Jake jammed his hands in his pockets while he watched her petite shadow disappear into the night. He needed to get his confusing feelings for her under control before he did something stupid—like kiss her—and destroyed their friendship. He couldn’t imagine losing her. If that happened, he’d be completely lost.
You’re not alone. I’m here for you always. I mean that.
Jake’s words were still echoing in Emily’s mind hours after she’d climbed into bed. She’d tried staring at the ceiling through the darkness, counting sheep, and counting backward from one hundred, but nothing worked to stop her mind from reliving her conversation with Jake in the treehouse.
When he’d asked about the money from her parents’ house, she’d tried to keep it together. But all the grief she’d kept buried deep in her heart had poured out of her like a tsunami, and the next thing she knew, she was wrapped up in Jake’s muscular arms, where she felt safe and protected.
She’d yearned to curl up in his lap and stay there forever. He’d held her so tight, just as he had in the days following her parents’ death. After several moments, she relaxed, and she lost herself in imagining what it would be like to be his girlfriend. Her fingers wound their way through his soft hair as she basked in his familiar scent and listened to his heartbeat echoing in his brawny chest.
Then reality crashed down around her, and her silly fantasy evaporated as his words about Claire repeated in her mind like a broken record.
He still cared about Claire. He couldn’t let her go because things were “complicated.” Emily would never have a chance with Jake, and torturing herself with her immature dreams was just plain stupid and bad for her health.
And that was why she’d disentangled herself and suggested they go swimming, to put some distance between herself and Jake. A swim in the cold lake was just what she needed to cool down her raging emotions.
Emily groaned and yanked the sheet over her head. She needed to get over Jake once and for all. But the more time she spent with him, the deeper in love with him she became.
“I’m doomed,” she told the empty room before she snickered. Yeah, she was doomed. But she’d been doomed since she was a kid. Jake had hijacked her heart years ago.
With a harrumph, she kicked off the sheet and sat up. It was clear she wasn’t going to get any sleep. The glowing green numbers on the clock declared it was 1:45 a.m. She needed something to occupy her crazy mind.
For a moment, she considered going down to the basement to finally sort through the dozens of boxes and plastic containers that Jake’s parents had stored for her after she’d sold her family’s home. But she didn’t want to risk waking up his parents. Plus, she wasn’t ready to face those memories—not yet.
Instead, she dragged her laptop and sketch pad out of her bag, sat down at the desk, and started researching ideas for their fall marketplace. Hopefully by plunging her mind into the orchard, she’d eventually get sleepy and find a way to rest before the sun rose.
Chapter 6
“When did you draw these?”
The next morning Emily stood with Jake outside the barn as he flipped through her detailed sketches of the renovation for the market, one of the outside and three of the inside. She had included details of the booths and also customers milling about. She’d added shading and even utilized her colored pencils to complete the drawings.
Emily jammed her hands into the pockets of her jean shorts. “Last night.”
“They’re pretty enough to frame.” He flipped to the last one and then met her gaze, eyeing her with something that looked like shock or possibly wonder. “Did you sleep?”
“I mean, yeah,” she said quickly with a shrug. “Why wouldn’t I?” She tried to laugh, but it came out as a squeak.
Way to be obvious!
She’d finally fallen asleep after five and then woke up at eight when she heard Diane rattling pans around the kitchen. The truth was that she’d tried drowning thoughts of her parents andher feelings for Jake in the sketches, but she still couldn’t turn off her brain. The thoughts haunted her while she drew, and after she fell asleep, she dreamed about marrying Jake in the renovated barn with her parents, his parents, and the entire town of Splendid Lake in the congregation. But if she admitted that out loud, then Jake would know that not only was she crazy about him, but she was just plain crazy.
Jake lifted a sandy-blond eyebrow, and a blush creeped up her neck to her cheeks.
Oh boy. Time to take the focus off me!
“If you flip to the next page, you’ll see I started a shopping list for Lowe’s. It complements the one you wrote yesterday.” She pointed to the sketch pad. “We can go now if you want.”
He consulted her list and nodded. “Vince, the new manager at the orchard, gave me a list of roofing supplies too. The guys are going to help me with the roof and then we’ll worry about the walls and the interior.” He grabbed a piece of paper from the pocket of his athletic shorts. “We can take my truck.”
“Great.”
She followed him to his truck and tried to focus on their to-do list and not her insane wedding dream or the way he’d wrapped his strong arms around her last night.
Jake steered his pickup through the Lowe’s parking lot a couple of hours later. The bed of his Dodge was loaded down with roofing supplies, and with the windows open, a warm breeze swept through the cab.
Emily flipped on his radio, and when a hard rock song came through the speakers, she switched it to the oldies station and sang along with “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen. Turning, shegrabbed Jake’s ball cap and yanked her long ponytail through the back before adjusting it on her head.
“You change my radio station, and you steal my hat,” he grumbled while slowing to a stop at a red light. “You’re awfully bold.”
