Drew worked as fast as he dared standing on a ladder. It was a miracle Gretchen hadn’t noticed anything going on with the farmhouse. He noticed where she’d been in her flower gardens. He’d slept at his parents one night and stood on the porch at five-thirty in the morning, watching her prowl through the darkness to find what she needed.

He’d really hated that, and the urgency to get the farmhouse finished had doubled. Since he’d quit working for the paramedic service, he’d had more time to pour into the house. He made sure everything was cleaned up at night, but he wouldn’t be able to do that today. Because today, he was giving the exterior of the house a facelift.

It was the last step he needed to accomplish before he’d be ready to bring Gretchen out to the farm. Joel worked on the opposite side of the front door, cutting in around the windows and gutters, and Janey had dropped off Jess and Dixie with explicit instructions not to get in the way.

Oh, and she’d said, “I can’t keep telling Gretchen I don’t have to work when I do. She knows summer is the busiest time in the park.”

“Has she said anything?” Drew had asked.

“No, but if she does, I’m telling her.” Janey had looked frazzled, and he didn’t want to be the cause of that. So he refilled his sprayer, climbed back on the ladder, and adjusted his face mask before blasting the exposed and repaired wood with the brightest white paint he and Joel had been able to find.

The faster he got this house painted, the sooner he could get Gretchen out here. He worked through the morning, glad to be working on the east side of the house as the sun arced toward the ocean.

School started in a couple of weeks, and he’d really like to be back in her life so he could help her with Dixie. With only a quarter of the house left to paint, he started down the ladder to refill his sprayer one last time.

“Drew!” Dixie’s panicked voice made him slip, and his attention went from the ladder to try to find the girl.

He stuttered down the last three rungs, his bones cracking against each other, and his momentum taking him all the way to the ground. Pure adrenaline got him back to his feet. “Dix? What is it?”

She and Jess skidded to a stop only a few feet from him. “My mom is here,” she panted.

Alarms sounded in Drew’s brain, and he spun as if she’d be standing right behind him. What should he do? He couldn’t hide the equipment now—or the house.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“She pulled in at Donna’s,” Jess said. “We saw her and ran straight over here.”

“So maybe my mom will stall her.” And there were several tall trees separating the two houses. Maybe he had a few minutes.

Dixie frowned and stepped closer to him. He brushed his hands down his messy clothes. His jeans were smeared with paint, and his T-shirt had drips in gray and white. “I thought you wanted her to come out to the farmhouse,” Dixie said.

“Yeah, but not yet.” Drew ran his hands through his hair and could barely complete the action because there was so much paint. He needed to shower. And eat. And get the rest of his stuff moved in.

But a powerful, aching need had him looking toward his parents’ farm and commanding him to get over there and tell Gretchen how he felt and then show her what he’d done.

He looked back at the kids. “What have you guys been wishing for this month?”

“We can’t tell you—” Jess started, but Dixie blurted, “That you and my mom would get back together.”

Jess stared at her like she’d just told him Santa Claus wasn’t real. “Dixie,” he hissed.

“You don’t have to tell yours.”

The boy’s face colored. “Good, because I’m not going to.” He folded his arms, and Drew noticed his muscles had started to fill out a little bit with all the work around the farm he’d been doing this summer.

Drew’s nerves felt like someone had dropped them into a wood chipper and switched it on high. He took a slow, deliberate breath and looked at Dixie. He extended his hand toward her. “Should we go talk to your mom?”

Dixie shrieked and cheered before slipping her hand into his and practically pulling him toward the gate that Joel had put in the fence to allow easy access to both properties from the backyard.

Once they passed all the outbuildings and the house came into view, Drew’s feet stalled. “You go on,” he told Dixie. “I need another minute.”

She didn’t ask him any questions, thankfully. She broke into a run and entered the house. Drew heard his mother exclaim, “There’s Miss Dixie!” in a falsely bright voice.

He breathed in and then out. In and out. He could do this. Just go in there and talk to her. Surely she wouldn’t still be mad. And once she saw the house…

But he couldn’t get his feet to move. Then he didn’t have to, because Gretchen practically tore the back door of its hinges as she yanked it open.

She’d taken two stomps outside when she caught sight of him. She froze too. Shock traveled across her face, replaced quickly by that anger he’d just seen. Gretchen’s fists balled and she advanced on him like a panther stalking its prey. “Tell me what my daughter is doing out here when she should be at Janey’s.”

“She and Jess have been helping me with the house.”

“Helping you with the house.” She cocked her hip and folded her arms. She scanned him from head to toe, her features softening.

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” he said.

“Mom!” Dixie burst out of the back door too, slowing when she saw them. Drew thought she looked a little wheezy. “Don’t be mad at him anymore. Please.”

“Come on, Dix,” his mom said. “Let’s go find your inhaler. You’re not breathing right.”

“Thank you, Donna,” Gretchen said, her voice much more tender when she spoke to his mother.

So maybe she was still mad at him. He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “You want to go take a look?” He only had one thing left—the house. If that didn’t win her over, Drew didn’t know what would.

He moved away without waiting for her to follow. He wasn’t even sure she would, so when he heard her footsteps on the gravel behind him, relief rushed through him like river rapids.

“So Joel put a gate here,” he said, finding his confidence. “So we can go back and forth between the farms without having to go around to the road. That way, Dixie can—” He cleared his throat, the words suddenly gone.

Gretchen didn’t help him out either, but simply watched his with curious eyes. “Dixie can what?”

“Dixie can go over to my mom’s whenever she wants,” he finished.

“Drew.” She shook her head. “We live in town.”

“Come see the house,” he said, a definite note of pleading in his tone. Gates weren’t that impressive, and he wasn’t giving up until he was on one knee and she said no.

“So the deck was pretty unstable,” he said. “But we pulled up the loose planks and found the rotted ones underneath. Joel and I did that in an afternoon. Then we got it all sanded down.” He went up the five steps to the deck. “And Jess and Dixie stained it this color.” He smiled at the honeyed wood they’d worked on for two solid days. “It looks good, don’t you think?”

“Does Janey know you’re doing this?”

“Yes.” He walked across the deck. “You can’t be mad at her. She’s been nervous about it for a month. It’s not her fault.” He tossed Gretchen a look. “It’s mine.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m going to put my gas grill here. I bought a new storm door here, so we can open both the front and the back and get the ocean breeze blowing through in the afternoons.” He stepped into the house, desperate for her to compliment the house. Say something about the efforts he’d taken to make her happy.

“This is the new kitchen. Same cabinets. We just sanded them down and painted them white. I didn’t get new countertops.” He ran his fingertips along the light brown ones that had been there. “I figured maybe you’d like to pick out something for the house.”

She said nothing, and when Drew dared to look at her, he caught her wiping her eyes.

“Gretchen.” He gathered her into his arms, happiness pouring through him when she practically wilted against him. “I love you, Gretchen,” he murmured, his mouth close to her ear. “Please forgive me.”

She straightened and cleared her throat. Drew’s whole body ached to be close to her again. “So let me get this straight.” She looked past the dining room table he’d already moved over from his place and into the empty living room. Everything was new, from the paint on the walls, to the color of the floors, to the light fixtures Adam had picked out and then installed.

“You’ve been fixing up this house, using children, to impress me.”

Drew thought he detected the hint of a tease in her sparkling eyes. “Did it work?”

She giggled as she pushed her palm into his chest. He caught her arm around the wrist and tugged her close to him again. “I love you,” he repeated. “I want you to marry me and bring Dixie out here to live with me.” He gazed down at her, nothing but love flowing through him.

She looked up at him too, a smile gracing her beautiful mouth. “I came to talk to you,” she said. “Because I didn’t want something silly to keep us apart.”

“That kiss meant nothing.”

“I know that.”

“I’d give you this farm,” he said. “And me with it, if you’ll have me.” When she said nothing, he laced his fingers through hers and said, “Let’s go see the bedrooms. Dixie chose the color for hers.”

But Gretchen pulled on his hand, and he turned back to her. “I don’t need to see the bedrooms.”

Drew’s eyebrows lifted. “No?”

She shook her head slowly, her auburn ponytail swinging. “No. I love you, Drew, and I’ll take you with the farm.”

Joy exploded through him, and he laughed as he caught her in a hug and swung her around. He set her on her feet, very aware that Dixie and his mother had just come up the steps and onto the deck. “I’m going to kiss her now,” he called out to them.

And he did, to the chorus of a soft sigh from his mother and a whispered, “Yesss,” from Dixie.

An hour later, he had shown her every improvement in the house and talked her ear off about his plans for the yard and the outbuildings. Now, though, they sat on the swing on his parents’ front porch, gently rocking back and forth.

Drew knew they had more to talk about, but neither of them seemed to want to start the conversation. Finally, he asked, “Why’d you come out here on a Tuesday afternoon?”

“Oh, something someone said to me.”

“Who?”

“Mabel.”

“Magleby?”

Gretchen snuggled further into his side. “Yeah, Mabel Magleby. And then Yvonne came by the shop to get the flowers for her mother’s funeral.”

Drew’s chest seized. He’d forgotten about the funeral. The only reason he knew Yvonne’s mother had died was because Russ had told him. He did miss his friends at work, especially Russ.

“So you talked to Yvonne?” Drew asked.

“She begged me to come talk to you.” She lifted one shoulder. “I guess having two people stop by in the same day kicked me into gear.”

Janey’s Jeep pulled into the driveway, and she got out in her forest green park ranger uniform. Her sigh was audible as she glanced toward the other property and scanned the farm area.

“Up here,” Drew called, and Janey headed for the porch. She saw Gretchen sitting next to Drew and stopped.

“He made me do it,” she said.

Gretchen looked at Drew, who shrugged. “I can be pretty convincing when I have to be.” He started to laugh, and Gretchen joined in.

Janey relaxed and approached the railing. “So we’ve made up.” A brief smile appeared on her face, and she kept most of her attention on Gretchen. “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

“Yeah, of course.” Gretchen patted Drew’s knee and stood. “Does your mom still do dinner in the evenings?”

“I’ll ask her and text you.” He watched the two women walk down the driveway and disappear in the direction of the other farmhouse. Drew felt more settled than he had all summer, and he went into the house to take a shower and get all the paint out of his hair. Clean and dressed, he wandered over to his farmhouse and discovered that Joel had finished the spraying.

“Thank you,” Drew said, his fondness for the man stronger than ever. He stepped into him, though he wore messy, painted clothes and Drew had just showered, and gave him a quick hug. “Thank you for everything, Joel.”

“Of course.”

Drew may have imagined the extra hitch of emotion in his stepfather’s voice, but he didn’t think so.

“So you and Gretchen are good?”

“We’re talking,” Drew said as they walked through the gate and back to the farmhouse. “So yeah, we’ll be good.”