AlexMy feet felt like I had cement blocks attached to the bottom of my boots. I was dog tired. Dead. Dog. Tired. I couldn’t remember ever working so hard. It felt good and awful at the same time. Wayne’s farm had been in desperate need of serious attention. I hadn’t stopped working since I had shown up two weeks ago. My body felt it.“Knock, knock,” I called, opening the screen door and going into the house. I was staying in a spare bedroom in the house. With the early mornings and late nights, it made sense to sleep at the farm. It allowed me an extra hour of sleep each night by not having to drive out to the farm from town.“In the kitchen,” Wayne called back.“I’m hitting the shower,” I hollered.“I’ve got dinner almost done,” he answered.I smiled, shaking my head. Instead of going down the hall to my room, I went into the kitchen. “Wayne, you don’t have to cook me dinner.”“I’m cooking me dinner and I just happen to have plenty for the both of us,” he said with a laugh.He’d bee

DamionI was going about my usual, boring routine in the silence of the barn when I heard a truck rumbling down the long driveway. My mind immediately went to Alex. I knew it wouldn’t be her. Why would it? It had been over two weeks and I had not heard one word from her. I hadn’t seen her around town either. I was confident I would have bumped into her if she was back. The void her absence left was huge.I took off my gloves, telling myself it wasn’t her. I didn’t want to have my hopes up. It wasn’t her. She was gone. I walked out of the barn, and no matter how many times I had told myself it wouldn’t be her, the disappointment when I found it wasn’t her was difficult to deal with.“Hey,” I greeted Justin as he hopped out of his old truck.“Hey, yourself,” he said with his usual lopsided grin.“What brings you out this way?”He shrugged. “I’m off today and thought I’d come by and sharpen those blades. That old machine could use a little tune-up as well.”I nodded, not sure how much I

AlexI looked around the bedroom in Wayne’s house, making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. I checked under the bed, looking for any stray socks. It had been exhausting, being on the farm, but I felt confident the place was back on track. Wayne could handle things going forward. Wayne and the team I insisted he hire. The man was going to work himself into an early grave. Although he was convinced it wouldn’t be early at all.I had gotten the sense the man was lonely. More than just lonely. He had essentially given up. He was tired and weary. He missed his wife and was convinced that she was in heaven waiting for him. I couldn’t begin to understand what he felt. I had never felt that kind of love. He didn’t want to live without his wife. It was sad and sweet at the same time.During my time with Wayne, he had regaled me with stories about her. I felt like I knew her. I almost wished I did. Hearing about his great love had made me think about my own life. I had a feeling that was his in

DamionI had seen the truck on the side of the road and was already going to stop. It was what people did out in the country. Back in New York, I would have been less inclined to stop on the side of a dark road to offer help to a complete stranger, but not in Montana. I likely knew the person.When I got close enough to see it was Alex, I was both thrilled and sad. She hadn’t even bothered to let me know she was back in town. Then again, she owed me nothing. Why would she tell me she was back? It still hurt a little to know she hadn’t bothered to say hi. I pushed it aside. My own sore ego didn’t matter. She needed help.“Flat?” I asked the obvious, feeling a little dumb for asking such a dumb question.“Yes. Flat.”“Do you need help changing it?” I asked.“No, I don’t need any help,” she snapped.It was like I was meeting her for the first time. Our first meeting—hell, our first several meetings—had gone something like this. She talked to me with disdain and I got pissed. I wasn’t goi

AlexI walked into the restaurant after sleeping off the road weariness. I was still dragging ass a little, but I felt a lot better than I had when I had fallen into bed the night before.My eyes scanned the tables, passing over the usual coffee crowd comprised of about six of the old timers from the area. They loved to sit, gossip, and nurse their coffees well into the lunch hour.I saw Sadie sitting at a table and quickly made my way to her table. She looked up and saw me. She squealed and jumped up. I couldn’t stop my smile. We both threw our arms around each other.“Oh my god!” she said. “I can’t believe it’s been a month. You can’t do that again.”“I’m sorry. It’s good to see you.”We both took our seats. “Tell me you won’t go back there again.”I cringed. “I don’t know if I will.”“What? What does that mean?”Before I got the chance to answer, the waitress came by. We ordered coffee and big breakfasts. Both of us were splurging.“Wayne offered me his farm,” I told her.She wrink