BooksBarbecue
Back Take Me Home
Chapters (36)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. TITLE PAGE
  4. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  5. DEDICATION
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. EPILOGUE
  35. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  36. SNEAK PEEK: A STONE’S THROW AWAY

‘I’ve loved having you here,’ he replied. ‘I never realised how quiet this place was before you got here. This has been the first time in, I don’t know how long, since I’ve taken time to stop and appreciate the moment. I’ve been so busy trying to end my old life and start a new one that I forgot what it was like to just enjoy someone’s company.’

‘You’ve had a lot to do. You’ve got a lot invested in the success of your farm.’

‘It’s been good to stop and take stock of things for a while.’

‘I’m glad you have.’

A quiet kind of peace fell between them for a moment and the soft thunk of slicing and dicing on a chopping board was the only sound in the kitchen.

‘Think on it a bit,’ he said when they’d finished. ‘There’s no hurry to decide.’

Elle did think on it—she couldn’t stop. It would be so easy to take Stuart’s offer and let things continue as they had been, but she worried that she would simply be putting off making a hard decision down the track. This wasn’t real life—even if they did have some miraculous future together, it wouldn’t be like this forever. Reality would step in. The farm would need Stuart’s full attention and eventually stress and long hours, bills and the demands of a farming life would change what they had right now and make it, well, ordinary. At the moment it was fun and exciting and new, but what if they didn’t like each other when reality replaced what they had now? It would only end up messy and complicated. Maybe it was better in the long run for both of them to have these memories … memories of a beautiful holiday romance that was brief, but perfect.

TWENTY-FOUR

Twenty-four

‘Morning, sleepyhead,’ Stuart said, kissing Elle’s nose as she came to stand beside him at the kitchen bench the next morning. She took the mug he was holding out to her and sighed as she tasted her first sip of coffee and then noticed the plate of bacon and eggs he’d placed before her.

‘Eat up, you’re going to need all the energy you can get today,’ he said cheerfully. Too cheerfully for this early in the morning.