Noah interrupted her ruminating when he leaned towards her. ‘Did you see those?’
Beth looked to where he was pointing. On the grassed area below them was a large oval garden bed filled with familiar-looking bushes.
She gasped. ‘My great-grandmother’s roses?’
When Noah grinned and nodded, she raced down the back steps for a closer look.
Yep, these were definitely the same plants. Noah had taken good care of them here. In fact, she thought, running her gaze over the rest of the yard and the house, he’d done an incredible job with everything. He clearly took a lot of pride in the upkeep of his home, and for that, she was glad. If the place had been rundown and falling apart, then coming here probably would’ve done more harm than good. But as it was, she felt at peace, content, knowing that her family’s legacy was in good hands.
Noah strolled across the grass, his hands in his pockets and his gait relaxed, as if he had all the time in the world and didn’t want to disturb her if he thought she wanted to be alone.
A rush of gratitude washed over her. And something else, too—a feeling she couldn’t quite name, though it made itself known with a burning intensity that made her smile.
He joined her, and after they’d admired the roses for a while longer, they headed for a garden swing at the side of the yard that offered uninterrupted views of the property. Sitting side by side, they swayed gently as a comfortable silence, broken only by the occasional lowing of cattle, washed over them.
Beth had never felt so utterly content.
‘Thank you for bringing me here, Noah. Seeing this place, it’s helped more than I thought it would.’
He glanced away briefly, his jaw clenching and unclenching as if there was so much he wanted to say, but he simply nodded, looked back at her and said, ‘I’m glad.’
His uncomplicated response stirred up a flurry of emotion, because it struck her—he never asked for anything in return.
Since the moment they’d met, he’d been checking in with her, anticipating her needs and reacting in ways that put her at ease. No one had ever treated her like that. As if she were important to them. As if what she was feelingmattered.
But she needed to know if it was real. If it wasn’t just all in her head.
‘I’ve been wondering …’
‘Mmm?’
‘If things had been different and my parents decided to stay in Karlup, if I’d grown up here, do you think we would have been friends?’
His brow furrowed and the pain of knowing he had to think about it made her wince.
‘Well,’ he mused, ‘I think you and Ellie definitely would’ve got along. She spent a lot of time out here on the farm when we were kids, hanging out with me and Caleb, but she’d always get so annoyed with us when we acted likeboys.’ He grinned, as if he considered it a personal achievement that he got on his cousin’s nerves so often. ‘And maybe you and I could’ve been mates—’ he tilted his head and squinted at her, ‘—but I don’t know, I’m not sure I could’ve handled that.’
‘Oh.’ She sank against the chair swing, deflated. Could he handle it now? Was she completely delusional to think that they were becoming friends?
‘Yeah,’ he added, ‘I mean, you literally would’ve been the girl next door. I totally would’ve ended up getting the hots for you.’
Oh god. His words woke the butterflies in her belly. She tried to hide her grin but failed. Miserably. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that teenage boys are horny little buggers and I was no exception. If I’d grown up with a girl as pretty as you living next door, I never would’ve gotten any sleep. I bet I would’ve lain awake most nights fantasising about sneaking through your bedroom window so I could kiss you.’
The butterflies’ dance became frenzied, and she was suddenly consumed by thoughts of what it would be like to kiss him.
‘Maybe you should do it now.’ Before she’d even rationally considered the consequences, the words had skipped off her tongue and floated in the air between them.
‘Do what now?’
A frisson of fear knocked on the deep recesses of her mind. Perhaps the last thing he wanted to do was kiss her, but she’d already put it out there and decided, for once, to be brave.
‘Maybe you should kiss me.’ Unable to look at him, she leaned forward and stared at her feet as she toed the ground. ‘I mean, we never got the chance when we were teenagers, but what’s stopping us now?’
God, she felt all kinds of awkward. What the hell had she been thinking? And to make matters worse, Noah let out a disbelieving laugh.
She decided right then and there that if he mocked her, she would leave town tomorrow. Screw the inheritance. No amount of money was worth that kind of humiliation.
