I laugh. “Believe me, Grant was sad to miss it too. Next time, I promise,” I swear, but Meredith only raises an eyebrow and glances pointedly downward.
“You sure about that? Because you look about ready to burst, honey.”
I laugh again and follow her gaze, one hand resting on my round stomach. “Still got another month in me,” I reply. “I can make at least one more of your monthly parties before I’ll be bedridden.”
“Bedridden, and then sleep deprived from the constant fussing of your brand new baby,” Meredith points out helpfully.
I roll my eyes. “You don’t have to rub it in.”
“I’m not rubbing it in! I’m only commiserating. Since, you know…” She pauses, then her cheeks flush.
My eyebrows shoot sky-high. “Meredith?”
Her eyes widen and she clamps a hand over her mouth. “Crap. I wasn’t supposed to tell. Not till the big announcement…”
“Oh my God. You guys are expecting?” I’d jump up and down with excitement if my big belly could handle it. But at eight months pregnant, I know better than to try that. So I settle for grabbing her upper arms and squeezing with excitement. “That’s so wonderful, congratulations!”
“We’ll have to set up some play dates for them,” Meredith gushes, beaming. “They’ll be so close in age, they can grow up together.” She lifts her eyebrows and glances at my belly pointedly. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll have a little boy and I’ll have a little girl…”
I burst out laughing once more. “And they can play around on our tire swings together and fall madly in love?” I lift an eyebrow, my gaze drifting up the street into a brief daydream. “Well. Worked out for me. Who knows?”
She grins and squeezes my shoulder, and I smile, watching the little sleepy town for a moment. I can’t believe that once upon a time I hated it here. Hated it so much I ran the first chance I got. I can’t believe everyone else here was so mad at me, too. I’d thought they were all judgmental, mean-spirited, mad at me for leaving. But really, they were just upset that I ran away without ever looking back or saying goodbye.
Now, they’ve welcomed me back with open arms. Now, as I look up the street, I catch at least three of my neighbors glancing back, waving, smiling cheerfully, some on their way to Hank’s shop to buy more supplies for their own houses and farms, others on their way to the grocery, same as me.
Meredith links arms with me and we stroll up the street to finish my errands. Once, this small-town life seemed impossibly boring to me. Too basic, too slow. Now, I adore the pace here. The way I can take my time, amble along and catch up with all my friends on my way to prep for the dinner I’m going to cook for the love of my life.
Now, I couldn’t imagine spending my life anywhere else.
My stomach sinks a little as I pull up to the farm, car filled with the supplies for tonight’s big dinner, and I spot Grant’s truck already parked in front of mine. Damn. I hope he’s not doing his usual thing, beating me to the punch on lovely surprises.
But when I hop out and unload the car, I find the house and the kitchen empty. That’s good, at least. But if he’s not making dinner yet, and if we’ve already finished the field-work for the day, then where has he gone?
I wander out back to scout the fields. From the back porch, a big, broad porch we added on to the house early in spring, I can see all the way across the main fields. We’ve planted almost all of them, except the couple we’re saving for our late summer crops. I was worried when we got started about how we’d keep this all up, but we’ve been able to hire a couple of extra hands to help out around here, a super sweet couple who live a couple farms over.
Not only that, but we’ve already made headway selling some of our earliest crops to local farmer’s markets and produce shops. It turns out that all my experience in the big corporate world of New York has translated into a pretty savvy marketing head back here on the farm. I’ve been putting in extra time branding everything we make—organic, home-grown, fresh from the land, just like the two of us.
Our company name helps too. Country Meets City. For some reason, that’s clicked with a lot of people in the towns around us. Guess there are more city runaways who’ve come to roost back home than we thought.
We aren’t making huge amounts of money, but it’s already enough to keep us afloat, and Grant thinks that within the next couple of years, we’ll be turning enough of a profit that we can expand the house a little bit. Add an extra bedroom for our little surprise in the oven.