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He spent some time talking to the Mason brothers, doing his best to stay out of Keely’s way as she spoke to the bridesmaids and directed a couple of Della’s friends in setting up display flowers for photos in the courthouse’s lobby afterward. He hadn’t realized she did this kind of thing—making arrangements and delivering them—in addition to all the work running a farm required. Growing up at Rough Hollow, he’d seen the endless amount of labor required to make a living off the land.
Yet she was obviously in her element as she straightened ribbons and arranged a greenery bough over a temporary lattice arch erected by the photographer for photos. Even Nate’s unpracticed eye could see the changes she made to the photo backdrop had transformed the spot from potentially tacky to a lush garden. Prepared with zip ties in the pocket of a work apron she wore over her faded jeans and a pink tee printed with the Windy Meadows Wildflowers logo, Keely secured the bough to the lattice before declaring the job finished and wishing the family well.
As he slid into the passenger seat of the delivery van she’d left idling the whole time, he couldn’t delay the reason for his visit any longer.
“So what gives?” She beat him to the punch by asking first, waiting for traffic to clear before pulling out on Main Street. “I know you’re not in town to accompany me on deliveries, or help me with my automotive issues, Nate. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
She turned south on Oak Street, heading back toward her small farm. With her blond waves restrained in a ponytail, he had a clear view of her profile as she spoke. She hadn’t changed much in the five years since they’d parted ways. She’d always been pretty enough to stop traffic, with her high cheekbones, brown eyes and rosebud lips. But there was something more serious about her now. Whether that was just because he hadn’t seen a real smile from her yet, or because life had been tough on her these last few years, he couldn’t be sure.
He’d heard through the grapevine that her father’s drinking had worsened before it got better, and he’d wondered what that had meant for her. She’d always had a soft spot for her father, to the point he wondered how much she’d enabled her dad’s drinking. But he’d never waded into those waters with her, knowing that she liked putting her family out of her mind when they were together. Sometimes he’d wondered if that had been a mistake on his part, to take the easy way out of not confronting her, the same way she didn’t seem to confront her dad. They were alike in that way.
Which was one of many reasons he hated to come to her with Gramp’s complaints.
“My grandfather asked me to talk to you,” he admitted, looking out the window to take in the changes around Last Stand in the year since he’d driven through the small downtown. There were some new businesses, but the vats from Outlaw Tequila were still there. The park was still trimmed and pruned, empty now but ready for use when the weather cooled.
“How is Everett?” she asked, glancing his way as she stopped at a crosswalk. They waited for a mother pushing a stroller with one hand and holding a preschooler’s hand with the other. “Everyone was worried about him after the accident this spring.”
The collision had devastated the town, killing the youngest Delaney, Rose, and her boyfriend. Rose had been just nineteen years old. When he’d heard the news, he’d tried calling his own youngest sister, Lara, who’d left home at around the same age and hadn’t looked back. The number he had for her didn’t work anymore, reminding him how thoroughly she’d cut ties with the family. He shook off those memories and focused on Keely.
“Thank you. He’s doing better,” Nate assured her, appreciating her concern. “Feisty as ever, so I’m sure that’s a good sign.”
“He’s the one who sent you to talk to me?” Her voice sounded genuinely curious.
“He says you’re growing wildflowers on Ramsey land,” he told her bluntly.
Straightening her shoulders, she reared back in surprise. “Excuse me?”
“He claims he wanted to prep the ground in the east field to start his fall tomato crop, but that the plot is being used for sunflowers—and not by him.” Nate had stopped by the farm stand this morning, hoping the field manager would tell him something different—that Everett was confused, or there’d been a misunderstanding. But Grant Wilkins had told him the same thing.
“What east field?” Keely shrugged her shoulders. “We both know Harper lands border the Ramsey property. Does he think I’m farming too far on his side? Because I have a survey map of our lands and I double-check it before I work any new grounds for Windy Meadows.”
“I’m sure you do—”
“And I’m very respectful of all the borders,” she insisted, clearly offended. Or irritated. “I think highly of your grandfather, Nate, but he couldn’t be more wrong about this.”
“Should we drive out there?” He hated to inconvenience her, but his grandfather was up in arms about the land poaching. “Maybe if we look at the map together, we can take some photos and get it all sorted.”
“I don’t need to drive out there.” She shook her head, ponytail swinging as she huffed out a frustrated sigh. “I’ve got a hundred and one things to do today, and none of them involve spending time with you to appease your grandfather.”
“Okay then.” He turned his attention to the road ahead and ground his teeth, seeing he had wasted his time. “I’ll drive to the fields myself and see if I can figure it out.”
She said nothing, but she drummed her short nails on the steering wheel as if there were thoughts brewing.
“What?” he asked, wishing she’d just spit it out.
She drummed for another moment as they turned at the faded old sign for Harper Ranch, a relic from four decades past.
“How will you know what fields are freshly planted, let alone which are tomatoes and which are bluebonnets?” she shot back, her words barbed with the other things she didn’t say.
Like how much she resented him being here.
Or how much she resented him, period.
“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” he told her mildly, unwilling to engage.
He’d ticked her off, but he’d be damned if he’d let her get under his skin. He needed to focus on recovering as fast as humanly possible if he wanted any hope of salvaging his career. That meant he couldn’t get tangled up in a drama with Keely, even though she still enticed him like no woman before or since.
Some relationships weren’t meant to be.
