Chad turned his Chevy truck off the highway down a thickly treed laneway. The address matched the one listed on the small strip of paper he’d ripped from the advertisement tacked up on the corkboard inside the door of the local general store. Now, the strip of paper was lying on the bench seat of the truck. Chad had consulted it twice on the way, making sure he was still going in the right direction. Thankfully, a wooden sign boasting “Rustic Acres Ranch” had been erected out by the highway, otherwise he may have missed the laneway altogether.

As he drove, he took in his surroundings. The autumn colors were blazing brightly all around him, the treetops so full of leaves that only a strip of the clear sky above him could be seen. He turned the steering wheel right, then left, then right again, following the twists and turns of the dirt road. Just when he thought he must have made a wrong turn somewhere, the road opened into a gravel clearing and a couple of outbuildings came into view.

Rustic Acres Ranch had a name that the property was doing a good job of living up to. Rustic was the only way he could describe the plywood and wooden slab construction of the buildings. That being said, the establishment didn’t seem rundown, just a bit primitive.

He parked his truck beside an older model Ford pickup under a copse of trees. The crunch of gravel seemed to echo in his ears as he climbed out of it and slammed the door. The thought was flitting through his mind that he’d possibly just made the long drive out there for nothing when he heard a loud bang as the screen door to the house smacked shut, and a muffled wave of low music wafted toward him before it closed. He turned abruptly as the melody reached his ears and met the steely gaze of a slender woman who looked even younger than his own thirty years of age.

“Can I help you?” she called out from the porch, shielding her eyes from the sun. The pink bandana wrapped around her tied-up hair made it impossible for Chad to discern the color of it. Silently, he guessed that she was a blonde, knowing a golden hue would complement the fairness of her skin well. He took a few tentative steps toward her, pulling his hat off his head out of respect as he moved.

“I’m Chad, ma’am. Chad...Kirkwood.” It had been so long since he’d uttered his own surname it sounded foreign on his lips. A wave of satisfaction washed through him, and he fought to keep the grin from showing on his face. He was himself again, and he could introduce himself as such. As he closed the distance between them with a few hurried steps, he saw her eyebrow arch curiously.

“Do I know you, Mr. Kirkwood?” Her voice exuded suspicion. Rightly so, he thought to himself. He stuttered out the explanation for his unannounced arrival in hopes of easing her mind a bit.

“Sorry, I’m not... I mean, I saw your ad posted at the general store in town.” He unfolded the wrinkled piece of paper in his hand and offered it toward her. “You’re looking for some help around here?”

Chad watched her eye him warily, as though trying to decipher whether he was serious or not. The skepticism she wore was clear enough that it caused him to look down at his dusty jeans and black T-shirt as well, wondering if he looked unacceptable to be seeking out a job. After a moment, the woman took a few steps forward and offered her hand toward him.

“Sorry,” she offered politely. “You’re just not who I expected to answer that job posting, that’s all.” Before he could ask, she raised her eyes to meet his and smirked. “Students,” she explained. “I thought I’d get a bunch of students.”

Chad looked at her wryly, taking her hand in his and shaking it gently. “Well, I can be taught, too.”

As though finally breaking through an unseen exterior, the woman laughed. “I’m sure you can. I’m Katie. Good to meet you, Chad.”

He knew she was pretty from the moment he laid eyes on her, but until she’d laughed and allowed a genuine smile to cross her face, he’d never realized just how pretty she actually was. A natural kind of beauty, no makeup required. He gave her hand a tender squeeze and released it, shoving his hands back into his pockets. “So, what’s this job entail, Katie? I used to work with my grandfather at his farm when I was younger, but I’m not afraid to admit that it’s been a while since those days.”

“Is that your way of telling me you’ve got no idea what you’re doing?”

“Is saying you expected to hire a student your way of saying the pay sucks?”

Chad stared at Katie unblinking for what seemed like hours. Not wanting to upset her, he decided to take the high ground and try to set the conversation back on more solid ground. “I said I might be a bit rusty. I’ll figure it out.”

“You don’t even know what you’re figuring out yet.” Katie was obviously quite skilled at the art of arguing. Well, that made two of them.

“Well, I’ll figure that out, too.” Her expression made it hard for him to know whether she was purposely being argumentative or just showing off her sense of humor, so he flashed a sly grin toward her and added, “You’re the boss. If you tell me to figure it out, I’ll have to.”

“Hmm, this just might work out.” Katie crossed her arms, grinning back at him.

Chad had a moment of doubt, wondering what he’d just gotten himself into, but he knew he needed the job if he was going to stay here in Canada for any length of time. The last thing he wanted to do was slink back across the border to Tennessee, back to his life that had just been destroyed, with his tail between his legs and nothing to show for his impromptu disappearance. “So, I’m hired then?”

“Don’t you even want to negotiate a pay rate? Or hours or something?”

“Pay me what I’m worth and we’ll call it even. How’s that sound?” He didn’t know why, but he knew he wanted to be here. Working on this farm. Helping this woman.

“You’re serious.”

“Dead serious. Is it just you around here? Running this place, I mean?” Chad looked around as though expecting a score of unmentioned workers or family members to emerge from beyond one of the barns or buildings.

“It’s just me. Well, my son lives here, too, but he’s too young to be expected to help me with most things that need to be done.”

Chad saw no sign of emotion in her eyes when she said it. No bitterness, and no self-pity. A single mom trying to run a farm practically in the middle of nowhere? There had to be a story there, but his own mother had raised him better than to fish for information that wasn’t his concern. “Give me a chance, Katie. I’ll help you around here with whatever I can.”

Katie stared at him again for a long moment, and Chad could see it in her emerald eyes that she was searching for confirmation of his sincerity. She exhaled then, jutting her hand out again. Chad wondered if she was making the gesture quickly so that she didn’t have a chance to change her mind. “You’ve got a deal, Chad Kirkwood. Don’t make me regret it.”

Chad shook her hand as a flood of relief washed over him. For a split second, he’d thought she was going to reject him. “I promise, you won’t regret it, ma’am.”

“Call me ma’am again and you will be the one regretting it.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“That’s better, Chad.”