He stood, but his face was full of concern. “You sure?”
“Get out of here,” she insisted.
He nodded and then sauntered toward the other side of the barn.
“Like I said...” Andi lifted her dark eyebrows.
Emily twisted the cap onto the bottle. “We’re—”
“Just good friends, right?” Andi finished her sentence and then pointed her bottle toward her. “You care about him.”
Emily threw her arms up. “Of course I do. He’s my best friend.”
“But youreallycare about him, don’t you?”
After peering down toward the corner of the barn, Emily lowered her voice and said, “It doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t feel the same way about me.”
“What makes you say that?”
Emily sighed. “He can’t let go of Claire even though it’s beenrocky for years.” She summarized how Claire was splitting her time between Splendid Lake and Nashville and had been begging Jake to move to Nashville with her. “He told me that he still cares about her, and he can’t just tell her that it’s over because things are ‘complicated’”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“between them.” She slumped back in the chair. “It’s obvious he still cares about her. He says they’ve broken up, but she calls him all the time and begs him to give it another try. That sounds to me like they’re still holding on to each other.”
Andi touched her arm. “He cares about you too, Em. Don’t give up hope.”
“I’m not giving up, Andi. I’m just facing reality.”
“I disagree.” Andi pointed toward the far end of the barn. “If you paid attention to the way he just ran over here to check on you and make sure you were okay, then you’d agree with me.”
Emily stood and picked up her paintbrush extender. “We need to get back to work.” But while she continued to paint the barn, she couldn’t ignore the hope that took root deep in her heart.
When she heard a car pull up near the barn, she turned just as Ms. Riley climbed out of her gray Honda Accord. “Hi,” Emily called as she hurried over. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course it is, dear.” Ms. Riley waved a greeting to Andi. “I drove by earlier and saw you all working on this old barn, and I thought I’d bring some of my husband’s tools to use. I filled up the trunk for you.”
Emily and Andi shared a look as the older woman popped her trunk.
“Ms. Riley,” Jake called as he and Seth hurried over to join them. “What’s up?”
“She brought us some tools to use while we work on the barn,” Emily said. “Isn’t that sweet?”
His smile sent warmth swirling in her chest. “It sure is.”
They all gathered around the trunk of the car, where they found paintbrushes, rollers, extenders, and trays, along with hammers, saws, and other tools.
“This is very generous of you,” Jake said while he and Seth began pulling tools from the trunk. “We’ll bring them back when we’re done.”
“Nonsense,” Ms. Riley said. “I’d just be grateful to see you using them, especially for this wonderful place.” She glanced around the orchard. “Your orchard is part of what makes Splendid Lake home. If there’s anything else I can do to help you, you just let me know.”
After carrying the tools and supplies to the barn, they waved to Ms. Riley as she drove away.
“We have some of the nicest neighbors here,” Andi said.
Emily smiled. “Yeah. I definitely agree.”
“When was the last time we all had pizza together?” Andi asked while glancing around Jake’s small table later that evening.
Jake swallowed a bite of the delicious pepperoni pie. “The last time we were all together was high school, so it had to be senior year.”
He was so relieved at the progress they’d made today. While the women had worked on painting one side of the barn, Jake, Seth, and Vince had finished replacing all the rotten boards. Tomorrow they would start on the doors before Emily and Andi helped with the painting.
