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She lit up as she pointed to a section on the page she’d just read. I took the seat next to her on the swing, and it creaked under the additional weight.
“Wow, I…” I was struck dumb.
Alina was right. Her mother really had her wits about her when it came to lavender fields. Details were shared in the book along with recipes, and notes on harvesting the lavender.
Alina flipped more pages, and more secrets of her mother were revealed, including the medicinal properties of the lavender as well as natural remedies and ointments.
“I never expected any of this. She really did know what she was doing. What was she planning exactly?”
Our heads were close together, and turning my face to Alina brought us to almost touching, affording me the mixture of the scent from her perfume as well as a hint of lavender.
“I think she wanted to run the estate as a farm, harvesting the plants for manufacturing.”
Alina flipped pages to the back and turned the book to face me for ease of reading. Miss Simpson had laid out a business plan, facts, and figures with carefully written notes.
“She makes it look so easy.”
Carefully, Alina turned the book back around again. She hugged the book back to her chest like she was trapping all the knowledge and secrets inside.
“Why don’t you try it?” I quietly suggested the idea, expecting Alina’s protests, and she didn’t disappoint me.
“I’m not staying here, remember? So, it would seem like a silly idea, don’t you think?”
It did, but I hoped it was one she would consider after finding the book filled with her mother’s hopes and dreams.
“Yeah, I remember. Maybe there could be a way, though,” I suggested, with the last of my hope knotted to the words.
“It’s not my dream. It was Momma’s.”
“I guess someone else will reap the benefit, hey?” The crushing feeling returned in my chest, a reminder my future with Alina wasn’t the same one she had for herself. “Right then, I better get to work.”
I pushed off the swing, taking the steps back to my car in haste. I would get to work helping Alina in her escape instead of hindering it. I hadn’t heard her come up behind me before I lifted my tool bag from the back. I stilled as her warm hands slid up my back before coming to rest on my shoulders.
“I’m sorry. I know you hate talking about it.”
I dropped the heavy canvas bag to the ground, and a rattle of metal clattered as it made contact. I turned to face her, the sadness in her eyes reflected in my own. “I just…” I paused, not knowing what I hoped. That she’d find a reason to stay? Let me be her reason? Love me back? “I just wished things could be different.” Defeated, my shoulders slumped, and Alina rose on her tiptoes to kiss me.
Her lips found me in what felt like an apology instead of the promise I’d hoped for. I held my lips to linger on hers as long as she allowed before breaking the embrace.
“I know. I wish for so many things too, but wishing and dreaming are simply an indulgence that’ll never amount to anything in our adult lives.”
I resented her pessimism, and for the first time, I wouldn’t agree with her.
ChapterThirty-Four
Callum
Conversations flowed around the table as I took a pull of my beer.
“So, tell me more about the book you found. Your mother’s, right?” Simone asked, engaging Alina in a conversation like they were old friends.
“It’s everything you could ever think to know about farming lavender. She had these notes and little sketches about running this place. It was an entirely different side of her I had never known.” Alina paused to take a sip of her wine.
Her face lit up as she talked about her mother’s dream, and I wished again that the dream had been shared with her daughter.
“I mean, I knew she loved this place and her plants. I found her often singing to them, but she never pushed it any further.”
“Have you thought of running it, turning her dream into a reality?” Simone’s question was innocent, and I held my breath, waiting for the answer to the same question I had tried to ask her only a few hours ago.
