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"Can't we at least stay until Grant gets here? I want to tell him I don't like the way he demanded Dani go on a date with him."
"Nope," Clover says. "The sun is setting in exactly forty-five minutes, which gives us just enough time to get to Craggy Widow's Peak."
Honey sighs, but she hurries after Clover just as I hear tires rolling over gravel.
I turn to Goldy, so nervous my hands are actually shaking, and stand. "We can talk tomorrow about the farm. You can go on inside."
Goldy's smile makes me unreasonably nervous. "I'm fine right here. It's a lovely day, isn't it?"
I dart around her and down the stairs. She doesn't have to go inside. I'll just meet Grant at his car.
Except, Clover and Honey have changed direction and are walking toward Grant's car.
I'm so glad I wore flats with my best jeans as I sprint. I just miss getting clipped by his right bumper as I swing around the front, grab the handle of the passenger side door and pull it open.
Thankfully, Grant slams on the brakes, so I don't have to run and swing myself into a moving car like I'm jumping a train in an action movie.
Breathless from more than just the sprint, I plop into the passenger seat and pull the door closed.
Grant's bewildered but happy-to-see me smile eases some of my nerves. "In a hurry to see me?"
"In a hurry to avoid my sisters. Get out of here before one of them tries to talk to you."
Without asking any questions, he nods, backs up, and heads back down the driveway. "Why can't I talk to your sisters?"
"They are guaranteed to embarrass me and probably scare you off, and I'm just not in the mood for that today."
"They have met me before."
"Sure. But when they met you, we weren't about to go on an actual date. You were just some random guy who annoyed me every time you opened your mouth."
"And now you don't want them to scare me away because you like me."
I do not like his smug tone. "I want to have a date that doesn't start with me being embarrassed or you fleeing for your sanity."
"Trust me," he says, no smugness now, only a gentle warmth. "Nothing they could do would scare me away." He reaches over and laces his fingers through mine. "You're stuck with me, Rule Breaker."
"Don't underestimate the Weston sisters."
"Oh, believe me, I've learned that lesson from you."
I squeeze his hand, warmed by his words and his hand in mine. This is all so new to me, a man who cheers me on this way.
"Have you talked to your sisters about the tension?" he asks, evaporating my warmth.
"We're not that kind of family." Maybe I shouldn't have told him about the issues between me and my sisters. I don't want him to truly think badly of them.
"It can really help to talk. I didn't think my family was the talk-it-out kind either, but when Hailey and my mom stopped speaking to each other for six months when she was in her second year of college, getting everyone together and laying it all out on the table really helped."
I can't even imagine my sisters agreeing to something like that, much less actually sitting around and discussing our issues. "Yeah, I don't think that would work for us."
"Maybe I can help. Sometimes an outside influence can—"
I jerk my hand from his. "Nope. Not happening."
He glances over at me as he turns right on Maple Street. "What?"
"I get that you saved my life, but I don't need you to fix it too. My sisters and I are fine, and we'll work through our problems at our own pace."
