Page 5 of When Alec Met Evie
“You just had someone plan an entire move around my schedule without asking me first. Would babysitting really be that much of a stretch?”
“Okay. That’s fair,” Megan says. “Junoisa cute baby, though.”
“She could be the cutest baby in the world and it wouldn’t matter.” I finally climb out of my truck, waiting for my phone to grab the call back from the car before heading inside. “I’ve only ever held one, and it was our nephew. Half-brother. Whatever Stacy’s kid is to us. The point is, he’s eleven now. That was a long time ago.”
“That’s the thing. Most people have never held a baby until they have one. Pretty sure it’s one of those things you just figure out.” She yawns. “Okay. I gotta get back to studying. Thanks for helping Evie. Can I just give her your number?”
“Sure.”
“K, I will. But Alec?—”
Her words cut off, and I wait as I toss my keys onto the kitchen counter and toe off my shoes. “What?” I finally prompt.
She takes a breath, then hesitates before finally saying, “I’m just trying to decide if I need to say what I was thinking out loud.”
“Just say it.”
“It’s just that Evie has really been through something. She needs your help, but she doesn’t need you to be handsome and charming.”
“What doesthatmean?”
“It means that you’reyou,and women love you.”
“Megan. She’s, what, nine years younger than I am? I promise I’m capable of helping a woman without asking her out.”
“I know. I know! That’s not even what I’m saying because honestly, I wouldn’t hate it if you did ask her out. I just mean maybe not right now, okay? She’s fragile.”
“The thought has never occurred to me. She’syour age. I’m way too old for her.”
Megan is quiet for a beat before she says, “You might feel differently when you see her. She’s changed a lot since high school.”
“Unless she miraculously aged five years, I doubt it.”
“Okay, okay,” my sister says. “I believe you. But the warning still stands. Be careful with Evie.”
We chat for a few more minutes before I end the call, but even after I hang up, I can’t quite shake Megan’s words or the knowing tone she used when she said them.
You might feel differently when you see her.
CHAPTER 2
EVIE
Once upon a time,I used to love road trips. The snacks, the music, the endless stretch of road ahead of me.
But that wasbeforeI drove seven hundred miles with one arm stretched into the backseat, hooked over the edge of Juno’s rear-facing car seat so she could hold onto my fingers. Or so I could retrieve her pacifier or stroke her forehead or tickle her shoulder in what were mostly fruitless attempts to calm her fussing.
Not to mention the fifteen billion times we stopped at rest stops to nurse or change diapers or question every decision I’ve ever made in my life.
Now that I’m finally standing outside my new home in Harvest Hollow, I’m pretty sure I never need another road trip for as long as I live.
All things considered, it probably could have been worse. Juno slept a lot more than I expected, and we had good weather the entire way. So I said a few more swear words than I should have when I stopped to change Juno’s diaper in rural Virginia. It’s fine! We survived! Plus, shedidshoot poop all the way up toher shoulder blades, so I kinda feel like at least sixty percent of those swear words were justified.
And now we’re finally here in Harvest Hollow—a town I’d never even heard of until I stumbled across the listing for an apprenticeship that triggered my move. When I was researching the city, the internet told me it’s a top destination in the fall both because of the fall leaves covering the Appalachian mountains, which are admittedly gorgeous, and because Harvest Hollow goesall inon celebrating the season. I drove down Maple Street on my way in, which appears to be the town’s main thoroughfare, and quickly concluded that the internet doesn’t lie. Pumpkins and hay bales on every street corner, fall leaves in every window display, twinkle lights overhead. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I might not believe a place like this actually exists. It’s picturesque to the point of seeming like it could only exist in a Hallmark movie.
And yet, here it is.
As long as my family is in White Plains, a part of my heart will always be in New York. But I’m liking the change and challenge of being out on my own. If only because I’m more ready than ever for a fresh start.
