“I’m thirty in May,” I say, smiling because she’s full of energy, and I can already tell I’m going to like her.
She beams in return. “Then I think we’ll be the best of friends. Have you had much of a chance to get to know any of the locals yet?”
“Not really. I’ve kind of been keeping to myself.”
“Josh says you’re a big reader.”
My cheeks heat. Reading has suddenly become more entertaining since Josh and I started sleeping together. “I am,” is all I manage without my voice squeaking.
“I don’t get a huge amount of time to read with all the farm work. But I have a kindle that’s loaded with romance. Maybe you can recommend some books to me.”
I wonder if I’ll ever be able to recommend a book with a straight face again, so I just nod in agreement.
Once she’s finished putting the flowers in water and the pie in the warm oven, she pours us both a glass of ice-cold sweet tea and we move into the living room while we wait for Josh to return. Kymberly feels more like an old friend than someone I just met, and we talk easily for a while about their brother Theo, who’s now married and living in a place called Whisper Valley, running a vineyard with his wife, Dottie.
Kymberly tells me stories about Josh growing up, like how he was always getting into trouble at school but had a big heart for animals and excelled at anything farm related. She talks about how much pride their parents would have for him if they could see how well he was managing the family farm on his own.
“You’re here helping him too, right?” I say as the sound of a motor and wheels on gravel draws our attention outside. “I’m sure they’d also be proud of you.”
“I doubt that.” She laughs sardonically. “They’d be askin’ me why I’m not married and having babies yet. They were kind of old-fashioned that way.”
“But Josh isn’t married.”
She laughs but it’s hollow. “Josh is a man. I’m a woman with a biological clock going tick-toc, tick-toc. All they ever wanted was for their children to have children to work on the farm and keep it in the family. Kind of why they got so mad when Theo wanted to travel.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up any bad feelings.”
She reaches out and places her hand on mine, giving me a bright smile as she squeezes my hand. “You did nothing wrong. And I’m sure the right man for me will come along when the stars are aligned or whatever magic needs to happen for an eligible bachelor to make his way to the boonies. I’m still technically young.”
“And gorgeous, might I add.”
Kymberly smiles, and this one is genuine. “I think you’re pretty too. I could tell right away why my brother has fallen all over himself to woo you.”
“Who am I wooing?” Josh booms the moment he enters the house. My heart flip-flops excitedly at the sight of him.
“Why, our lovely neighbor, of course,” Kymberly says.
Josh kicks off his boots and sets his keys on a small table before he walks over to us and hands the grocery bag to Kymberly who quickly switches gears and digs through it while returning to the kitchen to finish cooking. Then he drops a kiss on my head. “I thought I’d already wooed the crap out of you,” he says near my ear.
“You have. But I don’t want you to ever stop.”
He waggles his brows. “Deal,” he says, pulling me to my feet so he can kiss me properly before we follow his sister back to the back of the house where we enjoy an amazing home-cooked meal that you can only get on a farm like this one. We laugh and talk until late into the night before finally saying our goodbyes when Kymberly makes her excuses to leave Josh and me alone.
“You don’t live in the farmhouse too?” I ask when she collects her things, including the vase of flowers I bought for her.
“Not for a while now. I got me a little cottage not so unlike yours near the back paddock. It’s cozy and means I can be close to help out while also havin’ a little space all to myself.”
“That sounds nice.”
“It is. You should come over and visit some time. It was real nice meetin’ you.”
“You too, Kymberly,” I say, meaning every word.
She beams. “Call me Kym. And thank you again for these flowers. They’re a treat.”
And with that, she steps out into the night, leaving Josh and I to our own devices. We sit on the porch swing and just swing together in silence for a while, looking up at the starsand drinking in the quiet of the night mixed with the occasional sounds of the animals as they settle in.
“This must have been a pretty cool place to grow up,” I say after a while, realizing that I haven’t heard the noise of traffic or sirens for weeks now.
