Hearts Like Ours | Red View Romance #1

🍎 Twenty Three

The meeting to go over plans for the upcoming season wasn't something Dawson could skip out on, as much as he wanted to. He was supposed to be in Jack's office at ten in the morning—on the dot—but when he remembered to glance at his watch, it was already five minutes after.

If Jack was pissed that he was late, well, too bad. He'd just have to deal with it the way everyone else had to deal with shit they didn't like. Dawson headed back to the manor, swinging open the door and trudging through the house, wondering in spite of himself if Layla was inside.

As he headed through the farmhouse-style doors of the den, down the hall to Jack's office, he tried—and failed—to pretend he didn't care either way. She hadn't come after him last night, hadn't apologized or given any indication that he had the wrong idea.

And God, did it burn. Not anger—he wished he was angry. This was just the deep, aching wound of disappointment. He knew he should take that for what it was, let her go, and let all of the wanting and the yearning go with her. If only it were that simple.

The French doors to Jack's office were open, and Dawson could see Adam and Annie were already sitting in the large leather chairs facing the oak desk. Behind it sat his twin, wearing a scowl as he looked up from his papers to see who was coming in.

"You're late." The words were short and snappy. He sounded as annoyed as Dawson felt this morning, which would no doubt make the next thirty minutes interesting in all the worst ways.

"By a few minutes. I was working. Lost track of time."

"So were all of us, yet we still managed to get here at ten." Jack held up his hand, halting the conversation. "Just sit. We have a lot to go over, with everything we're hoping to do this fall."

Annie started to get up, but Dawson gave her a smile and a shake of his head, taking a seat on the small ottoman between her and Adam. He hated doing what Jack demanded of him, but sat anyways to keep things friendly—well, as friendly as the two of them could manage.

They did have a lot to talk about, thanks to all of Jack's new endeavors. Sales were up, they already had potential clients for weddings who wanted to know dates, and Annie had already given their social media pages a complete revamping—one that had their followers up by thirty-eight percent, and interaction up by even more.

"The website is still under construction," she said, adding, "but I'll have it done soon."

"No rush." Jack's eyes were on the papers in front of him as he jotted something down. "We can't start accepting wedding clients for a while yet, which is the main reason I want it modernized. Plus... I've been thinking about adding tours."

"Tours?" Dawson repeated, speaking up for the first time since he came in.

"Yes, tours." Jack looked up from his papers to meet Dawson's gaze. "Like the ones we give for field trips, but adjusted to suit all ages. Of course, it means hiring someone new. But with everything going the way it is, we can afford it."

"Okay, great. Tours. Can I go, now? Because as far as I can tell, none of this has anything to do with me."

"Considering you're the co-owner, I'd say differently."

"You know what we haven't mentioned one damn time this entire meeting?" Dawson ticked the list off on his fingers, "Trees, apples, soil, equipment. How our suppliers are doing, what their prices are going to be like this season. What kind of orders we can expect to get from the restaurants in town, the grocery stores in the state—"

"What's your point?"

"My point is that I woke up this morning assuming I was still working on an orchard, not at a wedding venue or a tourist destination. If we don't pay attention to the product, to the trees, you're not going to have anything to show these people but a bunch of empty fields."