Scars Like Ours | Red View Romance #2

🍂 Ten

So maybe Annie had pulled herself out of bed early that morning and gone to work out at the orchard in hopes of seeing Cliff. Was that so wrong? As it was, she'd not only gotten her wish, but a good exercise session with her friends as well.

Cliff had walked into the kitchen during breakfast looking every bit as handsome as she feared he would. She'd hoped that overnight her attraction would dissipate, that she could face him today and feel nothing. But when he strolled into the kitchen, even just the sound of his voice had her heart hammering. Then he walked into her field of vision with that unusual, unbearably sexy ponytail, and she'd all but started drooling into her oatmeal.

The feelings clearly had not dissipated. If anything, seeing him more relaxed as he filled Fritters' food bowl and ate breakfast was domestic and endearing enough to make them worse. Yesterday he'd seemed so nervous, even frazzled as he stuttered out the truth to his family over dinner. Today he appeared much more at ease, the tension gone from his shoulders and his brow.

It made her jittery to think she'd be spending the morning working with him to hang string lights in the barn. She was grateful for the promise of Adam's presence--it was hard enough for her to talk to new people in a normal situation. With how Cliff made her pulse jump, she was surprised she'd managed to speak to him at all.

As she finished her breakfast, half-listening to the varied conversations of the McAden's, Jack washed his plate and came to sit next to her at the island. He already had his iPad with him, along with a thick folder full of paperwork. Fritters, more agile than he appeared, leaped up onto the barstool next to him, earning a few more pets.

Annie did her best to focus on Jack, even as her mind wandered and her eyes wanted to travel to his older brother. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I got started on the historical page." And a few sketches of Cliff, which she'd eventually dozed off while working on.

"Great. I should be able to email you all the written details either today or tomorrow. Depends how this meeting goes, really, but there's no rush for you to get it done either way."

"Don't you ever take a day off?" She couldn't stop herself from asking the question, depressed by the thought of him sitting in his office all day even on the weekends. The weather was beautiful, a light breeze with sunshine and fluffy white clouds, and he'd only get to enjoy it from behind a window.

He shrugged. "Sometimes. Things are just in a good place right now. I'd hate to screw up the momentum."

"I just wouldn't want you to overwork yourself. You should try to relax, hang out with your new friend." She jutted her chin to gesture to Fritters.

Jack smiled as he let out a short laugh, both sight and sound that were rare but more than welcome. "I guess. Actually, I have been wanting to prepare the front garden for winter, maybe plant some aconite under the weeping willow out front. You wanna help? I can pick you up tomorrow when I go into town to buy it."

"Yeah, okay," she agreed with a grin, glad that she'd said something. "Sounds fun."

Unsurprisingly, they chatted the rest of the time about business, going over how the recent social media promotions for the Halloween festivities were going. The response on the Instagram and Facebook posts was overwhelmingly positive, and Annie had no doubt the turnout would be big. Jack was planning hayride tours, free samples of some of the orchard's best treats, a horror-themed trail for the teenagers of Red View, and face-painting courtesy of Annie and Kenzie. The best part was that if a customer showed up in costume, they'd get twenty five percent off everything in the store--and Jack was encouraging employees to dress up as well. Annie already had plans for a scarecrow costume and couldn't wait to see what everyone else came up with.