Happily Ever Afters Guaranteed (4 page)

Her eyes met his for the first time instead
of flashing away. “No. You have your moments, too.”

PART TWO

Olive kept her eyes averted, but she couldn’t
turn off her awareness of the way Jesse’s muscles bulged as he
maneuvered the wheelbarrow piled high with jack-o-lanterns over the
bumpy farm lane to the display she’d set up on her Gran’s
porch.

She couldn’t believe she’d blurted out that
she thought he was sweet. She’d been prepared for him to turn tail
and walk off – had expected it after the last conversation they’d
had one year ago – but he’d flushed under his tan, averted his
expressive brown eyes, and insisted on helping her tote the
jack-o-lanterns over to be judged.

She was just as much of an goober over him
now as she had been at eighteen. Why couldn’t she get over this
inappropriate crush?

Darby followed at their heels, although the
registered therapy dog kept sneaking glances at the yummy foods
right at her level – some held precariously by uncaring children.
Olive snapped her fingers to keep the dog’s attention where it
should be.

Jesse rolled the wheelbarrow right up to
Gran’s front steps and released the handles. The rancher wasn’t
even sweating.

“Thanks,” she said, putting down the smaller
box she carried and wiping her dusty hands on her jeans.

“Anything else I can do?” Was him rubbing one
hand down the back of his neck a sign of nervousness? What did he
have to be nervous about?

“Um, Angie’s going to set these out and do
the judging. Here she comes now.” She waved to her neighbor who was
heading their way.

Jesse looked like he wanted to say something
else, but at that moment Josh ran up to his father.

“Daddy, daddy! They’re doing hayrides! I want
to go, I want to go! Cassie’s going, and Tommy—”

Jesse laughed, interrupting his son’s
chatter. He swung Josh up in his arms and then there was a mad
scramble as the boy settled in for a piggyback ride. “All right.”
He looked right over at Olive, his gaze intense.

“Oh, Miss Olive! Can you come too?”

She signaled Darby to stay in step with her.
“I’ll walk with you. I’m supposed to drive the truck, though, so I
won’t be able to sit in the back.”

They talked of mundane things with Josh
present, She’d settled in the cab of the well-used pickup –
borrowed from another neighbor – relieved to be out of Jesse’s
intoxicating and confusing presence.

The passenger door creaked open and the
object of her thoughts slid in, shoving Darby into the middle seat.
“It’s way too crowded back there. Mind if I navigate?”

She blinked. “I guess not. Will Josh be okay
without you?”

“Oh, he’s fine.”

Olive twisted to see through the back window.
Josh was surrounded by friends and two responsible-looking adults
sat nearby. She shrugged and started up the truck. In addition to
being well-used – i.e. old – it was a diesel and plenty loud. Maybe
she wouldn’t have to talk to Jesse during the ride.

They’d made it past her mailbox and onto the
dirt-packed country lane when Jesse spoke. Shouted, really.

“I’m sorry about what I said to you – about
you not having what it takes to stick it out in Peaceful.”

She glanced at him, trying to gauge his
sincerity. She’d gotten real good at that – had to – over the
years.

Jesse kept his face mostly averted, eye out
the passenger window. His neck and cheekbones were endearingly
pink-tinged.

“I’m glad things’ve worked out for you and
your grandma,” he continued, still speaking loud over the truck’s
roar and the rattle that came from driving on a rutted dirt
road.

“Worked out?” she cried. “Worked out?”

“I mean—” He quickly tried to backpedal.
“You’ve worked really hard—”

“Exactly right, I have!” She smacked the
steering wheel, her action matching the force of her words. “You
have no idea. No idea. The farm was almost bankrupt when I got
here. If I hadn’t figured out this co-op with the neighbors and
these different festivals, Gran and I would probably be out on our
tails. And that’s after I talked everyone into it, handled all of
the marketing—did you know we have an online presence now? Did you?
And then planning four events in the last four months.” She took a
breath, but she wasn’t done yet. “Do you realize that it took me
two months of cajoling, begging and then bribing to talk Mr.
Thompson into doing the corn maze?”

“Bribing?”

Argh! That’s all he got out of her whole
diatribe? She spoke through gritted teeth. “Yes, with several of my
gran’s pecan pies.”

By now they’d reached the end of the dirt
lane and Olive carefully pulled a u-turn before heading back to the
festival grounds in her driveway. Jesse was blessedly silent, but
Olive’s thoughts and emotions churned.

She stopped the truck and trailer well
outside the rope fenced area, so there was less chance of running
over any kiddos, fully expecting Jesse to hop right out of the car
and escape the awkwardness that descended with the silence when she
turned the truck off.

He didn’t. Jesse blew out a gusty sigh. “I
really admire you.”

What? Had she heard him right? Never in a
million years would she have expected those words to come out of
Jesse Parker’s lips. Her face flamed.

“You’ve done good since you’ve been back in
town. I’m happy that things are going well for you. I really
am.”

She held her breath; she could tell something
else was still coming.

“I guess…” He forked his fingers through his
thick brown hair and spoke to his lap. “When I saw you last year,
it brought back… I mean… I realized I still had feelings for
you.”

She swallowed hard and tried to formulate a
reply, but she couldn’t seem to find any words. Jesse Parker… had
feelings for her?

“I thought all my… feelings,” the word seemed
to be hard for him to say, “had disappeared when you left right
after graduation. I met Carrie, we got married, Josh came… and then
after Josh’s mom died I was too busy raising my son to feel much of
anything, but when you came back…”

Olive’s chest felt as if a heavy weight
rested there, crushing the air from her lungs. She’d known Jesse
would move on after she left Peaceful right after high school, but
she hadn’t had a choice. She’d had secrets, and if Jesse had known
them back then she felt sure he would have thought differently
about her.

If he knew her secrets now, it still might
change his feelings for her.

Jesse went on, oblivious to the turbulence of
her thoughts. “Everything else did too. At the time, I wanted you
gone – thought if you didn’t stick around then things could go back
to normal for me and Josh.”

The weight on Olive’s chest turned to fire.
He didn’t want her around?

“But now…”

At that very moment, Josh’s head popped up in
the window at his father’s side. “Daddy that was sooo fun! Can we
go to the maze now? Please, can we?”

PART THREE

Olive practically ran from the truck,
claiming she had to check on the soundstage, but Jesse thought it
was probably an excuse – the country music blaring from the
speakers set up around the perimeter of the guest area was plenty
loud for his tastes.

That hadn’t gone well. She’d bolted.

Again.

If he blinked long enough, he could pretend
he was back in high school. He’d been on an adrenaline rush from
getting through graduation; he’d thought the world was his oyster
back then.

After the graduation ceremony, he’d done the
unthinkable for a shy, quiet guy like him – he’d invited the
prettiest girl to take a ride in his truck. They’d never made it
out of the parking lot, had sat on the tailgate outside the high
school gym until the sun came up. Just talking. He’d flown higher
than ever before.

And crashed. The very next day, Olive had
left Peaceful and taken his heart with her.

“Evening, young man.”

Jesse looked up from his depressing thoughts
to see he and Josh had walked right by Olive’s grandma, sitting on
a rocker on her porch.

“Hi, Mrs. Thomason.”

Josh scampered up the porch steps for a hug –
Olive’s grandma had been his favorite Sunday school teacher before
she’d had her stroke.

“Whatcha doin’?” Josh asked, standing at the
old woman’s knee.

“Why, I’m guarding these prize-winning
Jack-o-lanterns. Hafta make sure no young rascals mess up the
ribbons or knock them over.”

By the time she’d finished speaking, Josh had
already turned to examine the display of what looked like forty or
fifty Jack-o-lanterns spread on a stair-step shelf.

“Daddy, there’s our punkin! He has a ribbon!
What’s it say?”

Jesse came up the porch steps to stand behind
his son and read the green ribbon glued to the top of their
jack-o-lantern. “It says: honorable mention.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means you did a wonderful job on your
jack-o-lantern,” Mrs. Thomason answered before Jesse could. “And
the judge thought it was special.”

“Oh, wow!” Josh bounced twice, feet thudding
on the porch. “That’s so cool!”

Jesse gave an internal sigh of relief that
Josh wasn’t too disappointed they hadn’t won. He didn’t point out
to his son that all the pumpkins that hadn’t won had green ribbons
on them.

Josh moved to the end of the porch to look at
the winning jack-o-lanterns and Jesse leaned one hip against the
porch railing, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You look too serious for an event like this,
Jesse. I saw you with my granddaughter earlier. She do something to
upset you?”

“No. No, of course not.” No, he’d done it, by
making a fool of himself over Olive. Again.

“Hmm. You know, my granddaughter has been
through a lot of pain. I’d be obliged if you’d tread carefully with
her heart.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. What
about his heart?

A cell phone jangled nearby and Jesse’s head
came up in time to see Olive round the corner of the house,
carrying a couple of paper plates piled with slices of pie. Smelled
like blackberry. She handed one to her Gran and juggled the other
while trying to fish her phone out of her jeans pocket. Finally he
took the pie from her and she shot him a grateful half-smile.

It was better than no smile.

“What’s up, Sue Ann? You’re kidding.” Olive
groaned loud enough to turn even Josh’s head from his
pumpkin-watching.

The boy came to stand next to Jesse, both of
them watching her finish her conversation.

“Uh huh. I’m on my way.”

She clicked her phone closed.

“This for me?” Jesse asked playfully, holding
up the pie plate.

“You can have it.” She hardly glanced at him,
knelt next to her grandma. “Someone lost their kid in the maze. I’m
going to go help look for him. You okay here?”

The older woman nodded and Olive kissed her
worn cheek, then turned to go.

“Wait—” Jesse followed her off the porch
steps. He motioned to himself and Josh. “We’ll go with you. Maybe I
can help find whoever got lost.”

“Daddy, I don’t wanna go.”

Jesse looked back to his son, now clinging to
the arm of Mrs. Thomason’s rocker, torn between his duty as a
father and his desire to help Olive. “I thought you wanted to do
the maze?”

“I changed my mind.” Spoken like a
five-year-old. “I don’t want to get lost, too!”

“Don’t worry, young man,” Mrs. Thomason put
in. “Joshua can stay here and help me guard the jack-o-lanterns.
We’ll wait for you to get back.” She patted Josh’s hand and he
beamed at her.

It was all Jesse needed to see. He jogged off
after Olive, who was already weaving her way through the crowd
toward the banner that read “Maize Maze” on the far side.

He realized he was still carrying that piece
of pie.

“You mind if I eat this?” Jesse asked, waving
it in Olive’s direction. She shook her head and he scooped the
dessert up with his fingers, not bothering with the plastic fork
tucked underneath it. The warm, gooey deliciousness melted in his
mouth.

“Mmm, mmm!” he hummed, mouth full.

She shot him an amused glance over her
shoulder and shook her head. “If I remember right, you always did
like my Gran’s pies. Seems like you bought one or two at every bake
sale since fifth grade.”

It was true. “Your Gran bakes like no one
else in the world.”

He disposed of the paper plate in a nearby
trash can and when he turned back to Olive, found her face turned a
pretty shade of pink.

“Um, I made the pies. The blackberry ones.
Sue Ann from down the lane made the peach cobbler.”

“Really? Wow. Then I guess I’d better turn on
the full power of my charm and convince you to marry me,” he
teased.

When she looked miserable instead of cracking
a smile, Jesse’s own smile faded. “Nevermind. Let’s just find this
kid we’re looking for.”

He tromped forward into the mouth of the maze
made of corn taller than he was. Better hope the kid had stayed on
the path or they were in for a very long night. The sun was already
getting low in the sky, turning the low-lying clouds all shades of
orange, pink and red.

“Jesse.” Olive touched his arm and his senses
went on red-alert. “This way.”

He followed her on the westerly of two paths,
and the deeper they went into the maze, the quieter it got. As if
they’d left everyone behind. He kept his eyes peeled for a child
wandering by themselves, but so far they hadn’t seen a soul.

“When I left Peaceful six years ago, I had a
secret.” Olive’s surprising statement hung in the air between them
for a long moment.

Jesse wondered if her secret had to do with
the painful past her grandmother had mentioned.

“I left because—well, it wasn’t because of
you. Not directly.”