“Sorry, excuse me, ma’am.” I turned quickly to find a man standing behind me, trying to reach the announcement board.
“Sorry,” I flushed, looking away as I stepped to the side, letting him reach for the flyer. He yanked off one of the phone numbers fluttering at the bottom and glanced over it before tucking it into his jeans.
He was beautiful, rugged, and something about him sent my pulse skyrocketing. I wanted to touch him, to kiss him, and … What on earth was I thinking? Shaking my head, I cleared away the unnecessary thoughts and focused on the postings again, finding one for a flower farm.Surely, they’d pay under the table.
I reached for the flyer when he spoke again. “You don’t want to take that.”
“Why’s that?” I folded my arms over my chest, the paper crumpling against my side.
“Well, for one, it’s seasonal work. Are you only here for the summer?”
“No, but I don’t know how long I am going to be here. Maybe seasonal work is what I need until I make a decision.”
“Yeah, alright,” he agreed, “but that isn’t the kind of seasonal work where there’s a chance for you to be taken on full-time at the end of it.” He nodded at the flyer as I unfolded my arms and looked over it again.
“How do you know that?”
“Ah, well, because that’s my family’s farm … Hey, you should try the resort! They have residences for their staff if you’re not local enough to have a place to stay. Hayes mentioned they lost a couple of students halfway through the season.”
“Resort, huh?” I thought about it for a moment:two birds, one stone.
“Well, the nice thing about the resort is there are lots of opportunities to pick up extra work. Whenever there’s a wedding, they usually need more servers than they have, so the housekeepers will help out. Stuff like that.”
It sounded perfect, exactly what I was looking for. I held out my hand, “Thanks so much …”
“Beau.”
“Nice to meet you, Beau. I’m—” I hesitated. Should I give him my real name? I hadn’t thought about this part yet. I was taking too long to decide, so I hurried on. “I’m Rose.”
“Nice to meet you, Rose.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I need to get going, but I hope I’ll see you again.”
“Sage River seems to be a pretty small town. I’m sure you will.”
3
Beau
Tension rushedthrough my body as I stared at a picture of myself hanging on the pole, bright red lettering surrounding it as I read the words.He couldn’t save his best friend’s family. Why would he save yours?
My eyes scraped over the letters D.O.A. printed over my face before they found the worst part of the whole thing.Vote for the Master, not the Servant—Landon Masters.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
I yanked the paper off and scanned the bottom, confirming, to my horror, that my opponent was none other than my best friend—former best friend now, I supposed.
“That scheming little piece of …” My eyes landed on the beguiling brunette from yesterday who was watching me from the Mudpie Bakery’s stand. I lifted my hand with a dopey smile before my gaze followed the line of her arm to find a little boy clinging to her hand.
Walking over, I greeted Elsie before turning to Rose. “Not stealing that, are you?” I nodded at the foam plate of cinnamon buns in her hand with a grin. “I’ll have to arrest you.”
She paled horrifically and stuttered. “Wh-what? No. I paid. Ask Elsie!” She turned quickly, and I reached out, catching her elbow.
“Whoa, easy girl. I was teasing.” The fear in her eyes lessened, but it didn’t disappear completely, and my heart stuttered at the idea she was afraid of me. “I’m sorry, Rose.” My eyes jumped back to her son, deciding to change the subject.
“Who might this be?” I crouched lower to meet him, but he only turned away from me and buried his face into his mother’s thigh. She pressed her hand to the back of his head and finally managed to smile.
“This is Silas. He’s a bit shy.”
“That’s alright. I’m a bit shy around new people too.” Rose’s eyebrow lifted as if to suggest our encounter yesterday didn’t imply that, but I’d also never met someone like Rose who, upon first glance, made everything feel … well, different. I hadn’t put my finger on it quite yet, but I was glad we ran into each other again.