She’d changed his life. That’s all there was to it. She’d changed him.

All those weeks that he’d worked on the treehouse before Sydney came along, it’d felt like a desperate last-ditch effort to give Muir Farm a chance at survival. But she’d seen the dream underneath the desperation. She’d seen untapped skills and caged ambition.

And through her encouragement, she’d set his vision free.

“What is this, Neil?”

“Well, you know I’ve tended to disappear for a couple of hours most nights.”

Maggie still stood rooted in place. “I thought you were fixing the barn loft.”

She thought it had taken him that long to fit a few two-by-fours into place? “This is what I’ve been working on.” Her confused expression prodded him on. “It’s a luxury treehouse.”

“There’s such a thing?”

“They’re becoming more and more popular. I got the idea forever ago and it wouldn’t leave me alone, so I finally started working on it. It’s not completely done yet. I still need to build a bathroom, but I’ve been stalling a bit in case I needed to dip into my savings for the new parts for the harvester.”

“I don’t understand. What’s this for? Why would you build it in secret?” Maggie’s breathing seemed to quicken in time with her questions.

“I’d like to rent it out. And there’s other spots around the farm that I think would be perfect for something similar. I think it could end up being a really nice and much-needed extra income all through the spring, summer, and fall. Heck, maybe we’ll even get winter boarders. I’d like to add some opportunities for guests at the farm, too. Let people help with raking during harvest—like apple orchards where you get to pick your own apples. I know I’ve mentioned something like this before but—”

“Yes, you have.”

She wasn’t looking at the treehouse anymore. She was looking at him, the hard lines around her mouth surrounding her frown. But why . . . ?

“I said no, Neil. I don’t want our property crawling with strangers.”

“It wouldn’t be crawling. It’d be really controlled. We can set rules about how many guests can stay, what’s allowed. And it’s a good distance from the house. You wouldn’t even ever have to come into contact with any of them, if you don’t want. I can coordinate and take care of everything. Lil and Indi said they’d help, too.”

She huffed. “So you’ve already shared this with them. Another secret, only this time everyone’s in on it.”

“It’s not like that.” Of all the reactions he’d imagined—and yes, he’d considered that she might not immediately latch on to the idea—he hadn’t imagined this. She seemed almost frantic. “I just wanted—”

“You just wanted to do what you wanted regardless of how I felt about it.”

“Maggie, please—”

“I don’t want strangers wandering around the farm.”

Why was she staring at the spyglass? And what was her issue with the notion of strangers? This wasn’t the Maggie he knew.