Chapter 21 Ryder
RYDER
Istep into The Pub, scanning the old, dimly lit bar until I spot Aiden hogging two spots at the end and talking easily with the bartender.
He was always able to make friends with anyone who crossed his path.
There are some people from this town that I’m glad to keep in the past, but Aiden is one that I’m glad I’ve run into again.
We might have been troublemakers when we were younger, but it’s not like we were bad influences on each other.
We just liked biking through the woods and staying out too late and drinking more than we should have at that age.
I take the seat next to him and nod to the bartender, a man with a friendly smile and graying temples who moves slowly but efficiently, picking up empty glasses as he spots them and clearing them from the bar. I recognize him from the night I came here with Eve.
Eve, who, despite my best effort, I cannot get off my mind. We haven’t talked since our last kiss, mostly because the way she tore her hand out of mine when she saw my grandmother made me think the whole thing was a mistake. Another kiss that tears us apart rather than pulls us together.
But again, she kissed me.
She invited me inside.
And it kills me to think of everything we could have gotten up to had my grandmother not interrupted us.
“Hey man, how’s it going?” Aiden asks, clapping me on the back as I take the stool next to him.
“Good, you?” I say, as the bartender heads toward me.
“What’re you having?” he asks, wiping down the bar quickly and discarding his rag.
“Whiskey neat, please. Something old if you have it.”
He holds up a finger, nodding as he turns to select a bottle and holds it up for my approval. When I nod, he pours a finger and slides it across the bar toward me.
“Thank you.”
He nods. “You were here with Eve Harper the other day, yeah?”
I gulp down a taste of whiskey, briefly wondering if I’m about to be read the riot act. “Yeah, I was.”
“You dating? I don’t usually see her out this time of year.”
“Uh, no. We were just both waiting on approvals from the town council.”
The bartender nods, and in the moment of silence that falls between us, Aiden says, “So, this is Joe, but I take it you’ve already met.”
I hold my hand out over the bar. “Ryder Blackwell.”
Comprehension falls over his face as he shakes my hand. “Oh. You’re the developer. Got it.”
And with that, he spins on his heel to take care of the next patron.
I blink, turning to Aiden. “That was weird, right?”
He shrugs, turning toward me. “That’s just Joe.
” He takes a sip of the dark beer in front of him.
“Little weird but a genuinely nice guy. Eve comes in here with the girls a lot in the off season, so they know each other.” He’s quiet for a second, his brow furrowed as if he’s debating something in his head.
“What is going on with you and Eve, though?”
I take another sip of whiskey in lieu of answering because I sure as hell don’t fucking know.
“We’re… friends,” I say.
Aiden raises his eyebrows. “You’re friends?”
I nod.
He rolls his eyes. “Come on, dude. When we were seventeen you gave me an in-depth analysis of Margot McMann’s breasts.
” He holds up his hands before I can interrupt him.
“Believe me, I’m not looking for that sort of detail.
If you even have it.” He shakes his head as if trying to rid his brain of the thought.
“Just want more than the party line you give to people you don’t know.
I mean, you left a rooster in her chicken coop, for Christ’s sake. ”
I swallow over the number of dirty jokes that come to mind.
Because fuck, do I want to leave my rooster in her chicken coop.
I take a sip of my whiskey as Aiden eyes me. “We’re friends who… have kissed. More than once.”
He nods, digesting this. “Look, I know we’ve known each other a long time, but it’s been a while and I have to ask—you’re not trying to get her on your side by acting like you like her, right?”
I rear back. I expect this sort of thing from other people in Eve’s life, but from my friend? “No, of course not.”
Aiden holds up a hand. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to accuse you of anything.
I just… while we’ve sort of drifted apart over the years, Evie’s become a really good friend.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m happy you’re back, even if it’s temporary, and we should definitely hang again before you’re back in Manhattan for good.
But I just feel the need to look out for her. Especially this time of year.”
“Busy season?”
He shrugs. “She runs herself ragged. Izzy looks out for her, but she’s a force. Won’t stop unless you really push her. And it’s not healthy.”
I nod. “Sounds rough.”
Aiden shrugs. “She’ll be okay. She’s tough.” He’s quiet for a moment, then starts laughing. “I guess I just wanted to make sure your intentions were good with our Evie.”
I laugh. “I’m glad you’re looking out for her. She deserves that,” I say, biting my lip. “I like her.”
He snorts. “Yeah, no shit.”
“You asked!”
“It was less of a question, and more of a reminder that I’ve punched you before and I’m not afraid to do it again.”
“Alright, alright. I’m not a completely different person. I still have morals.”
“You had morals?”
I give him a flat look, and he snickers as he takes another sip of his beer.
“For real, though. Eve is the reason Izzy and I are close now. We both grew up with this hatred toward the bastard half-sibling, not ever really stopping to think that the real bastard is our dad. I mean, when you’re a kid you don’t really question things.
My dad was never fully in my life and never fully in hers.
We ended up at the same college—both of us were upset about that—and one day, Eve asked why Izzy hated me so much when she’s never even met me and Izzy couldn’t give her an answer. So she hit me up on Facebook.”
“And you just… got along?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. I mean, I like to think I’m pretty easy to get along with.
It probably helps that that was when Charlotte—” He stops himself, shaking his head and continuing with his story as if he didn’t accidentally drop the name of the girl who seemingly permanently broke his heart.
“I was having a tough time to begin with, so when she reached out I just kind of held on. She’s a nicer person than I ever could have imagined, and I’m mad that we lost out on so many years because our dad’s a jerk. ”
I nod, taking a quick sip of my whiskey. “Well, I’m glad you got that too. And I’m kind of bummed I wasn’t here to see it happen.”
Aiden shrugs, never one to take things personally. “Hey, you’re here now.” He knocks his glass against mine. “And something tells me you’ll be seeing a lot more of Izzy.”
“What, with Eve?”
He gives me a big grin and a nod, but before I can protest—because I’m not sure if I want to—he changes the conversation by grabbing his phone off the bar and unlocking it to check the weather.
And it looks like there’s a hell of a lot of green swirling around.
“Storm coming?” I ask, thankful for the out because as much as I want to continue talking about Eve, I’m not sure I can do so without showing my cards.
That, and a nice storm always serves as a good distraction around here.
The town goes into a frenzy when it’s going to be a rough one.
The farmers like Aiden with a bunch of animals to care for turn their focus solely to keeping them safe.
And Eve probably has to make some tough decisions when a storm hits too.
Aiden nods, locking his phone and tossing it onto the bar again as he takes another sip of his beer. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this one.”
I pause, my whiskey glass halfway to my lips. Even as a teenager, I was impressed by Aiden’s ability to predict the weather. He was always cagey about it, claiming he didn’t rely on any sort of replicable science, just an intuition that isn’t always correct.
But he was always conservative with his guesses. A storm might not be as bad as he says it is, but if he’s sounding the alarm, it’s always worse than the meteorologists expect.
“That makes me a little nervous,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “I’m not sure. I just… the animals have been weird today. I already went out and bought everything we might need and started getting the barn ready for some extra guests, but I’m still apprehensive. Just like I always am before a big storm hits.”
I nod. “Why don’t we finish up here so you can get back to the farm?”
Aiden eyes me. “I hate to drag you out just to leave after one beer.”
I shake my head, parroting his words back to him. “Hopefully I’ll see you around.”
Over the next few minutes, we finish our drinks, settle our tabs, and head out. On the sidewalk out front, Aiden claps me on the shoulder. “Where are you parked?”
“The sunflower farm. I walked here. Gotta drive up to New York after this so I figured I’d enjoy the fresh air while I can.”
“Oh,” he says, his brow furrowing. “Well, do you want a ride back? I should probably talk to Eve anyway.”
“The storm?”
He nods.
“Sure, I’ll take the ride.”
I follow him along the sidewalk to his truck and get in the passenger side as he starts it up and pulls out, melding easily into the line of cars that meander down the main road.
He turns off at the next cross section to avoid traffic and zips along back road after back road until we reach the sunflower farm, blowing right past the parking lot and heading straight for the bungalow nestled within.
Aiden’s headlights bounce along the dirt road, and just as we reach the house, Eve emerges from the field dressed in her usual overalls.
She has a streak of mud across her face and her arms are overloaded with sunflowers that she packs into the open back of a flower truck.
Her eyes narrow as she stares us down, but she doesn’t stop what she’s doing.
But when Aiden kills the engine and she realizes who’s pulling into the drive, she stops in her tracks.
“No,” she says, when Aiden gets out of the car. She barely seems to register me getting out the other side.
He shrugs. “Look, I hate being the bearer of bad news, but I feel like this one is going to be bad.”
She takes a few quick steps and stuffs the sunflowers into the back of the van, closing the door behind them and smacking the side twice. “You’re good, Carl!”
Carl, presumably, waves from the driver’s seat and starts the engine, puttering carefully down the dirt road we just came from.
“How sure are you?” she asks.
He stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think you need to prepare.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Fuck.”
In the silence that ensues, I feel the need to say something. “Can I help?”
Her gaze flicks to mine. “Why are you here?”
“I’m parked in the lot,” I explain, throwing a thumb over my shoulder.
“Oh,” Aiden says. “Sorry, I just assumed you’d be parked at the house.”
Eve cocks her head to the side at Aiden’s words, and then turns her attention to me again, her eyebrows raised as if to ask me what the hell I’m doing spreading our business all over town.
But he was my friend first, Evie.
She lets out a long breath. “I’m not going to lie—I had a feeling too. That’s why we’re doing flower deliveries at ten at night. Hoping to get them out before the flower shops get overloaded with discounts. But…” She shakes her head. “Fuck, this is the end of the season, isn’t it?”
I rear back. “What, one storm and the season is done?”
She gestures to the sunflowers behind her. “These are my hardiest sunflowers already. If a storm takes them out this late in the season, they won’t grow back. At least, not in a way I’m comfortable charging full price for.”
“I’m sorry, Eve,” Aiden says. “I just—you know the animals always know. And the animals know.”
She nods. “No, it’s not your fault. Thank you for telling me. You’re my favorite weather vane.” She lets out another deep sigh, shaking her head as her gaze turns to the fields around us. “I guess I have to sell as many flowers as I can, huh?”
“Yeah?” Aiden asks.
She nods. “I don’t think I have time to fiddle around with a spreadsheet and figure out the loss of the rest of the season versus the gain of chopping ASAP. My gut is telling me to chop.”
Aiden nods. “So we chop.” He glances at me before continuing. “I’ll be around until I can’t be. Use me, okay? I can come back in the morning.”
I take a step forward. “I’ll be here too.”
“I thought you were going back to New York,” Aiden says.
I give him a look that I hope says, bro, I’m not going to abandon my girl. “Nope.”
Eve shrugs. “I’ll take whatever help I can get. Bring your favorite shears,” she tells Aiden, and then turns to me. “If you want to pick up a strong pair for yourself, I’ll reimburse you.”
I press my lips together. “Won’t be necessary.”