“Yes, that’s him.”
“What a small world.” She slaps her hands against her thighs as she pushes to stand. “Will you please give him our congratulations on his championship? I know Emmett is always raving about how talented he is. It sounds very deserved.”
My head whips in Emmett’s direction, brows plastered high on my forehead.
His tongue swirls against the inside of his cheek as he breathes in through his nose, avoiding my searching gaze by staring at the wood-paneled ceiling.
I look up, too, wondering if that’s the direction his bad-boy persona has evaporated to.
“Great, Opa? Shall we go then?” Emmett’s chin drops right as he changes the topic of conversation.
“This way,” Leon says, moving toward the door and waving us along, clearly not the small-talker of the bunch.
I follow with a polite smile and nod toward Tina. “Thank you for hosting me. The cookies were delicious.”
She beams, and it’s infectious. She is pure sunshine, and I can’t help but smile back even bigger. I hit Emmett with my widegrin as I move past him and announce, “And I will certainly pass your congratulations on to my brother. He will bethrilledto hear that there is so much love for him in this valley.”
I peek back at her, but Emmett quickly envelops my line of vision as he falls into step behind me and ushers me from the room.
His arm stretches out behind me, and I can feel the heat of his hand at the small of my back. But he doesn’t touch me.
He leans in as we step out of the sunny, sunken kitchen and up into the main part of the old farmhouse. His breath fans across my nape as he whispers, “You will never tell your brother about that.”
I chuckle and tilt my head back in his direction, my gaze falling across his stern mouth. “Oh? The part about you being a big ol’ fan? I’m not making any promises because we’re already even on keeping secrets.”
His jaw locks before my eyes, but he doesn’t respond.
I frown and give him a consoling pat on the shoulder. “I know, I know. It’s a tough break for thisspecial, wonderful boy.”
An exhausted sigh heaves his shoulder beneath my palm, and a thrill races down my spine at having gotten under his skin.
Then with a smug wink, I turn away and stride out of the house to do my job.
CHAPTER 7
Emmett
I’M STROLLING DOWNthe gravel driveway toward the barn, minding my business, when I see her.
Julia Silva.
Every morning, I have to walk past this building that she’s prepping, and every morning she greets me with a happy hello. I wish there were another route to the barn, but there isn’t. I’ve considered driving, but parking is already tight enough with staff. And to be frank, driving a distance that takes me five minutes to walk is just lazy and bad for the environment.
So this is my new normal. Fucking everywhere I look. I swear the woman works twenty-four hours a day. Some sort of overachieving keener.
Just like her brother.
Irritating.
Nearly as irritating as watching her struggle with bags of dirt the size of her body with no one to help her.
She grins as I approach, the plastic seam of the bag dragging across her chin as she turns to look my way. “Good morning!”
My brow furrows. She sounds chipper. Just as chipper as Oma when she talks about howlovelyJulia is.
Which makes me wonder if she’s mocking me.
This must be a cosmic joke that everyone is in on. I’m just trudging around, putting in long days on the farm, waiting for the next shoe to drop, and they’re all laughing at me.
