Page 46 of Simply Yours

She was in trouble.

* * *

Today would be a day Caitlin would never forget.

The morning sun had given way to a balmy afternoon, the air thick with the scent of freshly tilled earth and the promise of summer. She and Jason worked in perfect tandem, moving through the rows of dark soil with an unspoken rhythm. He drove the shovel into the ground with easy strength, the muscles in his forearms flexing beneath tanned skin, while she followed close behind, gently cradling each plant, setting it into place, and patting the soil down.

Tomatoes, peppers, and herbs nestled into their new home effortlessly. It was almost too easy—almost fun, even—thanks to Jason taking on the heavy labor while she got to do the satisfying work of arranging her garden.

But then, they hit a snag.

The honeysuckle vines and rose bushes.

The five-gallon buckets needed bigger, deeper holes—holes she hadn’t dug yet because this had been a last-minute decision. Her gaze flicked between the plants and Jason, already feeling guilty about the extra work. She’d been torn between the honeysuckles or a clematis, unable to decide, and now here they were, staring down three vines and two deep-red rose bushes that needed serious effort.

Jason, however, was a trooper.

A lifesaver.

His old boots pressed against the shovel, and he threw his weight into it, the blade slicing through the earth where she would’ve struggled. Every motion was efficient and controlled, his shirt clinging to his back, the damp fabric highlighting the defined muscles beneath. A bead of sweat traced a path down the side of his neck, disappearing beneath the collar.

Oh.

A smarter woman would focus on the task at hand, but her brain was busy entertaining the ridiculous desire to see him rip that shirt off entirely. She could imagine it now—him wiping sweat from his brow, tossing it aside with a shrug, revealing those broad shoulders and?—

Nope.

Nope, nope,nope.

She wasnotabout to turn into a stammering mess over a man digging holes. She cleared her throat and forced herself to ask, “Are you sure you don’t mind this?”

Jason drove the shovel down again, his grip tightening as he worked a particularly stubborn rock loose. His easy smile flicked in her direction, a little breathless but not at all annoyed.

“Nah,” he grunted, rocking the post back and forth to break up the soil before pushing deeper. “I like working in the yard. Always have. Even as a boy, my dad and I would make sure my mama had her tomatoes, her peppers… she loved her sunflowers.”

Caitlin smiled, a warm, nostalgic feeling settling in her chest. “I was just thinking about those the other day. It’s a miracle we never got bit by something.”

Jason chuckled, shaking his head. “Too many people in the area. You guys yelled and hollered all the time—Luke, Becca, and Toni were always running around. We’d walk through the sunflowers, cut the heads when it was time, and shake out the seeds. Someone was always out there, you know?”

She tilted her head, catching the faint shift in his expression—the way his smile dimmed, the way his focus seemed to drift somewhere else.

“And now?” she asked gently.

Jason hesitated, his hands tightening on the shovel. “No one bothers them much. Not in several years.”

The weight of his words settled between them.

“We should see if there are any deadheads and harvest the seeds,” she suggested. “It might be fun to salt them and have sunflower seeds around. And it would remind us of your mom…”

His brows lifted slightly, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. He leaned against the shovel, studying her.

“It might be nice,” he murmured, then paused. “Would you like to do that? You wanna go look at the sunflower garden together sometime?”

She blinked. It wasn’t just an idea anymore—it was an invitation.

“I’d love to.”

“Done,” he said simply, as if the decision had already been made, and without another word, he went right back to digging.

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