She laughed and promised she would. Drew headed out to his truck without looking back. He really wanted to, but he couldn’t give his mother any more fuel for her suspicions.
The next morning, Drew lifted weights and ran on the treadmill, showered, and loaded up the dogs. Out on the farm, he let them loose into the lavender fields and walked around the fence and into the expansive flower gardens Gretchen maintained. He found her there already, her auburn hair tied back into a ponytail. She wore a pair of baggy jeans with an overly large pair of field boots—well just the one—and her sweatshirt zipped all the way to her throat.
He didn’t blame her. The wind coming off the ocean today held a certain iciness he hoped would be gone in a few weeks.
“You doing my job?” he asked as he came up behind her.
“Just looking,” she said. “I knew you were here. Your dogs are loud.”
“Only Blue,” he said. “He seems to think everyone wants to know what he has to say.” Drew chuckled as he noticed the clumps of lavender getting jostled in the distance from where Blue and Chief romped through the fields. The distinct sound of Blue’s bark met his ears, and he couldn’t help feeling the same joy as his dog running through the field.
He drew in a deep breath, getting the salty brine mixed with a heady floral scent and Gretchen’s powdery skin. His hand hovered over hers though it rested on her crutch. She released it and tucked her fingers into his, a sigh slipping through her lips.
“I’m a little nervous,” he admitted, not quite sure when he’d decided to have this conversation with her.
“About what?”
“Starting something with you.”
Before she could respond, Dixie called, “Mom! Mom?”
Gretchen dropped his hand, and he automatically moved farther down the row. “Out in the garden, Dix.”
The little girl came skipping over from the farmhouse, and when she saw Drew her whole face lit up. “Drew!”
“Hey, Dixie. Should we help your mom get the flowers she needs?”
“I have a list,” Gretchen said, and Dixie plucked it from her fingers and read it.
“This is easy. C’mon, Drew. Follow me.” The little girl traipsed past him and over a couple rows. Drew grinned after her and looked back at Gretchen. She watched her daughter with the same fondness, and when her eyes met his, something passed between them.
“We’ll talk later,” he said.
“Looking forward to it.” Gretchen started back down the row, and Drew went to work with Dixie to get the flowers her mom needed, a thread of happiness pulling through him at these two females that had come back into his life.
Chapter Eleven
Gretchen got her anniversary centerpieces finished in plenty of time. She sold a few bouquets for dates that evening. Janey, still dressed in her forest green park ranger garb, came to pick her up in time to get the vases over to the Lions Lodge, a premier restaurant with a beautiful banquet room in the back.
“The blue one on the far table,” Gretchen told her friend. Janey picked up the appointed piece with white, pink, and orange daisies arranged artfully. Gretchen absolutely loved daisies, and she’d been working for the past year to cross-pollinate her favorite colors to breed a new one. She hadn’t had Dixie and Drew pick any of those, as they held a special place in her heart, and she wanted them to be used for something special.
If she were being honest, she wanted the indigo daisies with white centers in her own wedding bouquet.
She continued directing Janey as to where to put each centerpiece, and Florence Francis came in to inspect the work. “Lovely, as always, Gretchen.” She bent down and gave Gretchen a hug. “I can’t believe you didn’t cancel. When I heard about your foot, I felt so guilty.”
“I’m fine, honestly.” Gretchen waved her hand like her injury was no big deal. “Happy anniversary, Flo. Thirty years. Wow.”
The older woman laughed and straightened. “So, are you seeing anyone?”
“No,” Gretchen said just as Janey said, “She sure is.”
“Janey,” Gretchen warned.
“Ooh,” Flo said, volleying her gaze between Gretchen and Janey. “Who is it? One of our local boys, I bet.”
Gretchen tilted her head, trying to hear the meaning between those words. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’ve always loved this place. Too bad your grandparents sold before you had a chance to buy that farm you’ve always loved.”
Gretchen had loved her granddad’s lavender farm, and from what she’d seen, Joel hadn’t done much to keep it thriving over the past five years. She’d wondered why he’d bought it and done nothing with it, but she hadn’t had time to ask him or Donna about it.
She’d thought about asking Drew—he’d been on her mind all day long—but she still didn’t have his phone number.
“It’s Drew Herrin,” Janey said despite Gretchen’s warning.
“Oh, my. Drew Herrin.” Flo patted her hair as if Drew was in the room and she wanted to impress him. “He’s quite handsome.”
Janey grinned wickedly. “That he is.”
“I’m not seeing Drew Herrin.” Gretchen nodded toward the empty box. “Grab that, Janey, and let’s get out of Flo’s way. Her family will be arriving soon.”
Thankfully, Janey complied and they headed out to her SUV. “I’m not seeing Drew Herrin,” she repeated as Janey opened the door for her.
“But you want to.”
“No, I don’t.” She sank into the bucket seat and let Janey close the door behind her.
She got behind the wheel and started the Jeep. “Why won’t you let yourself like him?”
“I…don’t know.”
“Dixie likes him. He’s great with the kids. You should’ve heard Jess going on and on about this wishing well Drew showed him. My son usually doesn’t put more than three words together, and he talked about the horses at that farm for twenty minutes.”
Gretchen remembered how easily Dixie had taken to Drew too. And how much she’d talked about the farm last night while they lay in bed together. She hadn’t read the way she usually did. No, everything had been “Drew this,” and “Drew that.”
“He is really handsome,” Gretchen said, admitting the tiniest detail that everyone could see anyway. There was something about a neatly trimmed beard that made her heart pitter incessantly.
Janey laughed as she turned down Main Street and drove past all the familiar shops. “He sure is. And what about him dropping everything to take care of you? Come to your rescue, putting you up at his parents’ place? He’s like your knight in shining armor. Or a paramedic uniform.”
Gretchen’s defenses went right back up again. “I don’t need a knight in shining armor.”
“Of course you don’t. But aren’t you tired?”
“Tired?”
Janey glanced at her. Turning north, she set the Jeep on course for the farm. “Yes, Gretchen. Tired of shouldering everything yourself? Tired of making all the decisions? Don’t you want someone to take Dixie so you can sleep in for just one day? Someone to pick dinner up on the way home when you don’t feel well. Someone to share each day with.” Janey’s voice grew quieter and quieter with each sentence she spoke.
“I do,” she said. “I think I’m ready to find someone to share my life with again.”
“Janey.” Gretchen reached across the console and gripped her best friend’s fingers. “I’ve never heard you talk like this.”
“I miss Matt with my whole heart,” she said. “But our marriage was young, and our baby younger. I haven’t dated because I honestly wasn’t sure I should, for Jess’s sake, because I didn’t think I could ever love someone as much as I loved Matt.” She shrugged, her coat slipping off her shoulder a bit. “But seeing the way Drew looks at you, I’ve realized that I wouldn’t have to love someone as much as Matt. I’d just have to love him.”
Gretchen absorbed her friend’s words, wondering if she’d been focusing on the wrong thing
s these past three years. “How does Drew look at me?”
Janey laughed again, the sound bouncing around the interior of the Jeep. “You really can’t see him at all, can you?”
“I see him.” Gretchen clenched her arms around her stomach. She’d seen his strength as he helped her in the flower fields, seen his handsome face while she dreamt last night, seen his kind spirit every time she thought about what he did for a living, seen his determination whenever he asked her if she’d taken her meds and how she was feeling.
“Then admit you like him.” Janey pulled up to the farmhouse and twisted toward Gretchen, a teasing smile on her face.
“I’ll admit I’m interested in him.”
“Ah-ha!” Janey pumped her fist in the air with another laugh. “That’s at least a start. Now, let’s go make sure our kids haven’t worn Donna and Joel right into the ground.”
Each night, Gretchen sat down with Donna and Dixie to make sure everyone knew who was driving to school and who was picking up from school the next day. Sometimes it was Janey, sometimes Donna, and sometimes Drew. Even though he didn’t live out at the farmhouse, he came out every morning and did a few chores. As the days passed, he became her flower errand boy without having to be asked, and Gretchen enjoyed her time with him in the mornings before the sun truly rose.
He never complained about the early hour, or making multiple trips to her van and back with armloads of flowers. He never seemed frustrated with her bossy voice telling him to be careful, to wrap the stems in damp towels, and to drive slower. He didn’t seem to mind helping her or with taking Dixie out to the wishing well. He had a quick smile, and warm hands, and a way with kids and dogs Gretchen could only marvel at.
“So,” he said, clapping his hands together on Thursday evening as he joined her on the porch. “I’m helping in the flower shop tomorrow for the wedding. I hope that means I’ll get to run out and get you lunch.” He gestured to the other half of the porch swing. “Can I join you?”
“Sure.” She had a blanket across her legs and her hoodie zipped up tight. Drew had seemed cautious with his conversations and the way he touched her while out here at the farm, and Gretchen understood why. He held her hand in the morning and if they were alone in his truck. Nothing more. He never brought up “starting something” with her either, and since she was having a hard time untangling her feelings for him, she’d remained silent on the subject as well.
He sank into the swing, setting it into motion as he laughed. “I haven’t sat out here for a while.” He cut her a glance out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t do a lot of sitting when I’m at the farm. Lots of work to do.”
“You work hard around here,” she said, adding another positive trait to the list she was keeping in her mind.
“Well, my day job isn’t very taxing,” he said. “Not a lot of emergencies in Hawthorn Harbor.”
“Thankfully,” she said.
“Yes, thankfully.” He pushed off with his toe, keeping them rocking back and forth, back and forth. “Where’s Dixie?”
“My mother has her peeling potatoes.”
With that, Drew’s hand found hers and Gretchen thrilled at the touch of his skin, the warmth in his hand. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “So the wedding tomorrow,” he said, his voice taking on a husky quality. “And you’re still planning on the Safety Fair on Saturday?”
“Yes.” She snuggled closer, though her internal defenses were lifting into place. “I really appreciate all your help this week.”
“I’m really glad you decided to take it.”
“I don’t have much choice, do I?”
“You always have a choice, Gretchen.” His lips pressed hotly against her temple, and fireworks popped through her system, sparking all the way down to her toes. Her smile was instant and she couldn’t seem to straighten her lips even when she tried.
“I wanted to ask you something,” he said, gently pushing them every time they swung forward.
Gretchen swallowed, telling herself that sharing things was a normal thing for people to do as they got to know each other. “All right.”
“Have you dated anyone since Aaron died?”
“No.”
“Why not?” He didn’t sound judgmental, only curious.
“It took me a while to figure out what to do,” she said. “He had some life insurance, but not enough to keep me and Dixie in our condo in Seattle. I sold that, and made the move back here.”
His fingers tightened on hers, but he didn’t say anything.
“I needed something to support myself and Dixie, and I met with your step-dad about the land with the flowers—which was why I didn’t know your family still owned this land. I thought they’d moved.” She paused, her memories flowing back to when she’d first driven the Lavender Highway after being away for so long. Joel had met her in the garden, and she’d had no idea Drew’s family was still connected to the lavender farm she’d loved so much.
“It was a lot of work to get the flower gardens back in shape. They haven’t done much with my granddad’s farm.”
“No, Joel and Mom bought it to preserve their own farm, as well as the farm of the neighbors they’d had for decades. They didn’t want someone coming in and bulldozing the lavender, or hosting a big festival, or anything like that.”
“Do they do anything with the lavender?” There used to be several rows of Pacific Blue lavender, her favorite variety of the flower.
“Joel used to, but he’s getting older. His hip bothers him most days, especially when the weather is colder. I take care of the animals and maintain all the equipment. We both tend to the lavender, but I don’t have enough time to take on another farm full of it.”
“My granddad’s farm was eighty acres, with twelve different varieties of lavender.” She felt warm and woozy, full of great memories of her summers out at the farm. “I loved summer on the lavender farm. Granddad would tell me stories about his father, and he showed me how to ride horses…” Her voice trailed off into happiness. “It smelled so good out here, and everything seemed more magical than my dumpy two-room apartment in Carlsbad.”
The swing went back and forth several times in companionable silence. Gretchen wondered if she’d revealed too much, but then she decided she didn’t care. She wanted Drew to have some insight into her life, and it didn’t make her weaker if he did.
“So are you interested in dating?” he asked.
Gretchen’s face heated and she giggled. She shifted on the swing until she could look up into Drew’s face. “Depends on who’s asking.”
He gazed at her evenly, his dark eyes dancing simultaneously with hope and anxiety. “I’m asking, Gretchen. Me. I’m asking if you’d like to go out with me.”
A slow smile arced across her face at the same rate her heart went from beating normally to racing. “Then yes. I’m interested in dating again.” She swallowed, finding her throat so dry and her fantasies filled with anticipation.
“Great.” Drew swept his lips across her temple again, jerking away when Dixie yelled, “Drew?”
“On the porch.” He launched himself from the swing on its next move forward, almost like he didn’t dare let Dixie see them cuddling on the porch. Probably smart. He put his hand on the screen door. “So maybe I could get your number,” he said.
Gretchen grinned at him. “Sure.”
Dixie arrived, practically knocking the screen door down as she spilled onto the front porch with Jess in hot pursuit. “Drew, Jess has to go in a minute and we haven’t gone out to the wishing well yet.”
“Well, he might have to miss a day.”
“I can’t miss a day,” Jess whined. “I washed all the dishes for your mom, and I have my quarter.”
“We don’t have time to saddle the horses,” Drew said. “It’s almost dark already.”
The kids stood there and stared at him, and Gretchen wondered how he’d won them over in only a few days. They’d do anything he said, and Dixie di
d chores around the farm every day to earn her quarter for the wishing well.
“You have an ATV in the shed,” Gretchen said.
Drew whipped his attention to her. “Have you been snooping around?”
Giddiness pranced through her. “Joel goes out with me. I’m being safe.”
“You have an ATV?” Jess asked. “Can we take it out to the wishing well? Please?” He glanced over his shoulder. “And don’t tell my mom. She’ll say we have to go now if she even hears the word ATV.”
Drew cocked one eyebrow and stepped past the children. He called into the house, “Janey, can you come out here for a sec?”
“What are you doing?” Jess hissed. “She’s—hey, Mom.”
Janey gave him a suspicious look and took in the scene on the porch before saying, “What’s up, Drew?”
“Jess would like to take a quick trip out to the wishing well. On an ATV.”
Jess’s shoulders sank and he sighed. “C’mon Dixie. Let’s go have Donna save our quarters for tomorrow.”
“Can he go?” Drew asked. “I’ll be driving, and it’s a quick trip out on the ATV. Maybe ten minutes there, and ten minutes back.”
“Do you have a helmet for the kids?”
“We used to have helmets in the shed,” he said.
“I saw some,” Gretchen offered. “Dixie has my permission to go.”
Dixie cheered and joined Drew, slipping her hand into his. “Please, Janey? Jess can’t miss a day of his wish.”
“What are you wishing for?” she asked her son.
“Oh, no,” Drew said. “He can’t tell you out loud.”
“Why not?”
“Then it won’t come true.”
Jess joined Drew and Dixie, creating a united front against Janey. “Please, Mom. It’s only twenty minutes.”
Janey looked at them and then Gretchen, who lifted both shoulders, knowing her friend would say yes. “Oh, all right.”