14. Nick
Nick
I walked right into my brother’s office without knocking, without stopping to see if he was busy doing important farm business and thrust my phone right in front of his face. “When did Blaze Farms get a social media presence?”
Max didn’t even look up at my interruption or my intrusion. He finished typing whatever he was working on before leaning back in his chair with his hands laced behind his head like he had all the time in the fucking world. “We always had a presence, it was just never very active.”
He thought he was being cute, which wasn’t at all like him. “Max.”
His lips twitched before a smirk lit up his face. “Your girlfriend suggested it.”
Several things smacked around inside my head at once but I focused on the most pressing. “Sonya suggested it?” She hadn’t said anything to me about helping my brother.
Max’s brows shot up. “So she is your girlfriend? Not just another flavor, because you never bring the flavors home.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “It’s complicated but no, Sonya isn’t a flavor as you put it, Grandpa.”
Max shrugged, not at all bothered by my insult.
He was looking entirely too pleased with himself.
“She called while you were on the road, said there was buzz online about you and the Blaze Farms brothers. Apparently people have been going nuts about the cowboy hockey thing. She said it was getting a lot of traction and thought we could use it to our advantage. I thought about it and I agreed.”
I dropped down in the chair across from Max and scrolled the other photos and videos. “She gave you this photo of me and Popcorn?”
“Yep.” He nodded like a proud papa. “She said it was good for engagement, said people like animals and big, strong rugged me who have squishy hearts. That’s a direct quote,” he said, holding up his hands defensively.
There are a bunch of other photos too. Some of you and Mom picking tomatoes. Me and Guy bottling the apple wine. Hell, she even got a photo of you holding up that weird-ass-looking turnip like it was a trophy.” He shrugged. “It’s charming. Apparently.”
I shook my head, still reeling from all the information my brother was unloading on me. “She didn’t say anything about this time. She still hasn’t.”
“That’s not all,” Max began. “That pub you guys are always going to in town put in an order for a case of the apple wine. Can you believe that shit? We’ve been here all this time and now they want to test out our local wine.
” My brother was excited, which was a feat in itself because he wasn’t the excitable sort and right now he was damn near giddy.
Still speechless I did the only thing I could; I listened and took it all in.
“And look at this.” Max slid the phone across the desk to show me a video of Mom making farm-fresh biscuits.
Sonya’s voice came through crystal clear. “Where’s the butter from?”
Mom slid a smile at Sonya. “Briggs Dairy Farm right up the road. He’s been here almost as long as the Blazes. And the flour is Blaze flour, of course. The rest,” Mom beamed at the camera. “Is made with love.”
with Sonya’s voice asking where the butter came from (local Briggs Dairy Farm) and the flour is Blaze Flour. “The rest is made with love,” Mom said with a smile. She looked beautiful and happy.
“Briggs brought Mom a kilo of butter after that fancy steakhouse reached out to buy ten kilograms after they saw the clip.” He shook his head.
“Said something about a farm-to-table vibe.” He laughed.
“Briggs didn’t know what the hell that meant but he was happy about selling more butter. And cream.”
Sonya had done all this to help out my family and she hadn’t said a word, just did what needed doing without expecting praise.
“Check this out.” Max tapped on another video that showed us together, shirtless as we loaded hay bales onto the trailer. “Thirsty traps, my dude.”
I laughed. “Thirst traps,” I corrected.
“Whatever. Point is, it worked.” He smiled even bigger. “Who knew people would become so invested in us?”
I knew hockey fans were loyal like that but this was a whole different level. “Even Popcorn has fans,” I laughed out loud. It was utterly ridiculous but if it helped the farm, I agreed with Max.
“Someone asked if Popcorn has her own page.” He shrugged. “I’m thinking about making one.”
“I can’t believe all this.” I was in complete and total awe of Sonya in that moment. Not only had she managed to light a fire under my brother, but she’d given him the joy of farming back. “She didn’t say anything.”
Max frowned, misunderstanding my tone. “Look, man, she didn’t have to do any of this. She just wanted to help. No strings. I even offered to pay her and she waved me off, saying she already has a job.”
She just wants to help. “I’m not upset, I’m just shocked. It’s amazing. She’s amazing.”
Max tilted his head. “So she is your girlfriend.” He folded his arms and grinned. “I’m picking up girlfriend vibes.”
I tossed a pencil at him. “Do you even know what vibes are?”
“No. But I know enough to know that doing something kind just because it’ll help someone out is a vibe on its own.”
He wasn’t wrong. “She’s not nothing,” I offered up with a heavy sigh. “But like I said, it’s complicated.”
“So uncomplicate it, little brother. She’s great.”
“Believe me, I know that.” The truth was I’d never had someone do something like this for me before.
Never had someone care about this land as much as me, Max, and Mom did.
Sonya hadn’t just made some cutesy social media posts and walked away, oh no, she’d seen me.
Seen my farm and my family exactly as wonderful as they were.
She saw what we’ve always seen in this place and she used her power to make the rest of the country see it too.
And she’d done it quietly. Thoughtfully.
She still hadn’t mentioned it either, and that generosity forced me to face the truth that I’d been too much of a coward to before now. Those pesky feelings I kept putting off naming or acknowledging were making themselves known right now.
They shouted so damn loud I barely heard Max as he rattled off stats to me about engagement. “Mom’s biscuit video has a twenty percent share rate, which apparently is really good. We’re even getting messages asking if we offer cooking classes.”
My brows shot up. “Cooking classes? Here?”
Max nodded. “It’d be a lot of extra work but Mom’s into it; she’s already workshopped a name. Sunday Suppers.”
I rubbed my hand down my face. “That sounds like a lot of work.”
“Maybe, but not impossible to pull off.” Max’s brows dipped. “This is all good news, Nick. Right?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Hell yeah. I just didn’t expect this, any of it. Especially her.”
His smile softened. “Sonya is good for you. On the surface you seem like complete opposites but you complement each other. You’re still you but lighter, less coiled. You’re actually making time for yourself. Even Mom’s noticed.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “You know she doesn’t miss a thing. She’s known it since you first brought her home.”
Of course she did. Mom knew me better than I knew myself. “I think I’m falling for her.” That was still a lie. I didn’t think it, I knew it. Saying it out loud, even as tepid as that, solidified it. And the truth of it hit me harder than Koening ever could.
Max didn’t say anything for a long second, just let my confession hang there.
Then he sighed. “Well…damn.”
“Yeah.”
“Does she feel the same?”
I shrugged. “I think so but she’s worried her dad will react badly.”
Max snorted. “Nobody’s ever good enough for daddy’s little girl.”
I shook my head. “I got the feeling he’s more worried about her distracting the players.” Which was bullshit. “Doesn’t change how I feel though.”
“Tread carefully, Nick.”
“I will,” I promised, but I wasn’t sure I could. I felt anything but careful about Sonya. The last time I’d seen her she was curled up in her bed, hair mussed and lips swollen from my kisses. I raced a finger down her spine just to convince myself this was all real and not some hockey-induced coma.
But she was real and she was all mine.
“I’m serious, Nick. Trust that she knows her father better than you do. Follow her lead when it comes to this.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t. I wanted the whole damn world to know that she was with me, that she was mine. Hell, I wanted her to know it too.
I needed to tell her the truth.
And the truth was that I had it bad for the coach’s daughter.