“I’m glad you did. Have you ever made out on a tractor?”
Amanda smiled. “I can’t say that I have.”
“You want to give it a whirl?”
“How would that work exactly?”
“Stand up, and I’ll show you.”
Amanda stood, and with his hands on her hips, he turned her to face him, bringing her down on his lap to straddle him. “Oh, well…”
Landon guided her arms around his neck and pulled her in tight against him. “Just like this.”
“Why do I feel like maybe you’ve done this before?”
Smiling, he shook his head and kissed her. “This is a first. Everything about you is a first.”
Amanda wanted to hear more about that, but with his lips moving softly over hers, she didn’t get the chance to ask. She was too busy enjoying being with him, kissing him, holding him.
The more of him she had, the more she wanted. “I met Mildred today.”
“Did you? She’s a nice lady.”
“She told me how you bring her a Christmas tree every year.”
“I do that for quite a few of the seniors in town.”
“It’s very sweet of you.”
He shrugged off the comment. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is to them.”
“It’s just what we do for each other around here.”
“I like it here.”
“I’m glad you do. That means you might be sticking around, huh?”
“That’s exactly what it means. In fact, I landed myself a job today.”
“Did you now? Is it with a company I might’ve heard of?”
“Actually, it is.”
“Did my dad offer you the warehouse job?”
“Even better. He asked me to head up the catalog going forward. Cameron and Lucy are going to have their hands full with the website and the e-commerce that’ll come from the catalog. He needs somebody to oversee the development of future catalogs. I accepted the job without hesitation. And you’re the first person I wanted to tell.”
“Congratulations. That sounds perfect for you.”
“I’m excited. I like this opportunity even better than the warehouse job. And do you know what this means?”
“What?”
“I have to find a place to live in Butler. I have to buy sheets. I have to buy pots and pans. I have to buy towels.”
“You’re in luck. I have all that stuff at my place.”
“That’s true, and I do love being there. However, there’s no room for Stella there.”
“Then we’ll find something else together.”
He said that so casually, as if that sentence didn’t change everything. “Is that what you want?”
“I want to be where you are. So, yes, that’s what I want.”
“It’s probably too soon for us to be even talking about this.”
“Probably, but I don’t want to go backward.”
“How do you mean?”
“We’re already living together. If you move out, that’s a backward move for us. I want to go forward.”
“So that means…”
“We’ll find a place together. With room for Stella.”
For a long time, Amanda stared at him, trying to find any hint of hesitation or second thoughts. But she saw only a man who cared about her as much as she cared about him, a man who’d accepted the probability of her daughter coming to live with them without missing a beat. This man who brought Christmas trees to the seniors in town had the kind of loving heart she wanted in her life—and in her daughter’s life.
“Are we really doing this?”
“Oh yeah, baby. We’re doing it, all right.” He hugged her so tightly, she couldn’t breathe. “And I’m so happy about it.”
She flashed a suggestive grin. “Why’s that?”
“You know exactly why. It’s because I’m falling for you, and all I want is to be with you. Things I do every day, like cut grass, shear trees, fight fires… Everything else is suddenly boring compared to being with you.”
Ridiculously moved by his sweet words, Amanda said, “So what you’re saying is I basically ruined your life?”
“Not at all. I think, perhaps, you might make my life.”
As Amanda hugged him, she realized everything was changing, and a few months ago, that would’ve scared the hell out of her. Now, she couldn’t be happier. “Same.”
The next afternoon, Amanda met with Elmer at his home. Before she even pulled into the driveway, she was already charmed by the sign hanging from his mailbox: Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Free Advice. What more could anyone want from any one man? Amanda knew from previous interactions that Elmer Stillman was sweet, adorable and full of wisdom that he freely shared with his beloved grandchildren.
She couldn’t wait to get to know him better.
Elmer greeted her at the door with a warm, welcoming smile and showed her into his cluttered but comfortable home. Landon had told her his grandfather never threw anything away because he loved to be surrounded by things that made him happy. He wore a red flannel shirt rolled up over his forearms and jeans held up by red suspenders. Central casting couldn’t have found a more perfect character to play the role of the doting grandfather.
“What can I get you, my dear?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine with me. Thank you.”
Elmer made cups of hot chocolate and topped them with whipped cream from a can. “I don’t know about you, but I need something sweet around this time of day to pick me up.”
“I never say no to something sweet. I used to get in trouble for eating the whipped cream right from the can.”
“Ah, yes,” he said, chuckling, “I think every one of my grandchildren has been in trouble for that particular thing at least once, particularly your friend Landon and his twin.”
“Whipped cream is always worth the trouble.”
“On that we agree.” He brought a tin of chocolate cookies when he joined her at the table. “You may be noticing a theme here.”
“We also agree on the magic of chocolate.” Amanda took a sip of her drink. “Delicious.”
He sipped from his mug and ate a cookie. “I heard you met with Mildred yesterday. How did that go?”
“It was great. She’s such a lovely lady.”
“That she is. She’s worked for my family’s business for more than eighty years.”
“It’s quite an accomplishment.”
“Indeed it is, but that’s what our business is all about. Family first. One of my greatest pleasures in life is that many of my grandchildren are involved with running the business my parents started. They’re fourth-generation proprietors, which is a huge source of pride to me. Imagine, the little general store my parents started way back when now employs so many of their descendants.”
“How do you think they’d feel about that?”
“They’d be tickled pink. No doubt about it. They used to tell me there’s nothing more important than family. We’ve tried to instill that atmosphere in the company. Do you know that many of our employees are the second, third and even fourth generation of their families to work for us?”