Chapter 29
Nash
“Do you think it would cause bad feelings with the locals to put a distillery and bakery in town?” Magnolia asks me quietly as we sit down at the table.
Max stayed with Bliss at her table, chatting with her about a rogue Hereford bull that’s on the loose breeding everyone’s Black Angus cows.
It’s the kind of thing people probably got shot over in the Old West, but now they just gossip about whose fault it is. A lot less harmful.
It feels like we’ve been on display since we walked through the bar.
She looks around the room. “This place seems so full and alive,” she says after a brief pause.
And just like that, I can’t even be mad at her for continuing our engagement because she’s one of the most empathetic people I’ve met. The way she’s treated my grandpa, the way she’s treated me, the way she’s now worried about the people of this town, who she doesn’t even know.
I am in deep trouble, because I’m falling for her really fast.
“Henry’s the one to talk to. He’s kept up the space for Grandpa. He’d have all the information for you.” I spot the man of the hour. “There he is.”
Henry is a lean man with thinning hair. It’s hard to guess his age. He could be ten or twenty years older than me. He’s followed by a server, who takes our order as Henry greets us.
“Mine ordering for me?” Magnolia asks.
“Of course.” I order some extra-big baskets of fries and some burgers, then turn back to Henry. “Henry, I’m glad you’re here tonight. Grandpa was hoping I could introduce you to Magnolia here. She’s going to be using the big building for her business.”
Henry looks at her in surprise. “Alexander called me and said you were going to put in a distillery and a bakery? That can’t be right.”
“I know it sounds strange, but if the space is right for it, we’ll have two separate businesses,” Magnolia explains.
“Oh, okay. That makes a lot more sense. Most families around here wouldn’t want to take their kids in for cookies and end up with a glass of whiskey instead of apple juice.”
“Although it would be funny,” I mutter.
Magnolia flashes me a warning look.
“I would run the bakery, and also help my friend with the actual distilling, but she would handle the business front of that as well.”
Henry rubs a hand along his jaw. “I’ve never heard of someone who ran a bakery and a distillery…but if the products are good and there isn’t a weird crossover, I don’t see why not. Besides, it would be easy for you to supply the Willow.”
“Oh, do you know the owner of the Willow?” Magnolia asks excitedly.
“I am the owner,” Henry laughs. “I own the general store too.”
“Well then, you’re exactly the person I need to talk with.”
“Why don’t you come back by tomorrow, and we’ll talk business, and I can give you the keys to the building to check it out?” Henry suggests as he stands to leave again. “I’ve got to go make sure the kitchen is staying caught up on the food. It’s a busy night tonight.”
“Thank you!” Magnolia calls after him.
“See? That was pretty painless, wasn’t it?” I ask her with a grin.
“Thank you for giving me a chance at this. I know that seems so strange, but I would love to run a bakery while assisting Piper with the distillery. The distillery is more of her wheelhouse…but I enjoy experimenting with her. If we had a bakery as part of the business, we could keep income flowing while we get the first batches ready.”
Magnolia’s face lights up every time she says the word “bakery,” which tells me everything I need to know about their business plan. “If you make those cinnamon rolls and sell them, you’ll have a booming business.”
“So, do you think it’s something people would want here?” Magnolia asks as a server delivers our food. It’s steaming hot and smells amazing. Magnolia eats her pickle spears first, then smother’s her fries in ketchup.
“Yes, I do. There’s a café that serves a generic breakfast, but there’s nothing here like what you have planned. Would you have different store fronts?”
“I think we’d have to for legal purposes. And Henry’s right. A bakery needs to be family-friendly, especially if you don’t want to turn away some of your biggest customers. That’s why I’m hoping it will work with the space your grandpa has.”
“You realize that if you take on this project, it will mean living here in Pine Ridge,” I tell her.
She looks at me with wide eyes. “Really? I thought I would be able to live in New York City while I made cinnamon rolls here.”
I chuckle. “You don’t have to get all sarcastic with me.”
“Then don’t treat me like I’m a child,” she says with raised eyebrows.
“I’m just making sure you know what you’re getting into. Small-town life isn’t for everyone. It’s slower paced. Not a lot to do. Most people can’t hack it.”
Her eyes narrow at me, and her hands flex around her glass of water.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think she’s debating throwing that glass at me.
“You know,” she says as she slides the glass an inch.
I grasp her wrist and take the glass from her hand, pulling her hand toward my lap and holding it there firmly.
She slides her chair closer to me. “Sometimes, Nash Whitlock, you make me so mad. I grew up in a small town. I don’t need you to talk to me all patronizingly, as if I’m not an adult who makes her own decisions…
” She trails off as a man comes to sit down across from us.
“I had to come meet the lovebirds here.”
Zane Madden grins at us, and I’m pretty sure he knows we’re having a disagreement. He has impeccable timing.
“This is Magnolia. Magnolia, Zane.” I begrudgingly make the introduction.
Zane extends a hand toward Magnolia, and I’m forced to let her go. She reaches to shake his hand and smiles at him.
“Are you friends with Nash?”
“Not really,” he says.
“Then I’m really happy to meet you,” she says as she shoots a glare back at me.
“Oh, is everything okay in paradise? You know, if you’re fighting with Nash, you’re welcome to come stay at my ranch.”
I wonder if I should lean across the table and choke him now or wait until we’re out in the parking lot.
“Well, engagements have rough patches, as you well know,” I grind out.
Magnolia looks at me with wide eyes, as if she can’t believe I would say something like that to him. She doesn’t know Zane is also a professional at getting a rise out of people. Zane now looks like he’d like to wrap his hands around my neck.
Magnolia saves us from doing something we shouldn’t and says, “Some people don’t know a good thing when they have it.”
I don’t know if she’s talking to Zane or me, but we both lean back in our chairs and settle down.
“So, what are you back for good? You haven’t been here in a while,” Zane says.
“Alexander had some bad health, so I haven’t been able to get away as much. I’ve been taking on management over—”
“You’ve turned into a city slicker now?”
“Definitely not. I’m just managing his businesses until he can find a replacement for me.”
“That’s fair enough. Family’s family. As long as you’re planning on coming back someday…” Zane drags out the comment and waits for me to answer him.
I feel a real smile spread across my face at the thought. “I’m coming back.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to having you around when it’s time to buck some hay.”
“You know they’ve invented these things called big bales, right?” I ask him.
“You know it’s nice to be able to throw a small bale on a four-wheeler and run out to feed a couple of cows here and there.”
I shrug. Unfortunately, he’s right. It’d be nice if we could do everything with the tractor, but sometimes, the old ways are still the best.
“How do you feel about throwing hay, Magnolia?” Zane asks.
She shrugs. “I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a hay bale, but I could try.”
“I like that attitude. Putting up hay this weekend if you want to come help.”
This time, Magnolia looks at me with questioning eyes.
“She’ll be there,” I tell him. “We have some business to take care of while we’re here, and I don’t have to be back until Monday.”
“Great. I love free labor.”
He stands and walks away, pausing to mess up Bliss’s hair as he walks by.
“Are he and Bliss together, or are they cousins?” she asks as she watches them poke at each other. Bliss delivers a quick elbow to Zane’s side.
I glance at the two, realizing they do look alike—dark hair, similar smiles.
“No. They’re not related, and, no, they’re not dating. I’m not quite sure what there is there. Friends-in-a-small-town kind of thing. I doubt anything is going on romantically. Bliss is probably too smart to get involved with him. Besides, I’m pretty sure Zane is about ten years older than her.”
Magnolia looks between Zane and Bliss with amusement. “That’s never stopped lots of people.”
I shrug. “Luckily, I don’t have to worry about it. Zane’s love life is none of my business.”
“Seems like you were happy to interfere with it when he was talking to me.”
“That was only because he was flirting with you.”
“So, what if he flirts with me? It’s not like we’re actually engaged,” she fires back.
“I don’t like it,” I say.
She looks at me in disbelief. “You don’t like it?”
That was a pretty weak reason, even to my own ears, but it’s the truth. I didn’t want to watch someone else flirt with Magnolia. I want to be the only one to do that.
“What is this, Nash? Do you want me to leave? You were upset when I stayed, but now you don’t want to see another man flirt with me. What even are we?” she presses.
And I don’t even have a good answer, because what I want us to be isn’t possible right now. My time is so consumed with managing things for Grandpa, and the whole family is trying their best to interrupt his recovering it seems like. How can I give Magnolia the time and attention that she deserves?
“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “I don’t know.”
“Well, you’d better figure it out,” Magnolia whispers harshly, “because I’m getting tired of this back-and-forth.”
I didn’t even think she’d been aware of the back-and-forth. I thought it was all in my head, but if she’s feeling the tug and pull, then my feelings are obvious.
“What do you want me to say, Magnolia?” I ask quietly. “I asked a woman to marry me after three months of dating her, and when she believed that I wasn’t going to inherit anything from my grandfather, she left me. How am I supposed to trust my judgment again?”
The anger leaks from her face.
“I have nothing to offer you right now except family drama.”
“I’m not asking you to give me anything. I just want to know if I’m imagining this all myself,” she says, which is what I’ve been thinking.
Now is the time I should agree. That she’s imagined this attraction. That she’s imagined my jealousy. That she’s imagined my protectiveness.
But I can’t lie to her.
“I wish there could be something between us,” I say. “But life circumstances are in the way right now.”
“I don’t understand why.”
“Because I like you, Magnolia, and right now, I feel like I’d be second-guessing myself all the time, and you would bear the brunt of that distress. You would be the one to suffer for my mistakes in the past, and that’s not fair.”
“Do you want to know what I think?” she asks.
I’m afraid to answer.
“I think you’re scared you will be the one to get hurt. If you put yourself out there again, your heart will get broken. Because I don’t think it broke with your fiancée. I’ve seen hurt, but not broken.”
Her words pierce my heart, because they’re true.
I stand up and walk out of the room, unable to answer questions anymore.
Because what I want is Magnolia.
And I know I’m falling in love with her.
I stand on the back patio of The Willow. In the warmer months, string lights will be strung above the flagstone patio. Patio furniture and wire tables and chairs, sometimes with candles on the table if the wind isn’t high.
But tonight it’s empty. No glowing lights, just an empty stone yard. Across the open space, there’s the large empty building that Grandpa wants Magnolia to use.
What Magnolia doesn’t realize is that Grandpa doesn’t need another business to invest in.
He just wants her happy—and close to me.
I think he’s trying to give me the support he wishes he had given my father.
So, helping my fiancée find a space in Pine Ridge to run a business with her friend?
He’s going to bend over backwards to make that happen.
I take a slow, deep breath in the brisk night air. I left Magnolia inside by herself in a room full of strangers. That probably makes me a terrible fiancé—or at the very least, a horrible friend.
I turn around and step back inside, immediately scanning the room for her. I don’t see her anywhere.
Bliss stands up from the table she’s sitting at and waves me over.
“Hi, Jefferson,” I greet her dad, who’s there now. He’s a wiry man with a handlebar mustache reminiscent of Sam Elliot.
“Whitlock. You back in town yet?”
“Almost have things settled, then I will.”
“Good. Good.” He turns back to his meal, and that’s probably the extent of the conversation I’ll get out of him. He’s a good man, though.
“Are you looking for Magnolia?” Bliss asks.
I nod once.
“She said she had a headache and was heading out to the truck to wait for you.”
I look around for Max, and I find him on the dance floor, line dancing next to Zane, of course. It’s a dance that could just as easily turn into an all-out brawl.
Before I even try to pull him off the dance floor, I need to go check on Magnolia. I make my way through the building and out to the parking lot.
When I reach the truck, I find her sitting in the passenger seat, dozing, her head leaning against the window.
This is her second stress nap because of me. The poor thing will be thrilled when we break off this engagement.
I walk around to the driver’s side and open the door.
She doesn’t stir, so I simply grab the coat and drape it over her.
I hesitate before I pull away. It’s starting to get scary how strongly I feel for her.
There’s this irresistible urge to grab her and hold her in my arms. The urge to keep her safe and make her happy for the rest of my life.
There’s no one else like Magnolia out there.
She’s worried people will think she’s a cliche, but she doesn’t know how special and how strong she really is.
Instead of waking her and accidentally blurting all my feelings, I pull back, climb out, and lock the truck. Then I head back inside to get Max. Time to take Magnolia home and put her to bed—in her bed.