LITMIR.BIZ

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to ward off the evening chill, she went outside and walked across a grassy slope, past a big yellow barn and on toward the main house of Sunshine Farm.

      A porch light illuminated a door at the back of the house. After rapping her knuckles lightly on the door frame, Josselyn let herself in and found Eva Stockton at the counter putting a snack of homemade cookies and mugs of coffee onto a wooden tray.

      The room was warm and Josselyn caught the faint, lingering scents of grilled beef and green peppers. With Eva cooking hearty meals every night for her husband, Luke, it came as no surprise that the kitchen was one of the first rooms the man had remodeled in the old farmhouse.

      “Oh, hi, Josselyn,” the pretty blonde said cheerfully. “You’re just in time to join us in the living room. The cookies are chocolate chip with macadamia nuts. They’re rather good, even if I did make them.”

      Since Eva worked at Daisy’s Donut Shop in town and was considered one of the best cooks around, Josselyn had no doubt the cookies were scrumptious. “Please don’t tempt me, Eva. A person can’t eat just one of your desserts. And I stuffed myself at the school picnic today.”

      “Well, if you’d like coffee just help yourself,” Eva offered.

      “Actually, I thought I’d check in on Mikayla,” Josselyn said. “Is she in her room?”

      “I think so. And I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you. With little Hazel still in NICU, she can’t help but be a bit mopey.”

      Josselyn gave Eva an understanding nod. “Having a premature baby can’t be easy. I’ll take her some coffee and see if I can cheer her up a bit.”

      Picking up the tray, Eva shot her a grateful smile as she started out of the kitchen. “I knew the first moment I met you that you were going to be a perfect boarder here at Sunshine Farm.”

      Josselyn laughed lightly. “How could you have known that?”

      “Something about the kind twinkle in your eyes,” she tossed over her shoulder.

      With Eva gone, Josselyn helped herself to the coffee. Once she’d placed two mugs on a tray, she decided to add a couple of cookies, just in case Mikayla might be hungry for a treat.

      Carefully, she carried the lot upstairs and knocked on the door to Mikayla Brown’s room. After a moment, the door swung open and Josselyn gave the other woman a cheerful smile.

      “Room service,” she announced. “Coffee and cookies. Want some company?”

      With a lopsided smile, the pretty brunette gestured for Josselyn to enter the room. “You’re too sweet. How did you guess I needed a pick-me-up?”

      Josselyn put on her cheeriest smile and hoped it would rub off on her friend. “I didn’t. I’m really just being selfish. I needed a little company.”

      She carried the tray over to the far wall of the room, where a rocking chair and a stuffed armchair sat at an angle to each other in front of a tall-paned window. Situated between the chairs, a low wooden table held a small old-fashioned lamp with a glass globe.

      Josselyn placed the tray next to the lamp. When she straightened, Mikayla was there to give her a brief hug.

      “Thank you for coming,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. “I only got home from the hospital an hour ago and I’m already wishing I was back there. I need something to take my mind off Hazel.”

      “Then we both needed company,” Josselyn said. “Which chair do you want?”

      “I’ll take the armchair,” Mikayla told her. “Being in the rocker makes my arms ache to hold my baby. I’ve decided I’m not going to sit in it until she comes home from the hospital.”

      Josselyn eased into the wooden rocking chair with a red cushion tied to the seat. “I understand why you want to stay at the hospital to be near your baby, but you do need to rest, Mikayla. You need to recuperate, too, so you’ll be feeling your best whenever Hazel does get to come home.”

      “That’s what the nurses keep telling me. That I need to give my body a chance to bounce back from giving birth. But it’s very hard to leave my daughter. Even long enough to get a night’s sleep.”

      Josselyn could hear the desperate longing in Mikayla’s voice, and though she didn’t yet know what it was like to have a child of her own, she could very well imagine how torn her friend was feeling.

      “Do you have any idea when Hazel might be released from the hospital?” Josselyn asked.

      Taking a seat in the armchair, Mikayla took one of the mugs and a cookie from the tray. “Thank God, she’s doing really well. Her doctor says she might get to come home at the beginning of next week. I’m afraid if I start counting the days I’ll jinx things. But I’m so excited.”

      Mikayla had come to Sunshine Farm seven months pregnant and single, after she’d discovered the father of her child having sex with his paralegal right in his office. However, since then, Mikayla’s life had taken several drastic turns. Only last month, she’d met wealthy businessman Jensen Jones and the two had fallen in love. Then unexpectedly she’d gone into premature labor.

      Josselyn picked up the remaining coffee mug and took a cautious sip. “That’s wonderful news, Mikayla. And it sounds like we’ll be hearing wedding bells pretty soon, too.”

      Mikayla sighed. “As soon as we can have Hazel safely with us at the ceremony. Jensen and I are waiting to see how things go with the baby before we set a definite date for our wedding. But we’re hoping we don’t have to wait too long. For now, he’s searching high and low for the perfect house for the three of us to move into.” Her smile full of love, she added, “Jensen wants me and our baby to have the best.”

      “Of course he does. And I’m so happy for you, Mikayla. You and Jensen and little Hazel are going to have a wonderful life together. And you certainly deserve it.”

      “Well, things were going pretty awful there for a while,” she admitted, then, smiling wistfully, she glanced toward the lace-covered window. “But coming here to Sunshine Farm has changed all that. I’m beginning to see why folks are starting to call it the Lonelyhearts Ranch. Something about people finding love in Rust Creek Falls has spilled over onto this place.” She slanted Josselyn a sly glance. “So are you going to be next on the wedding planner’s list?”

      Josselyn laughed. “Really, Mikayla. You know I haven’t even been on a date since I moved here. Well, maybe one if you count the lunch I had with the sixth-grade history teacher.”

      “By the way, you never mentioned how things went that day.”

      Josselyn shook her head. “I wish I could say the guy made my heart flutter. Instead, I struggled to keep from yawning. Raymond is nice enough, but he’s about as dull as the paint on my little car. And that’s pretty dull.”

      Mikayla chuckled. “Never fear. You’re working in Rust Creek Falls now—where love is in the air, or the water, or something. I’m positive that you’re going to meet a handsome guy that will sweep you off your feet before you ever realize what’s happening.”

      Josselyn sipped her coffee while the image of Drew Strickland paraded through her mind. “I’m not really hunting for a man to love, Mikayla. If it happens, that would be nice. But I’m not sitting around pining over the fact that I’m twenty-five and still single.” She looked thoughtfully over at her friend. “Actually, I did meet a really cute guy today. At the school picnic.”

      Her interest piqued, Mikayla leaned forward in the chair. “Oh, now this is the kind of news I want to hear. Tell me. Is he someone new in town?”

      “That’s the impression I got. He said he was here on a temporary basis. I haven’t seen him around Rust Creek Falls before today. And believe me, Mikayla, he’s the type that a woman doesn’t forget. But I was thinking you might know something about the man.”

      Mikayla’s brown eyes widened. “Me?

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