After lunch, Eva grabbed the long pruning loppers to tackle another row of trees. Within hours, the snowflakes grew fatter and more insistent. They stuck to her eyelashes and blurred her vision. She brushed them away.
She glanced at Adam on his milk crate. He’d slowed down considerably from this morning and kept blowing into his gloves. “Are you cold?”
“Just my hands.”
She searched the wagon. Pulling out another pair of heavy-duty work gloves, she walked toward him. “Try these.”
Adam tucked his expensive-looking ski gloves into his coat pockets. The tips of his fingers were white with a purple hue.
Eva grabbed his hands. “Let me see.”
Adam tried to pull back. “They’re fine.”
“No, they’re not.” Eva took off her gloves and touched his frozen skin. “We have to get you back to the house.”
“Give me those and I’ll be fine.”
“Nope. You’ve got frostbite starting on your fingertips. Time to call it a day. I’ll let Ryan know.” Eva looked at Adam’s face. The tip of his nose had turned white, too. The most important thing was to get Adam back home where it was warm.
Adam sat in Eva’s cheerfully decorated kitchen once again. Antiques mixed with brightly colored modern-looking fabrics but it blended well. The place had life. Vibrance. This time his hands were plunged into bowls of warm water while Eva built a fire in the woodstove. The snap and crackle of igniting wood cut the silence. And Adam felt like an idiot. Obviously he needed better gloves, and he’d have to pick up a fleece balaclava to protect his face if he planned to work an eight-hour day alongside the formidable Eva Marsh.
“So, I take it your family are churchgoers, to have a brother in ministry.” Adam couldn’t take the quiet. It was too much like when he was in grade school and sent to the principal’s office.
“Yup.”
“I went to church when I was a kid.” His mother used to take him to Sunday school and church every week. A few years after she’d died, when he’d hit his teens, Adam took a detour away from everything he’d been taught about honoring God. He stayed on that road too long, making choices he wasn’t proud of now that he’d given his heart back to the Lord.
Eva shut the woodstove doors. “Do you attend now?”
“When I can.” He wanted to settle in somewhere and go regularly. He needed a home church to call his own. A place to grow.
After attending a Christian concert with his sister over the holidays, Adam hadn’t anticipated God grabbing hold of him, but he was grateful for the second chance. Another puzzle piece of his life found its place. Adam might not have all the pieces locked in yet, but he was on his way.
He looked her square in the eye and wanted her to know he’d changed. “I recently came back to my faith.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “Looks like you’ll have to change your lifestyle.”
She couldn’t know what his life had been before—the parties filled with women and friends looking for what they could glean from him. Not that he cared to enlighten her. He was over it. Finished. Still, he smiled at her sharp tongue, and then laughed when the shock on her face registered as if she’d accidentally spoken her thoughts out loud.
Adam knew he had a lot to live down. “I thought Christians were supposed be nice. Love thy neighbor and pray for your enemies.”
Her eyes glazed with remorse, and then she laughed, but her amusement sounded forced. “Yeah, well, I’m working on that.”
“So, have you decided if I’m your neighbor or your enemy?”
She glanced at the clock on the wall, obviously uncomfortable with his probing. “I don’t know yet.”
But the brief flash of pain in her chocolatey eyes bothered him. It wasn’t easy accepting his part in her disappointment. He knew buying her family’s orchard had been a blow to her dreams of one day taking over the farm. Her father had pretty much spelled that out.
But Adam suspected the resentment went deeper than the sale of the land. She seemed lost and alone. Almost afraid, like a small force in a big world gone awry. Which was crazy considering that Eva Marsh proved quite capable of taking care of herself.
“Let me see your hands.” Eva peeked into the bowl, effectively shutting down his thoughts by her nearness. Something about her definitely piqued his interest.
He lifted his hands and winced.
She glanced at him with real concern and then gently touched the skin of his fingers. “As they thaw, it’s going to hurt.”
“You’re not kidding.” Adam had experienced cold but never like this. He peered into Eva’s eyes, and for a few moments she didn’t look away. She didn’t let go of his hands either.
And then the door opened, and Eva’s roommate blew in with a rush of bitter air. Beth took one look at him and rushed forward. “Adam, what happened?”
“Frostbite.” Eva moved away, leaving Adam to wish her roommate back at school.
Beth’s expression turned to mush. “Oh, you poor thing. Can I get you anything?”
This was what Adam was used to, but oddly enough he didn’t want Beth hovering over him. “I’ll be fine.”
She smiled. “You gotta watch Eva, she’s a tough taskmaster.”
Adam noticed the flush of color on Eva’s cheeks and grinned. “She’s not so bad.”
“Wait till you get to know her better.” Beth winked at him.
Had Eva heard Beth’s comment? By the way his prickly little employee bustled about the kitchen, he was pretty sure she had. Maybe she wasn’t immune to him after all.
After the first week’s worth of pruning beside Adam, Eva needed to unwind. Saturday night, she succeeded for a couple of hours at the movies with Ryan and Beth. She hadn’t thought of Adam Peece once during the big-budget sci-fi flick. Except for the moment she decided that the lead actor’s brilliant blue eyes were no comparison to Adam’s.
After his bout with frostbite, Adam had shown up for work wearing better gear and he went the distance in the field. She thought for sure he’d bail after a few days spent working outside in the bitter cold. Instead, he arrived every morning eager to work. Ryan had shown him how to use a small chainsaw on the bigger branches needing to be clipped from older trees.
The instant camaraderie between the two men pricked like a thorn in her finger. She’d always considered her brother a good judge of character. Either his discernment was off or her apprehension of Adam was overblown. Neither sat well.
“Wanna grab a bite to eat?” Ryan pulled his truck into the latest hot spot in Traverse City.
“Why here?” Eva didn’t care to hang out in a loud place.
“They have the best wings in town. Come on, Beth, back me up.”
Beth laughed. “You’re looking to scope the ladies.”
“Right.” Ryan’s mouth twisted.
Eva had given up badgering Ryan to ask Beth out since her brother showed no signs of interest. For anyone. His hurt still ran too deep. But then, so did hers.
After they found a table, Eva looked around the crowded restaurant. The bar was full, and the surrounding