Chapter 4
FOUR
JACKSON
Jackson wasn’t seeing Zoe until later that afternoon when they’d planned to go over the Local Blooms project.
But waiting suddenly felt impossible. He’d tried to stay focused, finish feeding the animals, fix the loose gate hinge, maybe even sweep out the greenhouse.
But the truth was, he’d been glancing toward the road every few minutes, half hoping she’d show up early.
And then, like he’d wished her into existence, her little florist van appeared at the edge of the drive.
It bumped along the gravel path toward him, sunlight flashing off the windshield, a blur of pink lettering and flowers painted on the side. The farm road, lined with new daffodils and framed by the soft blue of a perfect spring sky, felt suddenly brighter, alive again in a way it hadn’t all winter.
This was his favorite time at the farm. The planting.
The start of something new. Fall brought the pumpkin patch and hundreds of families out to the property every weekend.
Christmas was just as crowded with the tree farm, sleigh rides, and bonfires.
The spring was his downtime, an escape from all the visitors on the farm.
And it was much needed. Sometimes a man just needed space. A chance to breathe.
But today wasn’t one of those days.
One look at Zoe’s wild eyes, and he knew something was wrong—very wrong.
He dropped the rake he’d been using to spread fresh straw and walked out to meet her.
“Everything alright?” he asked, his tone even, eyes scanning her face. She looked flushed and breathless.
“No, not really,” she said, practically tripping over her own words. “I swear you’re gonna kill me.”
A flicker of amusement tugged at his mouth. He couldn’t imagine a world where he’d ever be mad at Zoe. Exasperated? Regularly. But angry? Not a chance.
“Go on.” He tipped his head.
“My mom came by this morning,” she blurted. “She saw me hug you last night at the flower shop and got the wrong idea. Now she thinks we’re a couple and she bet her entire vacation account on us winning Spring Fling Couple of the Year.”
The words tumbled out so fast it took Jackson a moment to process them.
“Your mother thinks we’re a couple?” he repeated.
Zoe swallowed hard and gave a tiny nod.
“And she bet her vacation account that we’d win?”
Another nod. “If it wasn’t for the money and how disappointed she’d be, I’d just tell her the truth.
But the only reason she placed the bet in the first place is because she’s so sure we’ll win.
She really needs the money. You know her health hasn’t been great.
That’s why she retired. I want this for her so badly, and now I don’t know what to do.
I just didn’t want you to hear it from someone else. ”
Jackson huffed out a laugh, low and rough. “Zo, only you could turn a hug into a small-town gambling ring.”
Zoe groaned. “This isn’t funny.”
“Feels a little funny from where I’m standing.” The corner of his mouth tipped up into that rare almost-smile she always managed to drag out of him. “Besides, Liam texted me last night about us. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
Her cheeks went crimson. “Oh my God, he did not.”
Jackson nodded. “I told him he was out of his mind. That we were just friends.”
“Exactly! We are just friends,” she said quickly, then bit her lip.
For half a heartbeat, neither of them moved.
“What am I going to do, Jackson? Do I just tell her the truth and try to get her money back? She was so happy. It kills me. And knowing my mom, she’s probably already called her bridge club and announced it. By now, half the town thinks we’re head over heels in love.”
Her voice cracked, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Jackson wasn’t going to let that happen.
This was his chance to step up. To be there for her.
That was what he knew how to do: fix things for other people.
It was the same reason he poured himself into the llama sanctuary, into building a refuge for veterans.
Helping others gave him something outside his own head, something that quieted the guilt that gnawed at him.
And Zoe? Zoe had been such a steady presence when he came home.
Sure, his family had been there for him too, but not like Zoe.
His parents had tried, but sometimes they did too much with the way they hovered, worried, and asked too many questions.
While Liam filled every silence with noise, as if laughter could drown out what he couldn’t talk about.
But Zoe never tried to fix him. She never pressed for details or forced conversation when the quiet stretched too long.
She’d simply been there—sitting beside him on the dock at dusk, passing him coffee on the mornings when sleep had eluded him.
She was the kind of comfort he hadn’t known he needed until she gave it freely.
God, how many times had he wished he could just ask her out, claim her smile, her warmth, her heart? But that wasn’t fair. She deserved someone whole, not a man weighed down by ghosts.
So no, he couldn’t date her. But he could help her. He could be the one to step in now, to give her what she needed.
“I say we do it,” he said.
Zoe blinked. “What?”
“I say we pretend we’re dating. Go along with it. Win Couple of the Year, win your mom her money, save her vacation fund.”
“Jackson, you don’t have to. I would never ask you to do this.”
“You didn’t ask,” he said gently. “I offered. I care about your mom too. If this helps her—and makes you happy—I say we give it a go.”
“You’d agree to fake date me until the Spring Fling?” Zoe asked, her voice pitching higher.
Jackson saw the look in her eyes, the doubt. And he couldn’t blame her. He didn’t always handle community events the best, and the Spring Fling always drew a crowd.
It had been the same this past Christmas at the Santa House.
Zach had been there, Madison, Kit, Cassidy too.
All their friends except for his brother, Liam.
If anyone could understand what he felt, it was Liam.
His twin had faced down his own demons. But unlike his brother, Jackson’s issues weren’t tied to a holiday.
The air had smelled of hot cocoa and pine, carolers singing on the corner, kids bouncing, waiting to see the big man in red himself. It should’ve been magical.
But for him, it hadn’t been. The noise pressed in, the crush of bodies making his skin crawl. His pulse had spiked, palms damp, vision tunneling until all he could think about was finding an exit. He’d been one breath away from a full-blown panic attack.
And Zoe had seen it. She always did. She’d slipped her arm through his, steered him outside with some excuse about needing air. She gave him an out before anyone else noticed.
She’d been laughing, glowing, clearly enjoying the night, and she’d missed the rest of it because of him.
That was the truth that sat heavy in his chest now.
Which was why this had to stay fake. A harmless act for her mom’s sake. Because he’d rather break his own heart a hundred times over than hurt Zoe once.
“Just tell me what I need to do.”
Zoe’s stance relaxed. Her shoulders relaxed. And the crease between her eyes eased.
“Okay, ground rules,” she said quickly, as if she were afraid he might change his mind. She started ticking them off on her fingers. “Rule one: You have to look like you’re enjoying yourself. None of that stoic farmer-glare thing you do.”
Jackson arched a brow. “Farmer-glare?”
“You know what I mean.” She waved her hand vaguely at his face. “Rule two: We have to be seen. Community events, the mayor and Edith’s wedding, and hand-holding down Oak Way. Basically a hard launch.”
“Alright. I can do that. How much time do we have?”
“I don’t know, the Spring Fling is the twelfth, so what… five, six weeks?”
Jackson’s mouth curved despite himself. “Six weeks, right. That’s not so bad.” Basic training was twice as long. Now that had been hell. This was probably going to torture him too, but for very different reasons.
“It’s not that much time to convince the town we’re head over heels in love. If we’re going to pull this off, we have to go all in. Which brings me to rule three: You can’t tell anyone the truth. No one. If my mom finds out, she’ll be crushed.”
Jackson held her gaze. “No one’s going to find out.” But if they did, Jackson thought, his family and their friends would understand why they’d done this. Everyone loved Gertie.
Zoe exhaled. “Are you sure about this?”
No, he thought. But he answered the opposite. “I already agreed.”
For a moment, neither of them looked away. The air between them went still, charged. He was hyper-aware of everything from the faint arc of a smile tugging at her lips to the way the sunlight caught in her hair.
She blinked, breaking the spell. “I almost forgot—Eleanor wrote back!” she blurted, voice a little too bright. “She wants to meet us, walk the Local Blooms site and hear about the project.”
Jackson cleared his throat and gave a short nod. “That’s big, Zo.”
“I know!” She bounced on her toes. “I’ll set it up this week. Which means we’ve got a million things to do before then, including trying to find Maple Falls’s long-lost bloom. I just know Eleanor would love something like that.”
Jackson reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, lines scrawled in his neat block handwriting. “About that mystery bloom. I made a list. Locations we should check. People to talk to. Starting with your mom.”
“Of course you did,” Zoe said, rolling her eyes affectionately. “Sergeant Tidy strikes again.”
She leaned over to peek at his list, a loose strand of hair slipping forward to brush her cheek. Jackson’s gaze caught there, tracing the soft curve of her face before he forced himself to look back at the paper.
“I already tried my books—nothing. Not even a whisper of a mention. Mom swears she remembers it, though. Said folks talked about seeing them by Willow Glen,” she said.
“Alright, I’ll add it to the list.”
She smiled and glanced up. Their eyes met; the air seemed to shift. The light from the sun hit her hair just so, gilding the warm brown strands with a hint of gold.
Zoe’s eyes sparkled, and he wondered if she felt it too. Not just the thrill of discovery but something that hummed between them, quiet and unmistakable. It was in his chest, that pull he kept trying to ignore.
For a moment, it didn’t matter that the whole town thought they were Maple Falls’s newest couple.
What mattered was how close their bodies were. How the world seemed to narrow to the space between them… and how badly he wanted to close it.