Page 34 of Oops, I Fell For The Town Bad Boy!

“No need for that sort of thing,” Jeff said gruffly. “Why don’t you come in? Taylor here told me there was something you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Is Donna here as well?”

“She went out,” Jeff said.

There was something in his tone that let Kane know Donna going out hadn’t been a coincidence. She’d done it to avoid seeing him. That stung, but it was certainly fair enough. He followed Jeff into the house, and the three of them sat down at the kitchen table.

Once there, Jeff was quiet, and Kane could tell he’d gotten all the favors he was going to get. From now on, he was going to have to take the lead in this conversation.

He drew a deep breath and laid out the details of his farmers market plan. Jeff listened carefully, his expression betraying nothing.

When Kane was finished, he spoke. “We’ve sold produce on our farmland many times,” he said. “I’m not sure how what you’re describing would be any different.”

“We’re talking about trying to bring in a huge number of people,” Kane said. “And we wouldn’t only be selling produce. This would be the equivalent of a fall festival, lasting several days, I’m sure. I would pay to put it on — it seems the very least I could do. And all the proceeds would go to yourself and your farm. If you give us your permission to do this, that is.”

“I don’t know,” Jeff said. “If I’m honest, Kane, I’m a bit reluctant to let you back on my land in any capacity at all. I know it’s been a long time, but the last time you were here came at a pretty significant cost to me and my family.”

“I know,” Kane said. “If it helps you any, I don’t need to be on the land for this at all. I can just be the sponsor. I don’t have to be a part of it.”

“Jeff, I think this is a really good idea,” Taylor spoke up. She’d been quiet so far, but now she leaned forward to speak to Jeff, and her hand found Kane’s under the table. “I think you should hear him out. He and I have been talking about this for a few days now, and I think it would be a great way for you to earn some money for the farm. You’ve got to admit, you could use it. Even if you don’t want to accept help from Kane, this is a good idea.”

Jeff nodded. “I’m not too proud to take help from you,” he said. “And I recognize that you’re not the same rotten kid you were back then. Times change. People change. I know that.” He sighed. “I’m not gonna pretend it’s easy for me, having you back here, though. I’ll have to find a way to get Donna on board with this idea.”

“I can talk to her, if you think that would help,” Taylor said. “Donna likes me.”

“She does. You’re easy to like.” The implication being, Kane supposed, that he wasn’t. “I’ll speak to her. I think I can get her to understand why this is a good idea. In the meantime, why don’t you two put together some more details, and we’ll get together in a week or so and talk about what the whole thing is going to look like.”

“That sounds good.” Taylor got to her feet, and Kane quickly followed suit. His escape from this room couldn’t come too soon. He was glad he’d spoken to Jeff, and glad that Jeff was taking him up on his idea. But spending time in the company of the man he had wronged was still deeply uncomfortable, and he had no idea how he was going to get past that.

CHAPTER 18

TAYLOR

“I’m meeting with the petting zoo guy today,” Kane said. “Anything in particular you think I should say to him?”

“The most important thing is to clear the dates, but get a list of the animals he can bring,” Taylor said. “And maybe we want to know what ages he thinks his attraction is most appropriate for as well.”

Kane nodded. “No worries,” he said. “I’m on it.”

Taylor stepped forward and touched his arm briefly. She had been allowing herself more and more of these little touches lately, giving in to the desire to be near Kane even though she knew it would be smarter to resist. Things were going well between them right now, but he would be leaving as soon as the farmers market was over — though he hadn’t said so, she was sure of it. With the house officially sold to her and amends made to the Chesterfields, there would be nothing left to hold him here.

She didn’t want to linger with those unpleasant thoughts, so she pushed the idea away. “I want you to know I’m proud of you,” she said. “I know it’s not easy for you to meet with people. I would have been willing to do it for you, if you had asked me to.”

Kane grumbled a little, but she thought she saw him smile. He was proud of how far he had come during his time in Miller Creek too, she thought. He was glad to be taking these meetings himself instead of depending on Taylor to do it for him. Even if he couldn’t admit it yet, he had been lonely in the world he’d created for himself, and it must be a relief to know that he was able to reach out to people and that he wouldn’t be met with hostility.

“It’s not that big a deal,” Kane said.

She nodded, not wanting to make him uncomfortable by forcing him to talk about his feelings. It was more than enough that he was facing these things. “All right,” she said. “Good luck today. I’ll be home before you tonight, so we can talk then about how it went.”

Kane nodded. “I’ll look forward to that.”

Taylor hesitated a moment before drawing away from him. She would be late for work, but it seemed less important lately than it had in the past. She didn’t know how many of these moments with Kane she had left, and every one of them was so exciting. She never felt more alive than she did when she was with him, which made it hard to walk away. Being in his presence was like a constant inhale, and somehow, it was never enough.

Eventually, though, it was time to breathe out. She forced herself to turn away, to walk out the door. The one good thing about walking away from Kane was that he wasn’t the one walking away from her. In the end, though, she was sure that he would be.

“How many stalls do you think we need to build, anyway?” Kane asked.

“As many as possible!” Taylor grinned. “A lot of people are building their own, but the more we have available, the more space we can offer up to other people — and the more people we’ll be able to get involved in the project. Hey, do you think we should have a dunk tank?”

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