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Scarlett gasped and jumped back a little too fast. The blood rushed to her head, causing a wave of dizzying stars to fill her vision. Elijah held onto one of her wrists until they cleared. When her focus found his face, she blushed. “I’m so sorry,” she rasped, her throat dry. “I didn’t mean—”
He shook his head. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Scarlett,” he said more firmly this time. “You’ve been through a trauma. My judgment of you wouldn’t stop me from offering my condolences either way.”
She couldn’t hold his gaze then. Her stomach swirled uneasily and she fiddled with her hands. “Well, you didn’t have to.”
“I know.” Elijah said those words so simply, as if they were the easiest thing to say. When she peeked at him, she found him studying her, which only caused that strange numb feeling to spread to her other extremities. “Are you going to be okay?”
Scarlett huffed. “Aren’t I always?” But then she glanced at him again and blushed. “I mean… yeah. I’ll be okay. Actually, I feel a little better after…” Her blush deepened. “Sometimes you just need a good cry, you know?”
“If you say so.” He crossed his arms and his expression changed from warmth to something different. It wasn’t cold—not exactly. But it was guarded. He pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes narrowed, shifting toward the sky like he’d done earlier. “If you want my advice, I’d call your old job and ask them if you could come back.”
She blinked. “What?” It was hard to believe he’d say such a thing after he’d heard her speech in the kitchen on top of pouring out her soul to him just now. “You think I should move back to Germany?”
He placed his hat back on his head and shrugged. “Seems to me the folks around here don’t much care whether you go or you stay.”
She gasped, and the heat in her face got even hotter. “You can’t be serious.”
Finally, he met her gaze. “I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying that it seems like you had more success in your life when you were out doing what you love.”
“What makes you think I loved it?” She crossed her arms and took a step back from him. Once again, he’d gone from making her think there was something more to him to realizing he didn’t have a heart after all. “I love my father. I loved my mother. This is myhome, Elijah. I grew up in Copper Creek, just like you did. I have every right to want to spend the rest of my life here.”
“Of course you do. But do you really want to stay in a place where the people won’t appreciate what you have to offer? I mean, your father loves you. We both know it. But does he respect you? Can he see the value you have to offer here? I don’t think so.”
Her mouth fell open. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“I’m just telling you how it is. Living out in the country isn’t for everyone. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s hard. It’s dirty. And at the end of the day, you’re lucky if you get to take a shower before you fall into bed completely exhausted. If I had another chance at a different life, I’d think real hard about whether or not I wanted to stay in this one. That’s all I’m saying.”
Scarlett’s fury reached a boiling point. She threw her clenched fists down at her sides and stormed away from him, back toward the house. She’d show him.
She’d show all of them.
Her thoughts were beginning to sound like a broken record in her head. No one thought she could handle staying. Not Anna, not her father, and not Elijah. But she was stronger than all of them combined. If she had to get up at the crack of dawn every single day and work until there was not even a streak of daylight in the sky, she’d do it. She’d read every book there was on running the farm, and she’d prove to everyone who doubted her that she was cut out to be a farmer.
Elijah was right. Farming wasn’t glamorous, but she didn’t want that kind of life anymore.
She wanted a family. She wanted a place where she felt she belonged. She wanted to live in a town where everyone knew her name and she knew theirs.
Scarlett made it to the porch. She scooped up her plate, shooing the flies from her wasted meal. Tomorrow was a new day, and she was going to be ready for it. But first she needed to find someone who could give her all the information she needed to get started.
She’d make a quick call to her neighbors. Adeline and Sean were local experts around here on everything she might need to know. If her father wasn’t willing to help her, she’d find her information somewhere else.
11
Elijah
Elijah got up two hours earlier than he normally did. It was the start of a new week. He had a long list of chores he needed to get done at the Perez farm and something told him Lucas would be dropping the ball, so he needed to make sure everything was in order at home before he left.
When he got on site, he wasn’t surprised to find the place quiet—it was five in the morning, after all. He’d feed the animals, and then he’d get right to work with the tractors.
He climbed out of his truck, but the second he shut the door, he froze.
Scarlett was headed from the water spigot with two buckets. The liquid contents sloshed over the edges and doused the ground with each step she took toward the barn. What was she doing up so early? He’d arrived at this time, fully expecting her to not show her face until much later. Seven, at least.
The look of pure determination that radiated from her face was enough to bring a smile to his own face. It felt like every time he turned around, she was doing something contrary to what he believed her capable of. She continued to surprise him at every turn.
