CHAPTER 51
Walker
Bleary-eyed and exhausted, I blink a few times, sure that I’m seeing things. But when I open them again, I know that what’s in front of me is real: Tally, a blur of peach in one of her spandex outfits, her golden hair bouncing behind her.
I’d been walking the meadows for hours, trying to figure out how to fix things. How to find her. And here she is, right among the wildflowers. I almost laugh at the irony of it all.
Without thinking, I reach for her as soon as she gets close, but she pulls back and holds up a finger, catching her breath as her head falls down.
“I’ve been going out of my mind, Wildflower. Where have you been?”
She winces and shakes her head, then lets out a heavy sigh. “I was trying to forgive you for breaking my heart.” Her voice cracks on the last word, as does my damn heart.
“Tally—” I step forward, but she shakes her head again.
“My father gifted you half the farm. You own this farm. Not me.”
Fuck. I don’t make her wait for an answer. The time for secrets is over. “Yes.”
She blows out a breath and nods like she thought there was a chance I’d deny it. But I’d never have lied to her if she’d asked me point-blank. And I certainly won’t do it now.
“Can I explain?”
She shakes her head and a tear drops down her cheek.
“I know—” I blow out a frustrated breath. “I know I fucked up by not telling you the truth. But I did tell you, before anything happened between us, that I was keeping secrets.”
“I didn’t know it was this,” she cries.
I squeeze my fists to keep from reaching for her. “The farm is still your family’s.”
Her head tilts, and I hold up a hand. “And mine. And if you give me a chance, I can explain. Please Tally, if I ever meant anything to you, just give me five minutes.”
She blows out a breath and nods.
“I didn’t know how to tell you everything. Didn’t want to show you all my ugly. Because my family’s history with this land is ugly. My grandfather lost it to your grandfather in a poker game. Fucking New England and its storied history.”
Tally’s eyes widen. “What?”
“Growing up, I hated this land with a passion. This farm made my grandfather and my father angry. It made them bitter. I was raised to think that your family was evil, despite knowing that true evil was the back side of my father’s fist.”
Tally’s face softens, but I shake my head. I don’t want her feeling bad for me.
“When your dad showed up at that farm and offered me this job, I’d wondered if he knew what he was asking of me.
But as I got to know him, I realized he knew precisely what he was doing.
He needed help, Tally. He was underwater, and he knew that the only person who could save this farm was someone who was just as invested, who could love the land just as much he did, and who would do anything to keep it from becoming a development of new houses or an apartment complex. ”
Tally steps closer.
“And then we lost him. Your mother lost the love of her life, you lost your dad, and I lost the first person to truly believe in me.” My chin dips as I try to contain my emotion.
“Your father was incredible, Tally. Even more than I’d realized, now that I’ve seen a whole other side of him from being with you, from seeing the way you love him, the way this town loves him. ”
She nods, and I take it as a signal to push on.
“Even after he died, he’s continued to teach me things.
Through you, through our friends. He taught me to ask for help, and that’s what I did when I realized we were really going to lose the farm.
I asked our friends to help with the cottages, and fuck, Tal, everyone showed up.
You were right all along. We need people.
So when the loan came due and I knew we had no other options, I turned to Fletcher and we made an agreement.
The town purchased the wildflower meadows. ”
Her eyes widen, and I hold up a hand to ease her worry. “With a stipulation that nothing can ever be built on that land.”
She shakes her head, and her eyes fall shut. “You sold the wildflower meadow to the town?”
“Tally, I—”
Her eyes fill with tears. “They’re safe now. No one will ever build on them?”
The dread in my chest lifts as I realize she’s not angry. “I couldn’t bear to have you lose them, too, after everything you’ve already lost. But I can’t take all the credit. Fletcher swept in and saved the day. If that didn’t work, I was going to sell the land in the east.”
Her face scrunches in confusion. “That’s where the tulips are.”
I shrug.
“Walker,” she hisses and then pushes against my chest. I barely move. “You could have gotten so much more money from a developer. Why’d you do it?”
There’s not just one answer to her question, there’s a myriadof them, but they all revolve around the same thing. So in the field of wildflowers that she loves so much, I give her my truth.
“Because I love you.” Her eyes widen in shock.
But I’m not done, and now that I’ve said it, I just want to say it again.
“I love you, Tally Darling, and I want you to come back. Fuck, I want you to stay but know you need to live out all those big dreams of yours. But when you’re done, I want you to come back and live this dream with me.
Because I love you.” I choke on a laugh because it feels so good to say those words.
“Tally, I love you, this farm, this life of mine. But none of it is my dream if you aren’t here with me.
So, no, this farm doesn’t only belong to me.
Yesterday I signed papers to transfer ownership to you, your sister, your mother, my sister, and me.
It was my only stipulation to your mom. I’ll continue to run the farm as long as all of you own it with me. ”
Tally’s swipes wildly at the tears that cascade down her cheeks. “What?”
I nod. “So go to Nantucket. Go become the person you need to be. The farm is safe. I promise I’ll never take a thing from you.”
She bites her lip and shakes her pretty head. “But I don’t want to go to Nantucket.” She looks so goddamn adorable with a pout on her face and her hair blowing in the early morning breeze.
“Dammit, woman, you are confusing the hell out of me.”
She laughs. “You asked me last week what I wanted. Ask me again.”
“What?”
“Ask me again,” she says slowly as she steps up and sets her palms flat against my chest.
I swallow nervously. “What do you want, Tally?”
She smiles. “I want this.” Her arms swing out, and she motions to the land around us.
“What?”
She settles her hands back on my chest and slowly enunciates, “I. Want. This. This farm. This land. Every day waking up with you. Tally Tuesdays. Our cottage.” Her smile grows.
“Sundays with the girls, drinking out of my coffee mug and making fun of you while you wear that stupid cowboy hat at the farmers market. I want to go to the brewery on Friday nights and slow dance with you and laugh with my friends. I want to walk into town and visit my sister’s bookstore and spend hours with her doing absolutely nothing.
I want to have family dinners with my mom and sister, and your sister and Quinn.
I want this farm to be my home. I want you to be my home.
And I want to make whatever dream you and my dad thought up come true. ”
Damn. The way she’s looking at me makes me believe that just maybe she really could be happy here.
“But why?”
She snorts. “Stupid, stubborn Cowboy.” She shakes her head. “Because I love you.”
“You do?” My heart pounds.
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “Yes. And you can’t do everything on your own.”
“I know. But what about Nantucket? And school? Tally, I didn’t fix everything. The loan on the farm may be paid off now, but it’s still going to take a lot of work to get this place profitable.”
She licks her lips. “I gave Rochelle notice yesterday that I wasn’t coming to Nantucket.”
“Tally—”
She holds up her hand. “It wasn’t what I wanted.
” She shrugs. “It would have made me happy once. But not anymore. And about school.” Her eyes drift to the horizon and then come back to mine.
“I’m going to take the money I’ve saved and talk to Rayna about leasing the bakery.
I figure it’s about time I start chasing my dreams on my own time.
Take the dream by inches and all that.” She bites her lip, her eyes going a bit shy at that admission.
“I just need a place to live. So what do say, Cowboy? You ready for a permanent roommate?”
I pull her into my arms and finally, fucking finally, I kiss my girl. When I dip her dramatically, she giggles against my lips, but quickly those giggles fade as our kiss deepens. She tastes like cinnamon and sugar, like cupcakes and all my dreams coming true.
We pull back and smile stupidly at one another. “I love you, Tally Darling.”
“I love you, Jesse Walker.”
“You know, I had this whole speech planned.”
“Oh yeah? How were you going to do that if I was in Nantucket?”
“I was never letting you get on that ferry.”
“Were you going to chase me down, show up at the boat, and, what? Hold up your phone and blare Taylor Swift’s ‘Cowboy Like Me’?”
My smile falls. “That’s not our song.”
She snorts. “Says you.”
“That’s not our song. And no, though that sounds wonderfully dramatic, my gesture is a little bigger.”
Her eyes dance, and in the early morning light they glow brighter than the sun. “Well, what are you waiting for? Grovel away.”
My hand goes to her cheek and I stare into those gorgeous amber eyes. They’re the color of the sun right as it comes up over the meadow, a hue of pink and orange tinging the corners like it’s reflected off the wildflower field. “Give me an hour, woman. I’ve got to round up the brigade.”
Her eyes dance. “Oh, your people are involved, too?”
“No, Tally, our people are involved.”
And I laugh because who the fuck ever thought I’d find one person in this town as amazing as Tally.
But somehow I’ve found a whole community of them: people to help whenever someone needs it, who show up for farmers markets and festivals, who rebuild a farm that’s on its last breath, who made my girl’s dream come true.
Now that is a dream worth chasing. A life worth living.
I smile at the woman I’ve fallen so head over heels for. My wildflower. Wherever the wind blows us, I know she’ll be happy because we’ll be together.
I scoop her up and carry her toward our cottage. “Oh, I guess I can tell you one of your surprises.”
She squeals in excitement when I land on the steps of our cottage and then kick open the door. “This is our home now.”
Tally smiles at me. “I was hoping you’d say that. But what about your sister?”
“She’s moving into the house. So is your mother. Quinn will take Penny’s old room, and Billie will take my old room.”
“You mean my old room.” Tally sticks out her tongue. Brat.
I grab it with my lips and suck on it. “Yes. Your old room. That okay?”
Tally’s grin is radiant. “Yes. Yes, to all of it. We’re really going to live out here?”
I nod. “Yeah, Wildflower. I can’t think of anywhere better.”
“I can think of one thing that would make it better.” Tally’s tone is pure sex.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, Cowboy. Drop those pants.”