Page 79 of Forever By Morning

“Yeah, it was getting exhausting finding a way not to say anything. There’s something about this goddamn orchard, man. Who the hell would know me here? It was perfect.”

“And you have all these city people crawling around.” I grinned at him and finally relaxed.

“Yes. Exactly it. I’m not really an East Coast guy. Most of my business is in California and the Pacific Northwest, but I’ve expanded over the years and do some things in Manhattan.”

“So you’re hiding out? And why am I paying you?”

He threw his head back with a shouting laugh. “I deserve my pay, fucker.”

“You do.”

“I like having the pocket money.”

“Fuck you. Pocket money,” I muttered as I shook my head. “Just how rich are you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t kiss and tell, and I don’t talk money. But it’s a lot of goddamn zeroes. My old man left me everything too.”

I let out a slow whistle. What the hell must that be like? The orchard was in the black these days, but it was a precarious balance and we carried a lot of loans for our expansions. Just because the bills were paid every month right now didn’t mean it would always stay that way.

“So what do you do? How the hell can you disappear for months at a time?”

“A smart woman runs my business.”

“I know how that goes.”

Laverne had singlehandedly kept us from losing the orchard before I’d realized how bad off we were. She was the first one to add the bakery to the business and then the bed and breakfast which had become The Lodge.

“Anyway, I’m a builder. I have a construction business, and I’m an architect by trade.”

“Well, shit.”

“Yeah. Crazy, ain’t it?” He slapped his thighs then stood. “I like it here, man. I didn’t want to fuck it up with secrets, but I also didn’t want to have to explain myself. Once people know who I am, it changes things.”

“Doesn’t have to. You want to slum it with us for the summer and fall, who am I to judge?” I rose. “Just don’t be surprised when I don’t give you a raise.”

He deserved it, and I’d been keen to talk to Kira about giving him a bonus this season.

“Why did I open my mouth?” He crossed his arms. They were scraped up from our repeated crash landings on the path outside.

The unspoken question sat between us. How well did he know Helena? And did I have competition for her?

More importantly, why the hell was she wearing one of my shirts today? I had a damn lot of questions that needed answers.

Just as many things that I needed to answerforat this point.

“Look, I know I was out of line with Helena.”

“Don’t tell me, tell her.”

I sighed. “Gonna be working on that one for a while.”

“She looked pretty pissed. But I’ll give you a little piece of advice about her.”

I jammed my hands in my pockets and rocked back on my heels. I was not going to overreact this time. I could be fucking calm. “Yeah?”

“She’s usually a cool cucumber. The fact that you got her all riled up is a good thing. Means she cares. Tread carefully.”

My muscles unlocked. “Got it.”

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