I had to admit, my parents had chosen a beautiful place to build their retreat. The house was big, but still had room to expand if they wanted to add on. Trees had been planted around the property, offering areas of shade where benches and rock gardens had been set up. They’d gone all out with landscaping and interior decorating, more than I would’ve expected.

They’d put a decent amount of thought into this, which made me wonder if, for the first time, they’d make it a year or two before taking off again. I had to admit, I didn’t hate the idea.

“What do you think?” Blair asked as she followed me around the space they’d designed for me.

“Large windows, an open space.” I turned around to face her. “It’s wonderful.”

“Have you ordered the display cases yet?”

“I did. And I ordered more supplies. They should get here next week.”

“Is that when you think you’ll be moving in here?”

The look on her face was so hopeful that I almost wanted to lie to her. “I’m not moving here. You know that, right? I’ll keep some things here for any time I don’t want to drive home, but I love my apartment.”

Her smile dimmed a bit but didn’t disappear completely. “Of course. Just know that the offer is always open. Any time you want, you can move in here and be a full-time part of the retreat.”

“Thanks.” I ran my hand across the counter. “I’d like to see the rest of the property. Mind if I look around?”

“Go wherever you want,” she said. “You are welcome in every part of this world. Walk your path and change anything you need along the way.”

I thanked her and headed outside. The weather was a bit warmer than it usually was this time of year, and the sun was shining. It was the perfect day to be outside walking around. No one else was up here, so it was just me and nature.

I’d been on a walk like this one when I’d realized that I wanted to work with plants. I’d been in New York, a few hours outside of Buffalo, tent camping with my parents and another couple they’d been involved with at the time. I’d had my own little tent, and the four of them had shared a larger one. I hadn’t quite been old enough to realize what it meant that my parents always had other people sleeping in their bed, but I’d known that they were all caught up in whatever they were doing.

Since they’d mostly left me to myself, I’d gone for walks. I never went off the paths, and I always made sure I got back before dark, but I walked for hours. Walked and looked at plants and trees and flowers. I picked leaves from the trees, picked up rocks, picked flowers.

And I picked some poison ivy.

I’d ended up in the hospital with an awful allergic reaction and a desire to never do something that stupid again. When I’d told Kevin and Blair, Kevin had ordered a botany book, and I’d spent the rest of the week reading. I’d fallen in love with plants as I read, and the obsession had only grown since then.

I’d even forgiven poison ivy.

My muscles were warming to the movement now, and I realized just how long it had been since I’d been on a long, aimless walk. I walked a lot in Rawlins rather than driving, but it had been a while since I’d done it for the sheer pleasure of it. I’d always been an athletic person, though I hadn’t ever done much in the way of organized sports. It wasn’t until now that I realized how much I’d missed the enjoyment of physical activity.

As my walk continued, my mind wandered about before coming to rest on work. The day after my parents had talked to me about opening a small shop out here, I’d started working on inventory. I didn’t keep a lot on hand because much of what I dealt in had shelf lives, which meant I needed to figure out how much to take back and forth, and how much new to order.

I’d also been toying with the idea of finding something that my parents wouldn’t really have to put together but would just be able to sell. That idea was still in the back of my head when I reached a line of pine trees.

Pinus sylvestris scotica.

Pine tree resin could be used for a lot of things, particularly as a powerful antiseptic and expectorant. Many of the respiratory remedies I made used resin. The needles were a good source of vitamin C. Maybe that’s what I could do. Instead of purchasing the resin and needles I used, maybe I could collect them here, work on the things I made that used those ingredients. I’d feel less like I was wasting my time here if I kept busy.

I ducked under a couple low-hanging branches and put my hand on the trunk. Most people thought tree bark was pretty much the same. Some realized there was rough and smooth bark, but not many understood that even among those two distinctions were all sorts of nuances. Things that needed to be felt with the hands to be understood.

I moved around the tree, trailing my hand across the bark, feeling it, learning where I could harvest the resin without harming the tree. I examined the branches, the needles. Pine cones made beautiful decorations.

I was so caught up in what I was doing that I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone until someone spoke.

“Who the fuck are you?”

I spun around, nearly tripping. I almost didn’t recognize him because I was a little distracted by the mass of tanned skin and muscle that came with a shirtless Blake Hunter.

Shit. Blake Hunter.

What the hell was he doing here?

“Are you deaf? What the hell are you doing on my property?”