Epic fail there.
She shifted her thoughts willfully to Bailey. Sunny couldn’t tell during their visit to the Botanic Garden if Bailey was any happier than she had been that day at the courthouse, but the interplay she’d seen between the young girl and Sawyer had looked like a step in the right direction.
Regardless of whatever Sunny’s hormones wanted her to think about Sawyer, she did believe him when he said he’d stand by Bailey and that he was open to whatever kind of relationship they developed. When Sunny took everything he’d told her that day and coupled it with what she’d learned about him by doing her own digging, there was nothing to indicate he was anything other than what he appeared to be. A stand-up guy with a big heart who’d given himself in service to his country, and now to his hometown, and to his family, both old and new.
If Sunny were being honest, she’d admit she felt a bit guilty about that last part. There he was, being all big brotherly despite the fact that Addie had more or less dumped the girl in his orbit without conferring with him first, and he wasn’t even biologically related to her. Sunny, on the other hand, was Bailey’s actual half sister, and what was she doing? If anyone should be making an effort to help give the girl a sense of family, it should probably be her.
Since gaining her inheritance and a new family along with it, Sunny had excused herself from getting involved because of the distance thing. Addie and Sawyer were right there with Bailey, after all. But that was an excuse. One made more to soothe her own guilt than because she thought she had no role to play.
To that end, in addition to getting the paperwork properly signed while she was there, Sunny planned to work out a date for Bailey to come visit her in Old Town. It was a baby step, Sunny knew that, but she didn’t know how else to begin. Heck, she wasn’t even sure Bailey would want to come visit her. She had seemed interested enough to ask questions during the Botanic Garden tour, though, so Sunny hoped that might be a point in her favor.
She turned off the two-lane road that doubled as the highway in the mountainous part of the state and started up the narrower winding road that led higher into the mountains. She’d admittedly been looking forward to the chance to drive the corkscrew switchbacks along Big Stone Creek again, letting her little six-speed do what it was engineered to do, bobbing and weaving smoothly through the curves while she alternately downshifted and accelerated to get the most out of every bend. As she let herself go, let herself slide into the rhythm of car and road, she marveled at how much more colorful the forest had become in the three weeks since her last visit.
It was the middle of October now and the lower elevations were pushed almost to peak color. She knew that when leaves began to turn, the speed with which they went through the variations of their color spectrum, to when they finally fell, was impacted by a number of different factors, not the least of which was specific to the genetic makeup of each particular plant or tree. The unseasonably warm weather had slowed the transformation a bit, but at the lower elevations, the colors had already come in beautifully, and as she climbed higher and higher into the hills, she noted the color had crept up almost to the highest peaks now. How wonderful it must be, she thought, to watch the transformation up close and personal, like Addie and the other folks who lived in the Hollow got to do, year in and year out. The tapestry before her as she left the deep woods and entered the first high pasture was simply breathtaking. Once again, she felt her heart simply fill up with awe of the beauty of nature.
Of course, the second she plunged again into heavy forest where the view was restricted by the big oaks and soaring pines, her thoughts zipped right back to Sawyer. Nothing new there!
Yes, she’d been attracted from the moment she’d laid eyes on him, but, unlike the very flirty and charming Seth Brogan, she certainly hadn’t seen any of that same sort of reaction from Sawyer. She’d done her best to hide the direction her thoughts had taken and had thought she’d been pretty successful. For his part, he hadn’t seemed to be having that same struggle at all. And he’d known all along they weren’t related.
The thing was, it had been bad enough when he’d been biologically verboten. Worse still was that moment when she’d learned he was fair game. It was like both of her X chromosomes had instantly burst into a happy dance. No waving aprons needed.
However, all that had been utter child’s play as it turned out. Because things had gotten downright squirming-inside-her-clothes hot when Sawyer had made it clear his XY’s were doing a little chromosome dance of their own.
Because she hadn’t already been on fire before that.
It was bad enough she’d read his service history and knew he was a war hero. He was also being an utterly adorable big brother to Bailey. Then he had to go all Taylor Swift dance mode at the food truck, and try as she might to feel embarrassed by his little hip-wiggling boogie, what she had been was amused. And charmed. The man did not give a flying fig what others thought of him, and for a girl sporting five names, that was an appealing attribute.
“And now you’re heading straight back into the self-proclaimed bad boy’s lion den for round three!” Except, she reminded herself, this time she’d come to put an end to all future rounds. Sawyer liked things to be controlled and in order? “Well, then, he should love this.”
She had thought she’d take a little drive around, see if she could find the actual town of Blue Hollow Falls, but she’d waited too long to plug the little town into her GPS and hadn’t had signal now for close to a half hour. So she went straight to the mill the way she’d come in before. Then almost wrecked her car as the mill came into view.
“Holy mother of muscles and sweat,” she breathed as she somehow managed to swing into the same spot as before and cut the engine all while staring. There might have been a little drooling involved as well. Stevie, you’re going to be so mad at me.
Stevie had offered to tag along for moral support, and because she was dying to get a look at the old mill—as well as another gander at Sawyer and high hopes for a Seth sighting as well. Sunny hadn’t been sure how the meeting would go, though, and wanted to keep things simple. Plus, she’d yet to confide in Stevie about the whole food truck conversation, and she honestly didn’t know how she was going to hold up to seeing Sawyer again. So she’d told Stevie they’d go together another time, but they’d both known that was an empty gesture, since Sunny had also honestly stated that she didn’t know if or when she’d be going back to Blue Hollow Falls again.
“But I might be persuaded to make it a regular event if the scenery is going to look like that,” she murmured. And she wasn’t looking at the fall foliage. “It’s like I died and went to lumberjack heaven.”
There were three men up on the roof of the mill, and another half dozen scattered around on the grounds around it. Some were climbing up and down the scaffolding that now braced part of the outside wall, while others were running wheelbarrows back and forth filled with what she assumed were shingles. Or they were hoisting said shingles up the scaffold to the roof. All of that apparently required lots of glistening muscles to be bunching and flexing.
When she finally peeled her attention away from the man parade, she noted with some shock that a lot had happened in three weeks. The rusted, damaged tin panels that had once comprised the roof of the mill were gone. Only a small part of the wood frame was still exposed, and it appeared to have been largely rebuilt. The overall shape of the roof remained, as did the large cupola in the middle, but whereas it had been tin paneled before, the new roof had been fully reconstructed using . . . were those slate shingles? She snagged her phone and used the zoom on the camera. Yep. Blue slate shingles.
The former tin roofing, though showing deterioration, had been in keeping with the style and history of the mill, but the stone shingles lent it an entirely different look that was both rustic and beautiful. Set in the tableau of the fall foliage with the waters of Big Stone Creek rushing over the boulders next to it . . . simply gorgeous. She could see the place
becoming a destination just for photographers alone. She imagined the setting with snow covering the banks and topping the low-stacked stone wall that surrounded the mill, maybe smoke curling from the two stone chimneys. It would have a distinct beauty in all four seasons.
Along with Addie, Sawyer, and the Bluebird Crafters Guild, Sunny had also Googled the mill itself, but there hadn’t been much historic information available on it other than a brief newspaper story about the mill being shut down that had been reprinted as part of a bigger story on the history of silk production in the States. That had pulled her right down a rabbit hole where she’d ended up reading a great deal more about the history of silk production and silk mills in the British colonies. All fascinating stuff, particularly from a horticulture perspective. She’d read more about the bombyx mori moths and mulberry trees and thought how interesting it would be to actually explore the origins of silk production. She couldn’t help but wonder if there might not be a better way to go about producing the desired result now, with all the advances that had been made in growth technology.
Sitting there now, seeing the mill coming to new life right before her eyes, she wished she could have seen the place as it had been originally, but she made a mental note to get Addie to send her photos of it when it was all completed. Or . . . maybe she’d bring Stevie back after all. Given she’d made that promise. Kill two birds.
Which brought her attention right back around to the men.
She’d spotted Seth as one of the workers on the roof immediately. His beard made him an easy one to ID. Sawyer was up there, too, along with another man she’d never seen before. Seth had on the same ancient fatigues, this time with a long sleeved green T-shirt and another heavier plaid shirt tied around his hips. His hair was in a single plait down his back today and between that, the beard, and those shoulders of his, he looked like some kind of Norse god as he tossed slate shingles up the steep incline of the roof to the other man, the one Sunny hadn’t met. That man was catching and stacking them as if they were tossing around paper clips. He had dark hair that was a little on the shaggy side, and wore old tan canvas khakis and a blue Henley that hugged his lean muscled chest and ropy shoulder and arm muscles like a lover. But even with all that eye candy tempting her, once her attention snagged on Sawyer, she forgot all about the others.
He had on old worn jeans that snugly fit his thighs, which looked even bigger with the knee pads he had on. He was down to yet another filthy T-shirt that might have once been white, but Sunny didn’t give a damn. He was kneeling on the roof, straddling the peak, hammering the shingles into place. Back in the city, the temperatures had steadily fallen in the past week, marking the end of the Indian summer they’d been experiencing, but had still hovered in the upper sixties to low seventies. Three hours south and west, but a few thousand feet higher in elevation, the thermometer reading on the dash of her car said it was a much brisker fifty-two degrees. That said, the sky was a blistering blue and the sun beamed directly down on the roof and the dark slate shingles Sawyer was nailing into place. All three men were sweating like it was the middle of July. Which made that old T-shirt cling to Sawyer’s sculpted torso like a second skin.
From the safe confines of her car, she zoomed in with her phone camera and watched in guilt-free, rapt pleasure as he swung his hammer, driving in nails like a machine, one after the other, again and again. Her thoughts glided quite effortlessly to what he must be like in bed, pistoning those lean hips of his in that same methodical rhythm, muscles bunching, flexing, sweat glistening, as he drove himself into the warm, willing softness of her—
A rap on her window made her squeal and jump at the same time, and sent her phone flying into the passenger seat then bouncing down into the foot well. What is it with people around here banging on the windows of my car? Heart galloping, and her face not a little flushed, she turned and saw—
“Bailey?” Sunny pressed the ignition switch then quickly lowered her window. “Hey,” she said, trying mightily to regroup as quickly as possible, but even she heard the breathless quality to her voice. “You startled me,” she said with a laugh in a lame attempt to cover her reaction. “I was just coming to see you and Addie. I got caught up in all the changes to the mill. Wow, huh?”
The young girl looked over at the mill, and Sunny noticed her gaze went up to the three men doing the assembly line shingling of the roof. She looked back to Sunny, then to where her phone had landed, then back to Sunny, but her expression was, as always, unreadable. If she’d had any inkling what had been going through Sunny’s mind, she didn’t show that either. Sunny had to remind herself the girl was only ten years old. But looking into those bright but sober blue eyes, she wasn’t so sure what Bailey might understand, even at such a tender age. Sunny certainly had been well ahead of the maturity curve when she’d been that young.
“I want to show you something,” Bailey said. “Before you talk to Addie.”
Surprised, and more than a little intrigued, Sunny nodded. “Okay, sure.” She’d been about to tell Bailey she’d taken the following day off, so she had plenty of time before or after her meeting with Addie and Sawyer to go traipsing about with Bailey, but decided it was better to keep that bit of information to herself. If she needed a reason to cut and run, work was a handy excuse.
Opting to leave the paperwork in the car, and her purse along with it, she closed the window, grabbed her phone from the floor, and her key fob, then climbed out and clicked the lock button. “Where to?” she asked with a smile.
Bailey looked her up and down, her opinion of Sunny’s choice of ankle-high black leather lace-up boots, black jeans, a thin, pearl gray sweater, and a deep red pea coat was neither approving nor disapproving. “Do you have gloves?”
“Gloves?” Sunny repeated. “It’s a little chillier up here but I really didn’t think—where are we going?”
Bailey motioned to the woods to the left of the lower lot. “Back that way. Not far, but it’s colder in the trees. Mostly pine, so not a lot of light getting through.”
Sunny followed her gesture, and recalled the last time she’d been here. It was the same direction she’d seen Sawyer and Bailey head off when they’d left the mill as she’d driven away. “Let me see what I’ve got.” She moved to the back of her car and popped the hatch. Smiling, she came up with a pair of blue rubber gloves that were standard issue at work. “Well, it’s better than nothing.”
That got a hint of a smile from the girl. “Actually, those are good,” she said. “You don’t happen to have any clippers or anything, do you?”
Now Sunny frowned. “What kind of clippers?”
“Never mind. Come on.”
“Wait, does Addie know where—”
“She knows,” was all Bailey said before heading off in the direction she’d pointed to before.
Sunny closed the hatch and hit the lock button again, then happened to glance up to the roof of the mill and caught Sawyer looking straight down at her. How he’d heard her hatch slam shut over all the other ruckus, she couldn’t be sure. Maybe he just felt the scorch of your hot and steady stare. She shushed her little voice and lifted her hand, waved. When he frowned slightly before waving back, she realized she was holding the blue gloves in her waving hand. Aprons, gloves, what will you wave at the man next? Certain other garments instantly came to mind, all of them made out of silk and lace, causing her to abruptly tuck the gloves into her jacket pocket and her prurient thoughts along with them.
Proving to herself that she was going to handle this situation with Sawyer in a mature, rational, and completely neutral manner, she gave him a friendly little salute, which earned her a wide grin in return, along with a hooting hello from the Norse god. So much for being Switzerland.
Ignoring the flush currently heating up her entire body, she hurried to catch up with Bailey. She swore she could feel Sawyer’s gaze zeroing in on her retreating back. Talk about scorching.
She caught up with Bailey just as the young girl e
ntered the woods. “Wow,” Sunny said, as they entered the cool glade. “It’s beautiful in here.” The undergrowth was gone here, as little to no sunlight made it through the canopy of high pine boughs. Beds of yellow pine needles, gray twigs, fat little charcoal brown pine cones, and fallen branches framed the trail that Sunny knew had likely been created by the deer in the area. They were creatures of habit and tended to follow the same course, changing only when forced change by fallen trees or shifts in water flow patterns of creeks and streams jammed with fallen foliage. She knew this because of her studies, not because she was the outdoorsy, hiker type. A fact that was becoming quickly and painfully clear; the little lace-up boots she wore were designed to look cute with her skinny jeans, but comfortable for hiking? Not so much.
The trees were a bit sparser the deeper they went, allowing the sun to cast beams of light through the high boughs, as if lighting their way. “Kind of magical,” she added, as she trailed along behind Bailey. “When I was little, I started creating a garden in our tiny backyard in Alexandria. I liked to pretend there were fairies and elves living there. I even made a few little houses and some rustic patio furniture.”
Bailey glanced back over her shoulder attentively, but didn’t say anything to that.
They hiked on a few more silent minutes, and Sunny tried again. “You seemed to know a little about llamas. Have you worked with other farm animals? Or horses maybe? I wanted a horse like nothing else when I was younger, but we couldn’t even have a dog or a cat, so I knew that was never happening.” Not to mention there had been no budget for pets, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
Bailey went on a few steps, then slowed and waited for Sunny to catch up. “You never had a pet? Ever? Not even a fish or something? Are you allergic?” She said that last part with a tinge of disgust, as if allergies were a sign of weakness.
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