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A sly smile stole across Daniel’s face before he continued. “Like I was saying, we need to be prepared for the fair this weekend. We have two booths set up—one for each side of the business. I will be stopping in to check on things, but my wife will also have a booth for the bookstore, and she’s requested I stay close by in case she needs help.” Daniel’s eyes landed on Simon and he nodded.
Simon shifted, glancing around the group.
Daniel sighed. “Simon will be handing out assignments. Even though most of you work the dairy farm side of things, some of you will be asked to man the training table. This will be an opportunity for you to show your stuff in case you’d like to be considered for a job change.”
Oh, right. Simon was supposed to give that tidbit of information. He dropped his eyes to the ground and twisted his heel into the dirt. Daniel was bound to notice that he hadn’t been on top of things the last couple of days. Simon could see a talk in the near future—one he wasn’t ready to have with his future brother-in-law.
The second the group broke up to do their chores, Simon did the same—only he chose to dart for the house. If he could get into his office, then he had a good chance of being “too busy” to talk to Daniel.
“Simon.”
He froze.
“A word.”
Dang it!
Slowly, Simon turned to face his business partner. “What do you need, Daniel? Seems to me we have everything all squared away.”
Daniel lifted a brow, moving toward him like a predator. “You’ve been… distracted lately.”
“Have I?”
The flat look Daniel shot him was enough to make Simon think a little harder about avoiding this discussion. “You have, and if you’re not careful, that distraction is going to get you in trouble. This business might be thriving, but it won’t always be like that. You need to do everything you can to make it the best it can be now so when we fall on hard times, we have some cushion.”
Simon let his focus sweep over the farm surrounding them. Even after all this time, it still felt like a dream. His life had changed so much, and it was only getting better with each passing day.
He turned his attention back to Daniel. “I’m not an idiot. I know that we need to plan for the worst. I’m just…” He rubbed the back of his neck then dropped his hand to his side. “I’m just trying to figure something out.”
“Anything I can help with?”
His gaze cut to Daniel. “No. I think I’m good.”
“So not business, then.”
“Not business.”
Daniel’s frown remained. “Does it have to do with Katrina?”
The look on his face must have given him away in a second, because Daniel’s brows popped up and he grinned.
“You’re going to ask her to marry you, aren’t you?” Daniel smacked his forehead with his palm. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Katrina mentioned you two had a date tonight.” He moved forward and his heavy hand landed on Simon’s shoulder. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Is that what you’re worried about? You know Katrina is crazy about you, right? She’s going to say yes.”
“I know that.” Simon sighed. “I just want to make sure it’s what she wants. I don’t want her settling for something she doesn’t want.”
Daniel sobered. “Katrina loves you. She’s not going to regret anything.”
“I get that. But she still had to quit a job she was excited about so she could come back to be here with me. There’s just this…”
“I’m not going to say you shouldn’t worry. Because that’s just part of being human. But I want you to consider one thing. She’d decided to quit before you showed up. She wanted to come back. If she was going to resent anyone, it would have to be herself. She made this choice.”
“That doesn’t mean she can’t have a certain level of remorse for making that choice. What if one day she wakes up and wishes things were different?”
“Then I guess you’ll deal with it when you get to that point. For now, live in the moment. Believe me, it’s more important to find your happiness wherever you can get it because nothing is set in stone.” Daniel clapped his hand on Simon’s shoulder once more and headed away.
