When Dorothy returned home at the end of the day, she was exhausted. Most of the unmarried girls gathered around the dinner table, as was their custom, but Dorothy wasn’t her usual talkative self. She stayed quiet as she ate her roasted chicken and rice.

“What’s wrong?” Concern filled Edna Petunia’s eyes. Although she hadn’t been the girls’ mother as they were growing up, she had come to understand them, and knew when something was off.

“I think I’m just overwhelmed by how much work there is to do. Mr. Reeves is due in court in less than two months, and there’s so much to do at the house.”

“I thought you were a secretary.” Theresa cut straight to the point, as usual.

“Well, I do a little bit of whatever Carter—er, Mr. Reeves, needs.” She blushed, knowing that she shouldn’t have spoken of her employer so familiarly.

Edna Petunia smiled knowingly when she saw Dorothy’s face. She had a glint in her eyes that Cletus recognized.

“Now, Edna Petunia, don’t go getting any ideas now. Dorothy’s just working for him for the summer, you know,” Cletus chided gently.

“What is it?” Dorothy was too exhausted to understand what was going on.

“I heard from Penny that this Carter is quite the good-looking young man.” Edna Petunia watched Dorothy carefully for a reaction. The other girls stopped giggling and gossiping to listen to their mother. Now they were interested, too.

“Quite the eligible young bachelor. You know it’s my dream to plan a wedding for at least one of you girls.”

It was a sore point in the family that all of Dorothy’s sisters had, for one reason or another, married their husbands quickly and with little to no preparation, thus robbing Edna Petunia of her mother-of-the-bride expectations.

“That’s ridiculous. I work for the man. There are no wedding bells in our future. That’s for certain.”

“But is he really as handsome as they say he is?”

Dorothy thought carefully before she spoke. “Well, I suppose he’s all right. But I’m a professional woman now. I can’t go losing my head just because he’s not ugly.”

Cletus smiled proudly at his daughter. He was glad she had a good head on her shoulders. Since she was prone to storytelling and reading adventurous tales, he’d always worried that she may have her head too far up in the clouds to ever really be satisfied with her life. But the girl in front of him was a mature, confident young woman. She would do well, no matter what she pursued in her life.

“Plus, he’s rather rude,” Dorothy added when her sisters gave her looks that showed they didn’t believe her when she said she wasn’t interested in him.

“Rude? How so?”

“He’s constantly making comments about ‘country life.’ As if his life in Austin was so much better than it is here.”

At this, Edna Petunia and Cletus both bristled, and a few of the girls did as well. Edna and Cletus could have moved anywhere when they’d gotten married, but they’d specifically chosen their country town—and Cletus’s parents’ home—to settle down and raise their family.

“Well, if he gives you any trouble, you tell him that he’ll need to deal with me.” Cletus couldn’t help but feel like an overprotective father whenever he felt one of his girls was threatened. But Dorothy laughed.

“I don’t think that will be necessary, but I’ll let you know if anything changes. Now, what’s for dessert? I think I smell something delicious.” Minnie, one of the sisters who loved making people smile, stood up and brought over a chocolate cake to the table. As Dorothy tasted the fudgy dessert, she thanked her lucky stars that God had brought her and her sisters to the Sanders’.

* * *

The following morning, Dorothy left extra early to make sure she arrived at Carter’s house on time. She was still tired and sore from the day before, but she was even more determined to show Carter that she could handle whatever he dished out.

When she found him in his study, he was still wearing the same suit from the day before, but now it was wrinkled instead of crisp. His eyes were red-rimmed, and he looked as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep.

“Were you working all night?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

“That’s none of your concern, Miss Sanders. I’d like you to start with these logs from Mr. Drake’s house. He kept a record of all his visitors from the year 1881 until his death last year. You’re looking for mention of a woman named Louise. That was Mr. Parrish’s mother.”

Dorothy stared at Carter in disbelief. That was nearly three decades! But she bit her lip and took a deep breath.

“Yes, sir.”

Dorothy began to sift through the papers, still a bit wrinkled and messy from their previous disarray, and put them into some semblance of order. She briefly looked over at Carter, sitting in an armchair in the corner, reading through a thick legal book. She saw his eyes flutter shut and reopen a few times. A lock of hair had fallen into his face, and Dorothy suppressed the urge to walk over to him and push it back into place.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Carter blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Yes?”

“Would you like me to make you some coffee?”

“Yes, Miss Sanders. That would be appreciated. Make sure it doesn’t take too much time away from the logs, though. I have a busy afternoon planned.”

Dorothy smiled to herself as she walked into the kitchen to make coffee. The man was obsessed with efficiency and work. She wished they had a little more time for pleasantries. She felt she knew next to nothing about the man she’d be spending so many hours alongside.

That afternoon, Carter told her he needed to visit the town library, so Dorothy showed him the way there. When they entered the small library, Dorothy heard Carter raise his voice for the first time since she’d met him.

“Where’s the rest of it?”

“Shh!” Dorothy’s older sister, Gertrude, the town librarian, hushed them with a stern glare. Dorothy leaned closer to Carter.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, whispering

“This can’t be the only library you have in town. Take me to the real library.”

“This is the real library.” Dorothy was confused. Sure, the library was small, but what was he expecting? The library’s most popular visitors were school children and elderly people who had nothing better to do. Gertie kept a small collection that usually satisfied anyone who came in. An old man with a long, gray beard looked up from a newspaper he was reading, trying to hear what Carter and Dorothy were talking about.

“I can’t wait to get back to the city. I hate it here.”

Gertie marched over to them, an angry look on her face. She wasn’t Dorothy’s favorite sister, but she had a right to be mad. Carter was causing a fuss in the library.

“How may I help you?” Gertie’s tone was polite but brisk. “I must remind you that there are children in this library.”

“I need the latest legal journal from New York City. Where can I find it?”

“We don’t have any of those. Is there anything else you need?”

Carter let out a sigh of frustration, and his eyes blazed for a second. Dorothy glanced from her sister to her employer nervously.

“How can you call this place a—”

“We’ll be going now. We can send away for a copy of the journal by mail.” Dorothy interrupted Carter, then gently grabbed his arm and steered him out of the library. She knew it might get her in trouble, but she did not want to give Gertie further cause to be mad at her. Gertie was bossy and cranky, and when people upset her, she just acted even bossier and crankier. She was not pleasant to live with under those circumstances.

Outside, Dorothy felt she needed to give Carter a piece of her mind. “Please keep your opinions to yourself. I’m sorry that our library didn’t have what you needed, but you have to understand, we’re a small town, and we don’t have all the same resources you do in a big city!”

Carter was upset, but found himself suppressing a smile at Dorothy’s impassioned plea. She was lovely when she was angry, and despite it all, he enjoyed seeing her all riled up. Ordinarily, he would have been furious and unable to concentrate for hours over the issue, but now, he found himself lightening up.

Dorothy wasn’t done yet, though. “Also, that was one of my sisters! I’d appreciate it if you showed some respect to my family.”

Carter laughed, and Dorothy’s face grew even redder. But as he laughed, she felt the corners of her lips start to turn upward, and she wasn’t able to stop herself from bursting into laughter, too. She forgot what she was mad about, and just let herself enjoy the moment.

Carter fought the urge to wrap his arms around Dorothy and pull her in for a kiss. His thought shocked him. He had never been attracted to any of the women he’d worked with before—then again, most of them had been old enough to be his mother! Dorothy was lovely, but he was her employer, and he needed to keep it professional. Still, he wondered more about her life and the seemingly-infinite number of sisters she seemed to have.

He spoke again once the laughter had died down. “I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.”

“I think we have.”

“Instead of complaining about everything, maybe I should have you show me around town. Take me to your favorite places. Show me what you see in Nowhere. I think that might help me…adjust to the surroundings better. And then I’d be able to focus on my work.”

Dorothy shook her head, but she wore a silly grin. This man could not stop talking about work. She was thrilled at the chance to show him around the small town she had grown to call home. There was no way he wouldn’t fall in love with it too, once he saw what she saw.

She certainly had her work cut out for her, but it was a job she couldn’t wait to start.

Carter cleared his throat. He had gotten a bit carried away, and he needed to get back on track.

“After the work day is done, of course.”

“Of course, sir.”

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, as Dorothy thought about all her favorite places while she continued to search the logs for any record of Mr. Parrish’s mother. She was so preoccupied in her daydreams that she kept working past four o’clock, until Carter noticed the time and reminded her that he wasn’t paying overtime. “I do admire your work ethic, though.”

“You never stop talking about work, do you?”

Carter looked puzzled. “Outside of work, what is there to talk about?”

Dorothy laughed out loud. “Just about everything! Family. Food. Places you’ve never been. Books you’re reading. Why, you’re the very definition of ‘all work and no play’.”

“I suppose that’s true. But it’s important to me to do good work. That’s why I became a lawyer. To help people.”

“I see. And there’s a reason I became your secretary. To help you.”

“And I am very grateful for that.” Carter stepped closer to Dorothy and took her hand.

A shiver ran down her spine when Carter touched her. She felt nervous and exhilarated at the same time. “I’ll be back after supper.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

That evening, Dorothy shoveled her salt pork and beans into her mouth as fast as she could. She barely spoke to her family as they discussed the day’s events. Cletus was discussing his plans to run for town judge. He wanted Edna Petunia to sit for a portrait with him. He felt it would help establish his image as a candidate.

“I don’t have any desire to be tormented for hours in a hot studio while some failed artist attempts to draw us.” Edna Petunia was not afraid to make her positions clear, something Dorothy loved about her adoptive mother. Cletus just grinned. The two were still as in love as they’d been when they’d married, and they never let the girls forget it.

“Oh, snickerdoodle, it won’t be that awful. Why, there’s an artist traveling through town from Austin! He’d be perfect.”

“What is it that makes people from the city think they’re so much better than everyone else?” Dorothy asked, causing everyone to stop eating and stare at her. It was the first thing she’d said all evening.

“Something on your mind, darlin’?” Cletus could always sniff out trouble with his girls.

Dorothy shook her head. “It’s nothing. I need to be excused, though, as I have plans this evening.”

“Where are you going at this hour?” Alice was the most uptight of the sisters. She didn’t approve of fooling around or shenanigans of any sort, and she knew it was odd for Dorothy to have plans in the evening.

“I’m showing Mr. Reeves around town to help him get to know it better. To show him all the things I like about Nowhere.”

Edna Petunia clucked her tongue. “I don’t want to see you getting hurt, dear Dorothy. You’re so generous and loving to everyone. That’s mighty nice of you, but you let us know the instant that boy misbehaves.”

“I will, Edna Petunia. I promise you that.”

Dorothy cleared her plate and put her shoes on. As she rushed out the door, Cletus called out one final warning.

“If it turns out well, just remember…Edna Petunia needs to be able to plan the wedding!”

Dorothy laughed to herself. She knew there was no chance of that happening. At the same time, she found herself hoping it would. There was something special about her new employer—something that made her heart race.