When Zayne’s father got in trouble with the law over and over. When her father died. When his mom was “sick,” which was what they’d called it when she was too drunk to take care of her children. Zayne and his big brother, Luke, had done their best to make sure there was food every day—even if they had to steal it.

“Who’d have ever thought back then that we’d be standing here now?” she asked, grinning at Zayne. “Look at how far we’ve come...especially you. I’m proud of you.”

His rough cheeks went ruddier than usual at the compliment. “You haven’t done bad, either. Raising a son, running a fancy-dancy festival like a diva.”

She laughed. “A diva? I beg your pardon? I’m running that fancy-dancy festival like a businesswoman.” The festival was less than two weeks away and was consuming pretty much every moment of her life these days. That was why Zayne had insisted she take a few hours off to spend with him and Hudson. He said the spectacular September day was too good to waste staring at her computer screen.

“Have you heard anything on the job front?” he asked, swinging Hudson back to earth and letting him go to explore the crumbling stone fence.

She shook her head. “I don’t expect to hear until October, which is perfect because it will be after the festival. Hopefully they’ll be so impressed with my leadership skills that they’ll have to give it to me and my sterling reputation.”

They walked along the quiet road back toward his truck, keeping an eye on Hudson’s adventures near the stone fence.

“Does your reputation really matter, as long as you have the skills?”

She shrugged. “Probably not, but you know how this town is. You don’t want to be on the losing side of any gossip.” She took his hand. “I think I have enough people in my corner, though.”

ZAYNE DIDN’T RESPOND. He was definitely in her corner, but sometimes he couldn’t help worrying that it may not be a good thing for Andrea. Over the past few weeks, it seemed the more he fell for her—and he was falling hard—the more he fretted about that.

This was all so new for him. A committed relationship with a woman. With a single mom. Trying to be a good public citizen, despite the anxiety it brought. He was a businessman now—another brand-new experience. Thank goodness Andrea had created that bookkeeping and scheduling system for him, because his workload seemed to double every month.