Page 90 of The Runaway Bride of Blossom Branch

“Not that time. But they had before. Anyway, after the meal, Jason and I went out in the backyard. He got his glove out of his parents’ car and wanted me to teach him how to throw a baseball.”

“You must have been a great teacher. Jason has always been good at baseball.”

“Yeah, well, who knows. Anyway, there were two other reunions that summer. A Southern thing. You know.”

Cate laughed ruefully. “I do know. That usually meant going to a strange house and meeting strange people. Only the grown-ups thought it was fun.”

“So true. By the end of the third reunion, Jason’s parents caught on to the fact that their kid had bonded with me. They were getting ready to go to Aruba for a week and hadn’t been able to find anyone to keep Jason. They offered to pay me a thousand bucks to come stay at their house with him.”

“Whoa...that’s a lot of money for a sixteen-year-old kid.”

“Didn’t matter. I never took their money. Wouldn’t have been right. But I couldn’t say no to Jason. He looked at me with big eyes, and I caved. Those seven days we spent together were one of the best weeks of my life. He and I had a blast.”

“I’ve never heard that part of the story. I just knew that you two were related somehow.”

“The connection is complicated. Something about his great-grandfather and my great uncle’s wife.”

Cate closed her eyes and listened to the rustle of the wind in the trees. This town held so many threads of a tapestry that included her family, Jason’s, Harry’s. And then there were Leah and Gabby and their clans.

Blossom Branch had given them all a start in life. Small towns weren’t inherently wonderful. As sentimental as Cate was about this spot on the globe, she wasn’t blind. Small towns could be good or bad. Gossip thrived. There were the haves and the have-nots. Prejudice. Poverty.

But there was a sweetness here. A simplicity of purpose. Something about the acres of peach orchards marked this place with the changing seasons and the ripening fruit. You couldn’t get more elemental than that.

After a grief-filled beginning, she had grown to love Atlanta. Now it felt as much like home as Blossom Branch. But knowing she was going to start a business here made her very happy.

Harry had dozed off, his head resting on the wooden back of the bench. Cate watched him sleep and wished she believed in happy endings.

Her fairy-tale wedding had turned into disaster.

Though Harry had rescued her afterward, she didn’t believe in knights on white horses. It wasn’t fair to the knights to put them on those big chargers.

In the twenty-first century, females had learned the value and satisfaction in pursuing their own dreams and destinies.

It was confusing, though. Cate was as independent as the next woman, but she didn’t want to go through life alone. Even after the Jason debacle and then realizing she wanted to open a business in Blossom Branch, she still yearned for passionate love. When she looked at her grandparents’ marriage, she knew she wanted someone who would be a companion, a friend and a warm bed partner, whether the warmth came from crazy sex or from a decades-old promise to love and to cherish.

Or maybe both.

When her phone dinged suddenly, she pulled it out of her pocket and read the text. “Oh, yikes,” she said.

Harry opened one eye. “Problem?”

“No.” Cate read the text a second time. “You know how my degree is in art history?”

“I recall.”

“Well, I met the director of the High Museum at a party a few months ago. She was dabbling with a plan to bring low-income kids into the museum and give them a chance to interact with art in a way most of them likely never would.”

“What does that have to do with you?”

“She asked me if I would be willing to facilitate the first few sessions. If all goes well, I might do it twice a month as a volunteer.”

He sat up and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Are you up for that? With all this store stuff?”

Cate flushed. “You’re saying I’ve overcommitted?”

“I’m not saying any such thing.” Harry frowned. “I only wondered if you’re still interested now that you have this big project facing you.”

“I think I am. In fact, I know I am. The art museum job will be giving back to the community. As a kid, I had opportunities that enriched my life enormously. I feel the need to pay it forward.”

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