“You love it.”
“My family is together. We’re happy and healthy, and we’re all doing something we love and believe in. We work our lives around the farm, store, and restaurant. Our playtime is in the winter when the store is quiet and the restaurant is only open on Friday and Saturday. We hire local kids, and we support the community. What’s not to love?”
“The store is open in the winter as well?”
“We have greenhouses. We don’t have everything, but enough to keep our suppliers and regular customers happy. It’s too far off the beaten track for many walk-ins for the restaurant, so we keep limited hours for our regulars. We close the store and restaurant just before Christmas and reopen in March so we all get a break.”
“You do a lot of different things.”
“I actually spend most of my time behind the scenes. But I enjoy being in the store and restaurant—I get to talk to customers and hear their feedback. It’s invaluable to our business.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I wasn’t even supposed to be in the store that day. But we’re always short as the kids are getting ready to head back to school, and everyone else had too much on their plate, so I said I’d man the fort, so to speak.”
“Thank goodness.”
“You might have been having this conversation with Taylor,” I teased. “If he got his paycheck and could borrow his mom’s minivan to come see you.”
Dani laughed. “I’m glad you were there.”
“Me too.”
“How long ago did you come back?”
“Four years ago.” I wrapped my hand around hers. “What about you, Dani. How long have you been here?”
“Six years.”
I hesitated. I knew a few things—I knew she was an only child and had lost her parents in her teens, but that was about all. She was very private and reluctant to talk about her past. I knew a lot about her life now, but I wanted to know about her life growing up.
“Have you always worked for the company?”
“Yes. I started right after graduation and worked my way up.”
“You never talk about your parents.”
“My parents were in a car accident when I was fifteen.”
I held her hand tighter. “I’m sorry.”
“I lived with my aunt until I went to university. She was older, on a fixed income, and wasn’t really prepared to have a teenager around, but she was kind. I worked to help with the additional bills. She refused to use the small amount of money my parents left me—she said it was for my education. They had never planned ahead very much so there wasn’t a lot, but it helped a little.”
“Are you still close?”
“She passed away the year I started school.” She swallowed.
She was totally alone. I hated knowing how alone she was, but it also confirmed she needed me—and my family—even more than I thought. She wasn’t going to be alone again.
“I’m sure she was proud of you.”
“I hope so.”
“So, you went to school and worked?”
She nodded. “I had a scholarship, and I worked part time. I lived in the dorms and ate cheap noodles and popcorn—just like lots of other kids. I had a good roommate, and she took me home with her on holidays. In the summers, I would nanny or be a live-in housekeeper. I did okay.” She shrugged. “I started working as soon as I was finished school.”
I started to ask her another question, but she shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about me right now, okay?”
“Okay, baby. I just want to know about you too, you know?”
She nodded. “I’ll tell you more on the weekend.”
“Okay.” I had pushed enough for now.
Her brow furrowed. “I’ve never asked you… I mean, we’ve never discussed…but how old are you?”
I smiled at her. “I’m thirty-four, Dani. Six years older than you.”
“Five.”
“I thought you were twenty-eight?”
She bit her lip. “I’ll be twenty-nine next week.”
“What day?”
“Saturday.”
“Were you going to tell me?”
“I don’t usually celebrate my birthday. It’s just another day.”
I slid closer, dragging her to my chest. “Your birthday is a great reason to celebrate, Dani. One of the best I can think of.”
“Really, it’s not important…”
I tapped her lips with my finger. “Enough of that. How about we go away? The two of us for the weekend, and I’ll celebrate you.”
“But the restaurant—”
I cut her off. “John is a great cook as well. He’ll cover for me. Ella will help too. We all pitch in when needed, Dani. Ella and I do service and wait tables when John and Callie need a break. Gabe loves being out front—he charms all the women with his muscles and smiles.”
She chuckled. “I see.”
Running my finger over her plump bottom lip, I smiled. “I want to take you away. Just us. I’ll celebrate you over and over.”
She kissed the end of my finger and shook her head. “How are you not taken by some young buxom country girl, Noah? How did I get so lucky?”