Ali let herself into her apartment a few hours later feeling drunk and high, and all she’d had was two glasses of wine in four hours.
But she did have one smoking hot kiss and the promise of a date with the man who knocked her down the other day. She wondered if he’d knocked her silly at the same time.
When was the last time she’d felt like she was a schoolgirl with a new crush? Hell, she didn’t even feel this way when she was a schoolgirl.
Liam Sullivan did indeed have kind eyes like she remembered. He also had strong warm hands, kissable lips, and a rock hard body. She knew because she made it a point to cling onto him during the kiss they shared in the parking lot before he opened the door to her beat-up old car and made sure she drove away safe and sound.
Now she was staring at the clock on the microwave and realized it was later than she’d thought.
Originally she just wanted one glass of wine to relax her from the long day. She didn’t keep wine in her house because she never drank it often enough and hated to waste it. The last thing she expected was to run into a guy. Let alone him.
Now she was glad that she’d convinced herself to go out and splurge on a drink for the night. Except it hadn’t even cost her anything other than her phone number and a couple hours of sleep, because now it was almost midnight and she’d told her mother she’d be at the farm before seven again tomorrow.
Was her mother right? Was the farm just too much to handle now? Deep down Ali knew the answer and wished she didn’t.
She’d never thought so before but now knew.
Here she was, young enough to deal with the lack of sleep and the pressure that running a business would entail and she was still slightly annoyed she wasn’t getting to bed as early as she hoped.
For her mother, on the other hand, sleep was the least of her worries. All the stress of running an orchard and farm, the business as a whole and making the decisions, wondering if they were right or not.
It was selfishness on Ali’s part to not consider that before.
She had a picture in her mind that’d she’d own the business someday but she’d have a staff to run everything. She could come and go when she wanted. Do all the fun things.
Not worry about bills or staffing, bad weather that could ruin a crop, or the economy causing prices to increase.
Nope, she wanted it to be like it was when she was a kid. When all she had to do was help her grandfather draw up mazes and hayride trails, create the haunted house and work with her mother in the bakery. She didn’t want anything that gave her a lot of responsibility then or now.
Yep, it just made her selfish for being mad at her mother over the decision to sell.
She’d talk to her mother about it more tomorrow and let her know that she was fine with it. That she understood and would stand by her mom’s decision, even if it broke her heart in the end.
If there was one thing Ali had learned, it was that life taught you some hard lessons and you just had to roll with the punches to get through. Sometimes you got a black eye, other times you could duck out of the way. Time would tell if she was agile or ended up bruised.
***
Monday morning, Liam walked into his lawyer’s office and explained the plans for the purchase of the farm, or the place better known as Granny’s Orchard. His lawyer, Tyler, just shook his head like he always did when Liam was going to branch out. “Do you even know anything about running a farm?” Tyler asked.
“Nope. I’m going to learn it for the next several months under the current owner. I made her a fair market value offer for the property and she agreed.”
“A verbal offer?” Tyler asked.
“Yes.”
“What was the offer?” Liam listed the figure and had Tyler bobbing his head side to side. “You probably could have gone lower, but it’s not completely outrageous.”
“I’m not trying to take advantage of her. It’s for my mother and I’ll get the investment back. I always do.”
“You do seem to have the magic touch with business ventures. Are you sure there aren’t some leprechauns in your bloodline?”
Liam laughed. “Do I look like I’m a leprechaun?” He was trying not to get insulted by that comment, but knew Tyler was just busting.
“Hardly. So who’s their lawyer so I can reach out and figure the paperwork out?” Liam pulled the card out that Belinda had handed him on Friday and placed it on the desk. “I’ve worked with him before. I’ll get in contact with him in a day or so. You might want to double check Belinda is still interested in selling.”
“You know her?” Liam asked.
“Everyone knows of Granny’s and the owners. Belinda is nice, but she’s been in over her head for years since her father died.”
“No family to help her out?”
“Nah. She’s an only child. Her husband took off when their daughter was a teen. The guy was a real prick.”
“How so?”
“Word around was that he thought Granny’s was worth more than it was. That he thought he was marrying into money. When he found out the work that it involved, he was more annoyed than anything. He blamed the farm for his failing marriage, rather than all the women he had on the side when Belinda, Anthony, and Ali were doing all the work.”
“Ali?” Liam asked, his breathing stopped for a moment. He should have gone with his gut and maybe not kissed her senseless the other night because she was all he’d been able to think about since.
“Belinda’s daughter. She’s an only child. Nice kid. She’s got to be early twenties now, I think. Anyway, it was just the three of them holding it together for years with some staff. Then just Belinda and Ali. More Belinda than anyone, since I think Ali went away to college for a few years.”
Shit, Liam thought. Things could get messy. He wanted this farm not just for his mother but also for him. But he also wanted Ali and she might not appreciate he was the one buying the family business.
“What do you know about Ali?”
“Why?” Tyler asked.
“Just that Belinda said something about the fact her daughter might not be happy with the sale of the farm.”
“Ali probably won’t be. My kids were a few years behind her in school, but like most people around here, we go to Granny’s all the time. Ali is kind of a fixture there. She was close to her grandfather too and his death hit her hard. They lived on the farm after the divorce and I think Anthony was always more of a father to her than her actual father.”
“What happened?” Liam asked, thinking of the sudden death of his own father last year.
“Not sure. He wasn’t sick that I know of. One of the workers found him in the orchard one morning. I’d only be guessing if I said what caused it though.”
“No worries,” Liam said.
Great, that hadn’t been disclosed to him, that someone had died on the property. Why didn’t he know that? And did it really make a difference?
The more he thought about it, the more he realized it didn’t. It’s not like Anthony Michaels haunted the grounds or anything, and if he did, that might be kind of neat.
Nah, Liam thought, shaking his head. Crazy thoughts.
“Thanks for everything,” Liam said, standing up. “Let me know how you make out when you talk with her attorney.”
“Will do.”
Liam left and went back out to his truck, then pulled up Ali Rogers’s number on his phone. The right thing to do would be to be honest with her and tell her who he was, that he was the person buying her family business. But then he was terrified that she’d turn him down and he didn’t want to risk that.
For now, he’d keep it to himself and see if they ended up together again. Of course after their kiss the other night, he was feeling pretty encouraged about another date… if he could get past this little hiccup.