“I’m not listening to this anymore.” Molly stormed off toward the blanket, grabbed her coverup, towel and bag and headed for where they’d parked the bikes they’d borrowed from Joseph and Keisha. She’d already taken off toward camp by the time Lincoln jumped on the other bike to follow her.
Back at camp, which was deserted on the one day the volunteers took for themselves, she went directly to her tent and zipped it closed, even though it was broiling and would be unbearable with the tent sealed off.
He decided to give her some space, to take a shower and figure out his next move.
Molly sat inside the roasting cocoon of her tent and tried to get herself together. How could he love her? He barely knew her.
Except that wasn’t exactly true. She’d told him things about herself that no one else knew, such as how much she wanted to be a mother and how little interest she had in her family’s business. In this day and age, a woman was supposed to want a career of her own, but all she wanted was a family. And her sister, Hannah, felt the same way, leaving both of them in a bad spot as the youngest children of Elmer and Sarah Stillman, proprietors of the Green Mountain Country Store. Their older siblings already had lives and homes of their own elsewhere, so it had fallen to her and Hannah to inherit the business.
Molly and her sister had frequently talked about what they were going to do after college when they’d face a come-to-Jesus moment on the business their grandparents had started decades ago.
They didn’t want it.
Their father couldn’t wait to bring his girls into the business.
Her plan was to give the business a few years so she could say she tried before she hopefully got married and had a family. The one thing she knew for certain is that she’d never disappoint her beloved father by not showing up to work at the store when she got home. Regardless of what she wanted or didn’t want, she loved him too much to let him down.
A man with dreams of spending a year in England followed by his own family obligations didn’t fit into her plans. Even if she liked him more than she’d ever liked anyone since she lost her beloved Andrew while still in high school.
Okay, so maybe she loved Linc a little bit, too.
Or maybe she loved him a lot and couldn’t imagine life without him after working and living side by side for weeks. And that made her feel guilty because she’d promised herself she’d never love anyone the way she’d loved Andrew.
How could this be happening?
Resting her head on her knees, she felt confused and thrilled and terrified all at the same time. Lincoln Abbott, the nicest, handsomest, sexiest, smartest man she’d met in all the years since she lost Andrew, loved her. So why was she hiding out in her tent when Lincoln Abbott loved her? Because she didn’t want him to change his plans for her. He would hate her for that someday, and that would kill her.
But maybe when he came back…
She unzipped the tent and spotted him returning from the shower, wearing only a pair of shorts. The summer of hard work had left him with a chiseled, muscular body that had her imagining things she couldn’t afford to think about when she was trying to talk him out of loving her.
He caught her staring at him and smiled as he walked over to her tent. “I wondered how long you were going to broil in there.”
“I… I’m sorry I behaved that way.”
“No apology necessary.”
“Yes, it is necessary. You said something lovely to me, and I acted like a… I don’t know what, but it wasn’t an appropriate response.”
“It’s fine. I still love you.”
“Lincoln.”
“Molly.”
His lips quivered with amusement while his blue eyes lit up with delight at the sight of her, the way they had from the start.
“Will you come in for a minute?”
“If I must.”
And he was funny, always making her laugh over the silliest things. Molly scooted over to make room for him in her tiny tent. When he was settled next to her, she summoned all the courage she possessed to look him in the eye. “I probably love you, too.”
He raised a brow. “Only probably?”
She swallowed the huge lump in her throat and tried to ignore the sweat running down her back. “Definitely.”
“That’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”
“Better than getting accepted to Oxford?”
“A million times better.”
“Here’s what I think we ought to do… We should take this year while you’re in England to make sure this is what we really want. We can write to each other and maybe call once in a while and… Why are you shaking your head?”
“I don’t want to be without you for a year.”
“You didn’t even know me seven weeks ago!”
“And now I do, and I don’t want to leave you, Molly. Come with me.”
“What?”
“Come to England with me.”
“I… I don’t think I can. I promised my dad I’d start work at the store when I get home.”
“Could you delay that for a year?”
“He’s so excited about me starting. I just… I couldn’t bear to disappoint him.”
Linc thought about that for a second. “You want to know what I think we ought to do?”
She was almost afraid to ask. “What?”
“You should take me to Vermont to check out this country store your family owns and see if there might be a place for me there.”
She stared at him as if he’d just suggested they take a quick trip to Venus. “Are you out of your mind? You have an MBA from Yale. What in the hell do you want with a country store in Vermont?”
“I’m intrigued, and by the way you described it, it sounds like something that would interest me.”
“No.”
“Just no? We’re not even going to talk about it?”
“We did talk about it, and you’re not doing that. It’s insanity. You could do anything you want.”
“Exactly—and what I want is to check out your family’s business in Vermont.”
“You’re going to England.”
“Maybe not.” He reached for her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “I love you. I don’t want to be without you ever again. Even if that means living in Vermont and running a country store. I’d live in a tent if I got to be with you.”
“The heat has pickled your brain. You’re not thinking clearly.”
“I’ve never thought more clearly than I am right now. I look at you, and I see everything I ever wanted.”
“How can that be true?”
“I don’t know. It just is.” He kissed her again, more intently this time, as if trying to prove what he’d said was true.
She was beginning to believe him. “You’re going to England.”
“Maybe not.”
“You’re going.”
“We’ll see.” Tipping his head for a better angle, he kissed her again.
They ended up reclined on her air mattress, oblivious to the intense heat or anything other than each other. They’d shared a few stolen kisses here and there before today, but with privacy hard to come by in the camp, it had never progressed beyond that. But this…