a place. His place.

The town of Phail was in the eastern section of the state, not too far from New Hampshire and closer to the south than the north. That had to be some good news if he was thinking about putting down roots here.

---