Harlequin Love Inspired January 2017, Box Set 2 of 2 by Jo Ann Brown

Author:Jo Ann Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488018084
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Streams of sunlight blotted across the floor of the Crest Country Store. Jenna trailed her fingers over the antique wooden countertop. Along with many of the shelving areas of the store, it had been constructed out of reclaimed siding from the original barn located on the Crest property when her great-grandfather purchased the plot. She pressed her palms flat against it, feeling all the worn grooves. Her history.

Her future, too.

Each day it became easier to give up on the dream she’d worked toward with all the online courses she’d taken to earn her degree. Tucked away on the far edge of Goose Harbor, she’d never become an award-winning journalist. It had been a silly goal all along, really. Her disposition wasn’t suited for chasing stories or wiggling information out of people. No one would describe her as a go-getter. Yet it splintered her heart to let go of writing all the same.

She released a loud puff of air and pressed her palm to her forehead.

So basically God wanted her to give up anything she’d ever wanted out of her life. Her desire to be a mother, to marry a good man, to have many years with her father—instead she’d witness piece after excruciating piece of him float away—any independence or safety she imagined she had and her hope of one day publishing something that mattered. As if she were an apple being ground in the press until all the cider was crushed out of her, she felt like she had nothing left to cling to…just pulp.

How was that for God’s supposed fair and impartial treatment?

She straightened a couple items in the baked-goods area, her boots clipping across the floor. “If You don’t want me to have any of those things—” she stocked the pie area with a little more force than required “—what do You want with me?”

The automated door on the side of the store attached to the accessibility ramp whined as it opened. Dad entered in his wheelchair, smiling like Christmas morning. “Can you believe this place?” He whistled long and low, clearly impressed. “What you and Toby have done with the whole orchard… I should have handed it over to the both of you years ago.”

Dad spoke as if she and Toby were one entity. While Jenna and Toby had worked out a comfortable peace over the past two weeks, they were hardly together. Although, after she’d overheard him turn down Leah, the two of them had started to spend more time together—going on strolls through the orchard, checking the trees together, taking Kasey to watch him coach the team at football practice. Evenings were spent on the porch swing, sipping hot cider and discussing the game plan for the next day.

Hearing that Toby had zero interest in anything romantic had allowed Jenna to put her guard down. A tiny part of her was beginning to believe that they might be able to revive a semblance of their old friendship.

Maybe Dad meant “both of you” as though they were a team.

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