The next morning Ali was up bright and early. Thankfully there hadn’t been any more strange conversations with her grandfather, allowing her to sleep through the night.
Actually, she hadn’t dreamed about her grandfather again since that second time. She refused to think about the little magnet she found the next morning. Right now the magnet was tucked into a drawer in the kitchen.
Last night she’d had no idea how her date was going to go with Liam, but she sure the heck didn’t expect it to end the way it had.
He’d stayed longer than she thought, so he hadn’t walked out and evened the score like she’d told him he could.
They talked all night. He talked mainly about his family and life, not really asking too much about hers. If she didn’t know better, she’d question if he was trying to ease her mind about what was going to happen to Granny’s.
If that was what he was trying to do, he succeeded. At the core of it all, he had a lot of the same family values as she did, reminding her what she thought the few times she’d seen him before...kind eyes.
And those kind eyes could turn into smoking hot eyes when he wanted them to.
The other thing that happened last night was he kissed her senseless again. The first kiss he gave her to calm her down when he got there had nothing on the last one.
The one where he pulled her into his arms. No, he didn’t pull her in. He yanked her in, causing her to hit against his body like she did when she ran into him weeks ago on the sidewalk. Only this time he wrapped her up tight and slanted his mouth against hers. Did she want to cling to him all night? Heck yeah, she did.
Instead he left shortly after and she went to get ready for bed.
Alone.
Not that she would have asked him to stay, but deep in the back of her mind, she was kind of hoping maybe he would have suggested it. She would have said no...maybe.
“Hi, Mom,” she said when she walked into the bakery at six thirty.
“You’re here earlier than I expected. I figured you’d be dragging your feet over meeting the new owner.”
“I’ve come to terms with it, Mom. It’s going to be fine,” she said. It wasn’t just lip service either. She truly believed things might work out for the best.
“I’m glad to hear it. You’ll really like him. He’s such a nice young man. I believe he’ll do right by us and the farm. Maybe it can be the shining star your grandfather always wanted it to be now.”
“It shone brightly when Grandpa was alive.” She was shocked to hear her mother say otherwise.
“Not as much as he wanted. There were so many things he wanted to do with this place, but it was time and money he didn’t have,” her mother said sadly. “Come here and help me with these donuts quick.”
Ali walked over and grabbed the tray her mother just pulled away from the fryer and started to coat them in cinnamon and sugar while her mother dropped more in to cook.
“I didn’t know Grandpa wanted to do more. He never said anything.”
“He was prideful that way.” Her mother turned and looked at her. “I’ve never said much about your father after the divorce. I’ve never said much about our earlier relationship either.”
“Why is that?” Ali asked, wondering why it was coming up right now. She’d long since given up on the man that didn’t come around often after the divorce. Not that he was around often before the divorce either.
“Because I’m a private person and because I was disappointed he didn’t turn out to be the person I fell in love with. When your father and I started dating, Grandpa had such high hopes that your father would be part of the family business. That he would help him turn this place into what he’d always envisioned.”
“Why didn’t Dad do much here?” It was no secret her father hated the farm, or she always thought he did. He was vocal enough about it at times.
“He did in the beginning, but it ended up being more work than he bargained for. It was never going to be his whole life, we knew that. But he was fed up with working all week long and then coming here on the nights and weekends. I think he thought it was easy money and he wouldn’t have to do much more than spend a day a week or so here.”
Ali snorted. “We know differently. Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because I want you to give the new owner a chance. I feel deep down he’s going to make this place into what Grandpa wanted.”
Ali wanted to agree but held her tongue for now.
***
Liam was rubbing his face fast in the shower, trying to wipe away the sleepless night he’d had.
Well, not completely sleepless. He fell asleep pretty quickly like he normally did, but then he heard a noise and woke up with a start.
He’d gotten up and walked around the house, but nothing was out of place. He was just falling back to sleep when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. It was a man. An older man. It took him a moment to realize who it was. Anthony Michaels.
He thought for sure he was dreaming, only something told him he might not be.
“Go on, boy, ask me what I’m doing here.”
Being called “boy” raised his hackles, but he was too busy trying to pick his jaw up off the floor. “You aren’t real,” Liam said.
“If it makes you feel better, then sure, I’m not.”
Liam had shaken his head a few times, hoping to clear it, but Anthony was still standing there grinning at him. “What do you want?”
“I want to make sure you put my granddaughter before the farm. That’s just land; Ali is feelings. She is emotions. She needs to be nurtured more than the land.”
He had to be losing his mind. It had to be the conversation he’d had with Ali about her family and his. Well, more about his family, but he was trying to get her to believe in him, that he wanted to do right by her family business. That he wasn’t some ruthless businessman taking advantage of a woman down on her luck.
“You’re not here,” he said again and lay back down, ignoring the older man. He didn’t need to justify his actions to anyone, least of all a dead man.
He had fallen back to sleep, but it was a restless one that had him tossing and turning for hours until he finally got out of bed and went to work out, hoping to expend some energy.
That hadn’t helped though. He was still shaken, but he wouldn’t admit it.
Now he was hoping a nice shower and a large breakfast helped before he went to see Ali again.
He had a few hours yet, so he was just going to jot down some ideas and plans for the farm. Things he wanted to talk to Belinda about, and even Ali. He had every intention of nurturing not only the farm but Ali too.
There was too much on the line for both of them to let this fail.