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Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 1
Joy McGuire glanced down at her chipped manicure and sighed. She had a feeling this was going to be an omen for the rest of her week.The movers weren’t even close to arriving in Heron’s Landing, and Joy had had to sleep on a few blankets and a jacket for a pillow the night prior. Her back aching and her neck sore, she could’ve cheerfully murdered someone when she’d gotten a call that the movers were lost—again—and they wouldn’t be in town until later that evening.It was nine o’clock AM. At least she’d driven with the majority of her clothes and toiletries, so she could put on clean underwear and wash her face. She just hoped she’d be able to sleep in a bed tonight, otherwise she was sorely tempted to book a room in the one inn this town of two hundred and fifty people hosted.Heron’s Landing was a far cry from Chicago: tiny and quintessentially Midwestern, it had a single main street with no more than a dozen shops and restaurants, while its main feature was a vineyard on the nort
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 2
Walking the rows of his family’s vineyard, River’s Bend, Adam felt the world on his shoulders. He passed between the rows, the sun beating down overhead. Where had this warmth and dryness been when they’d needed it? Now, though, it was too late: the amount of buds that should’ve been on the vines was fewer even than last year. Fewer buds meant fewer grapes, and without grapes, little wine could result.Adam wiped his brow. The humidity was creeping up already, despite it being early morning. It would probably reach close to one hundred degrees, as was common in the middle of June. Mosquitoes buzzed about, but he hardly noticed them. He probably should’ve doused himself in bug spray before coming out, but what were a few mosquito bites? He was used to them by now. Any Missouri country boy was used to bugs biting and buzzing and flying about.At any rate, the bugs weren’t the problem. His sad grape crop was—the extensive rains of March and April had devastated the vines, causing a lot
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 3
Joy had needed a project. She had a few clients she still wrote for long-distance, but she wanted to sink her teeth into something here in Heron’s Landing. That was why she’d come, wasn’t it? To get to know a new town and new people? The town wasn’t hustling and moving as quickly as Chicago. In fact, it moved about quickly as an elderly turtle swimming through mud. But that didn’t stop her from looking around for stories.Drumming her fingers on the arm of her couch—the movers had finally arrived that morning—Joy brainstormed for a few hours. Perhaps she could interview the owner of Trudy’s? Or maybe Mike in the general store downstairs had something worth writing about? She pursed her lips, thinking.Of course, there was always the vineyard, River’s Bend. It was the jewel of Heron’s Landing, but that seemed cliché. Plus, it was five miles from her apartment, and she really didn’t want to drive that gravel road to get out there. The day had already edged into one-hundred-degree terri
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 4
“It’s so nice of you to join us,” Julia Danvers said as she kissed Adam’s cheek. “We haven’t seen you in ages.”They’d actually seen him…well, two weeks ago? Three? Adam couldn’t remember, and guilt coiled in his gut. His parents only lived a few miles from his own house, but sometimes it felt like they lived on the other side of the country when he got swamped with working at River’s Bend. And his mom was extremely talented at letting him know when he’d stayed away for too long.“He just didn’t feel like eating another Hot Pocket for dinner,” Grace said. She laughed at her brother’s expression. “You know I’m right—you eat the same as an eighteen-year-old freshman in college.”“Can it, Squirt,” Adam growled. “Or I’m going to tell Mom and Dad about the Merlot Incident of 2013.”Grace blushed bright red.“What Merlot Incident? What in the world are you talking about?” Carl Danvers asked as he entered the dining room, slapping a newspaper against his thigh. The patriarch of the Danve
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 5
Two weeks after arriving in Heron’s Landing, Joy fulfilled her promise to Grace and invited her over for a full-on girls’ night. It included manicures, cocktails, and a variety of chick flicks—10 Things I Hate About You for Joy, and Sleepless in Seattle for Grace. Joy also tossed in a few random contenders to spice things up—Terminator 2 and Rocky—mostly so she could tell people that girls’ nights didn’t mean they could only talk about boys and boy-related issues. Always important to pass the Bechdel Test in real life.Pulling out the red polish to begin work on her nails, Joy squinted as she started on her left hand. Sadly, Dana the stylist was on maternity leave for the foreseeable future and didn’t want to inhale nail polish fumes right now, so Joy was stuck doing her own manicures for now. Which was fine, but she wasn’t talented enough to paint tiny flowers on her own nails, so they inevitably seemed rather plain in comparison to what she was used to.Oh, the sacrifices she made
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 6
Adam had hoped that the sunshine of the past few weeks would hold up until the harvest. But on a Monday morning in early July, he awoke to claps of thunder. Getting out of bed, he opened the blinds to see torrential rain falling like bullets from the sky. Hail pinged the roof, and a bolt of lightning burst across the sky.The rain continued all day. It stopped for a bit in the evening, but started up again by Tuesday morning. By Wednesday, it had rained so hard that flash flood warnings had been issued across the state, and the river was about to flood from its banks. There was so much water that the unpaved roads around Heron’s Landing—and there were plenty of them—turned to mud, and many of its citizens had to stay home or walk to their destination, as any vehicle would get stuck the moment it was put in drive.By Wednesday afternoon, the sun had come out, but Adam knew it was too late. Going into the fields with Jaime and a few others of his staff, they all saw how the rain had de
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 7
Joy hadn’t expected Adam would be thrilled about her doing a story on the vineyard. But she hadn’t expected he’d be quite so steamed, either.Sitting across from him in a booth at Trudy’s, twenty minutes after he’d called and mysteriously asked to see her, she sipped her coffee, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he seemed intent on having a staring contest with her. If she’d known he just wanted to glare at her, she would’ve stayed in bed, made her own coffee and maybe watched a movie.Feeling peevish and tired, she asked, “You wanted to talk to me about something?”He ripped open a sugar packet with more force than strictly necessary, and thus the majority of the granules ended up on the table. He swore. “Are you writing a story about the vineyard?” he asked in clipped tones.Joy sipped her coffee. Grace wasn’t working today, and she could tell that Terry had made the coffee today because it tasted like bitter lukewarm water. She dumped more creamer in it, slowly stirring
Say You’re Mine: Heron’s Landing Book 1 Chapter 8
Adam was stewing. Stewing and drinking and feeling generally sorry for himself. He knew and he wasn’t proud of it. But sometimes a person needed to sit and wallow for a bit, and then you could go back to your life and move the hell on.He finished his third beer, sighing. Morose music played in the background of his house; the lights were dimmed. If he’d put on black eyeliner and gotten his lip pierced, he could’ve given one of those emo kids a run for their money. Were kids still doing that these days? Adam stared at his beer can, wondering. Grace had been friends with a self-described emo kid who’d renamed himself Lucifer back in junior high, but Adam had missed that trend. Thank God.His beer can empty, he debated whether or not four beers in two hours was excessive. Being not in the least bit slight in stature or overall body type, he barely felt buzzed. It would take a lot more than a few beers to get him hammered. And really, he didn’t want to get hammered. He just wanted to ta
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