“I’d say you’re doing an admirable job.”
Tara frowned at him. “You aren’t at all put off by them, are you?”
“Not a bit. I love kids. They’re a lot of fun. Especially this time of year.”
“Tara come look! This one! This one!” Ginny waved her arms like she was presenting a prize.
Her sister walked around the tree, checking the shape. “How’s the height?”
Austin held up the measuring stick. “Little over seven feet, but it’ll fit.”
“Well, I guess this is it then,” Tara confirmed.
“My axe is at your service, milady. Stand back, y’all.” He made short work of chopping down the tree. “We’ll clean up the base once we get it back to the barn.”
They retrieved the wagon and loaded up the tree. Jace took the long way back, giving an informal tour of the farm on the way.
As predicted, his mom had hot cider waiting. Jace made introductions.
“Mom, this is Tara, Austin, and Ginny Honeycutt. Y’all, my mom, Linda Applewhite.”
“Nice to meet y’all.” She passed out drinks, while he hauled the tree over to the baling table and smoothed out the base with the chainsaw.
“You want the trimmings?” he asked Tara.
“Yes, please.”
He trimmed the lower branches enough for a stand, then pulled the whole thing through the big round tube of the baler, wrapping it in netting that would keep it bundled until they got it home. Hefting the tree on one shoulder, he hauled it over to the little SUV and tied it to the roof rack with twine.
“You’re all set.”
“How much do we owe you?” Tara asked.
He named a figure and accepted the cash she handed over. “I hope you enjoy it. Are you okay to get it down and in when you get home?”
“I’ll manage. Thanks for everything, Jace. And thank you for the cider, Mrs. Applewhite.”
“Thank you!” the kids chorused.
“Come on, you monkeys. Load up. We’ve got a tree to decorate.”
They piled into the car. Tara shot him a wave before she backed up and headed down the drive.
“You didn’t charge them for the hay ride,” Linda observed.
“Take it out of my paycheck.”
Chapter 3
Austin draped colored twinkle lights around the tree. “That was so awesome! Did you see the way Jace used that axe? Chopped this thing down in three strikes. Someday I’m gonna be big enough to do that.”
Yes. Yes I noticed. Tara told herself her mouth was watering over the popcorn she was stringing onto fishing line. She hadn’t been able to avoid noticing the flex and bunch of muscle as he’d wielded the axe to fell their tree. She’d never known she had a secret lumberjack fantasy until this morning. A lumberjack with big brown eyes and a mile wide soft spot for kids.
It wasn’t what she’d expected from a twenty-four year old grad student. She’d done her homework, too. Not that it’d been hard. Her boss, Cassie Callister, was the self-declared Princess of Gossip in Wishful, second only to Mama Pearl Buckley, who owned Dinner Belles Diner. The two were in a constant competition to find out the scoop on anything and everything before anybody else. In this case, Cassie had given a hopeful eyebrow waggle that the inside scoop was about Tara being interested in Jace. She’d shut down that assumption in a hurry. Even if Wishful was the family seat, he didn’t live here. Not permanently. And aside from that, she didn’t have time for dating or relationships. Besides, what guy in her age bracket would want a package deal?
The kind of guy who would go out of his way to take you all out to pick a Christmas tree, even though the farm was closed.
She’d wondered initially if Jace was just being nice to her siblings to try to get to her since his more direct flirtation hadn’t worked. But he’d seemed to genuinely enjoy hanging out with them. Austin and Ginny hadn’t stopped talking about him or the farm since they got back in the car.