Page 52 of Kissed by Her Ex

“Nic, there you are. Come on.”

That came from Nate, the oldest of the McFarland brothers. He’d arrived in the doorway that separated the living room from the foyer. He gestured for Nic to follow but didn’t wait around to see if he actually did.

Of course, he did. He always did what he was told. He was responsible and reliable almost to a fault. It was exactly why he felt guilty the entire time he’d been in Misty Mountain, despite the fact that he’d been working night and day going back as far as he could remember.

“We have some root rot setting in down in Section Four-A,” his boss, Joseph McFarland, said, not even looking up at him as he entered the dining room. “Were you aware of that?”

Joseph sat at the head of the long dining table where he conducted most of the farm’s business. He’d set up his laptop, surround himself with paperwork, and summon family members and employees to come talk to him throughout the day.

“We have it under control,” Nic said, the tension coming through in his voice.

He stood awkwardly at the door, twisting his baseball cap between his hands like he was nervous. He didn’t like this feeling, especially when Mr. McFarland lifted his head and aimed his steely stare at him. Nic was his manager, but for some reason, Mr. McFarland had never really trusted him to do his job.

“We need to pull all those crops out,” Mr. McFarland said. “Otherwise, it’ll infect everything around it.”

“Not going to happen.” Nic shook his head. “We’ve contained it so it won’t spread, and that particular disease—”

“Did I ask for your opinion?” Mr. McFarland barked. “I’ve been running this farm for forty years. My dad for seventy before that.”

His dad had not run this farm for seventy years. And father and son had worked side by side for most of those years, so there was definitely some overlap. But that wasn’t important. He had to stay focused on the real issue here.

Now the others were staring at Nic with neutral expressions. Two were Nic’s employees and two were family members, including Nate. One was the operations manager he regularly worked with. How could Nic expect respect from others on the team when the boss was constantly belittling him like this?

“With all due respect, sir, I have a degree in agriculture,” Nic said. “You hired me for my expertise, and that’s what I’m bringing to this job.”

“I hired you to keep operations running and make sure things like this don’t happen in the first place,” Mr. McFarland said. “I’ll expect to see that section cleared away by early next week.”

With the freeze, that wasn’t going to happen, but there was no point in telling Mr. McFarland that. He knew everything.

Nic should just say his goodbyes and cut out. This was one debate he wasn’t going to win. But something rooted him to the spot.

It had been like this since he returned late yesterday afternoon. He’d let his boss know he was back and got a snippy reply. He’d worked late to try to make up for it and shown up bright and early this morning, but his lack of sleep had gone unrewarded. If anybody ever noticed how hard he was working, they never showed it.

“I’ve been here four years,” Nic said.

At that, Joseph, who’d resumed staring at his screen, stopped to look at him. The others in the room froze too, and all eyes were on him.

“Yeah?” Mr. McFarland said. “What’s your point?”

“I love this farm, and I believe in everything you’re doing. I would have been prepared to give even more of my life to helping you take it to its next phase. But I need to go where my talents are appreciated.”

Joseph’s face changed then. Nic would swear his normally ruddy complexion had gone a couple of shades paler. He even looked around as though anyone else in the room might get what was going on here.

“I’m quitting,” Nic said. “I’d give two weeks’ notice but I can’t, in good conscience, oversee tearing out a bunch of crops that don’t need to be ripped from the ground. You don’t need me to funnel your orders down to the team. You can do that yourself—or get one of your kids to do it. I’m going home.”

And with that, he turned and left, shoving his baseball cap back on his head as he walked. Home was not the tiny apartment with the two-foot Christmas tree on top of the TV cabinet. Home was Misty Mountain, and the sooner he got back to Charity Ardmore, the sooner he could start the rest of his life.

25

Charity was looking forward to her girls’ night with Noelle. They would hang out at Charity’s house, painting their nails and watching cheesy romcoms, just as they did when they were teenagers.

It was what she needed to get her mind off things. She’d spent her Saturday as she usually did in December—running from client to client. That left little time to think about the man who’d left her life only three days ago. And tonight would be yet another distraction.

“I’m almost there, Gracie,” Charity said.

She tended to do that as she neared the final turn onto her street. Some part of her believed her dog could hear her when she did that.

But tonight was different. Tonight, her driveway was filled with cars.

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