Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Based on the dates jotted in the corners, those children would be adults now, likely with children and possibly even grandchildren of their own. That brought a surprising sting of tears to my eyes. A lot of Christmases had passed since the last season this farm offered trees, and I couldn’t help but wonder what these families did to replace their tradition of coming here to cut their tree and enjoy the atmosphere.
The sound of a knock on the front door of the trailer made me pause. I certainly wasn’t expecting anyone as I walked to the door and opened it.
It was Jason. And he was holding a bouquet of flowers.
I didn’t realize I’d slammed the door until I was staring at the back of it, breathing heavily. Maybe that wasn’t the best reaction I could have had, but it was my impulse. It hadn’t really helped anything. I still didn’t know what to do. I was still angry and seeing him had only made that sharper and more present in my mind, but at the same time, he was still so… him.
After a few seconds of silence, Jason knocked again. He wasn’t going away. I needed to figure out how I was going to handle this. I had options. I could decide to just go back into the bedroom, actually order the pizza I’d been thinking about, and ignore him until he went away. Or I could open the door. I took a breath and reached for the doorknob.
22
JASON
I stood on the small wooden porch outside the trailer, looking at the door that had just been slammed in my face. I’d gotten a brief glance of Beth Ann when she first opened the door and saw she was wearing nothing but a thin, flimsy tank top and pair of short gym shorts.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have hope when I was driving up to the trailer that afternoon. The mission Carter sent me on still seemed futile. I knew Beth Ann wasn’t going to be open to selling the land and letting the logging company take all the lumber. Even though she didn’t make any confirmation about it, I knew she felt something far stronger for the farm than she thought she would when she came.
This was something she wanted to put herself into, at least for the time being, and she wasn’t going to be willing to just let it all go, even for the money Carter was offering. That didn’t matter all that much to me. I was looking forward to seeing her and was hoping when I got there, she’d be happy to see me.
She’d told me what happened between us wasn’t something she usually did. Maybe she had just had a little bit of a temporary freak-out and ran away from the feelings she was having. I could understand that. I was surprised by how strong my draw to her was and by how much I wanted to be near her. She could have just panicked and started rethinking everything, so she left, not wanting to deal with any possible awkwardness in the morning.
I wanted to show up and tell her she didn’t need to worry about that. There wouldn’t have been any awkwardness, and more time together would give me the chance to prove that to her. In my ideal scenario for the visit, I’d knock on the door, and as soon as Beth Ann saw me, she’d light up. She’d invite me in, and I’d give her the flowers I chose for her, then take her into my arms and tell her I’d missed her through the weekend. We’d spend the day together and talk about everything, including Carter’s offer.
Instead, I got a door slammed in my face.
I decided that wasn’t going to deter me. I could hear her right on the other side of the door, so I hadn’t completely lost her. After a few seconds, I knocked again. The door opened more slowly this time, and I noticed she’d positioned herself behind it so I couldn’t see her. She looked down at the flowers in my hand, lifted her eyes up to mine for a brief moment, then shut the door again.
Before I could knock again or walk away, the door opened a crack. Her hand shot out to take the flowers, then disappeared inside, and the door closed again.
If I hadn’t been so thoroughly confused, I might have laughed. As it was, I didn’t know how I was supposed to react. Should I just walk away and go back to work to tell them the deal wasn’t going to happen even without talking to her? Should I go sit in my car and call her again, hoping she would answer the phone so I could cajole her into letting me in? Should I knock again?