Falling Inn Love: A Pumpkins and Proposals Novel (The Harvest Ranch Romance Series Book 3)

by Amberlee Day

  Now, just Pumpkin did.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Freddie said, shaking his head until he could believe what he was seeing. A line of smiling townsfolk and festival goers queued up almost to the door. At the front, Pumpkin sat with her tongue hanging out and a smile on her face, while an older man and what looked like his grandson stood on the other side, getting their pictures taken. When they were done, they shook Pumpkin’s paw, and the next group came forward. “Wasn’t the event supposed to end an hour ago?”

  “It did end. The bookstore owner told everyone I was leaving. I waved goodbye and slipped go out the back.” Kate’s relief showed in her voice, and she even laughed. It reminded him that Pumpkin was found and he could relax too. Exhaling deeply, he ran a thumb over Kate’s hand. She squeezed his in return.

  At the cash register up front, the grandfather and grandson were paying for a stack of books, likely some of the signed copies Freddie had brought. “At least sales are going well. Come on.”

  Hand in hand, he and Kate approached the store owner—“Winslow, owner,” according to his name tag. He smiled when he saw Freddie, and he chuckled at the male dog Freddie had on a leash.

  “Thank you for coming,” he told his departing customers before sauntering over to Freddie and Kate. He looked pleased with himself. “You brought Bowser home. Hey, Bowser!”

  The dog’s bottom half wiggled back and forth, and he nuzzled in the bookshop owner’s hands.

  “This is your dog?” Freddie asked, wondering if he was sniffing out a setup.

  “It is. Brenda Lee must have taken him when she left, but I was too busy dealing with customers to notice. Honest.” He must have read the suspicion on Freddie’s face.

  “You did have a crowd to handle,” Kate said, though she quickly added, “or at least it looked like it from where I was.”

  Her eyes flicked to Freddie’s, and they shared a shrug. That explanation seemed to work.

  The shopkeeper continued, “It’s not hard when everyone and their dog ... I mean, when everyone in town has a labradoodle, especially Love at Home fans. And I wasn’t keeping an eye on Bowser with everything going on. When I realized Pumpkin was still here and her owner nowhere to be seen, I just let people keep taking pictures and buying books. Hope that’s alright. I was actually going to close fifteen minutes ago, but Pumpkin there’s a professional, a real star. Plus, business is booming.”

  Freddie caught another glimpse of Pumpkin through the line of fans, still smiling for the cameras with her tongue hanging out. Was that a gleam of light sparkling off her teeth? “Yeah, she’s kind of a prima donna. She even has her own Instagram account.”

  “A diva, more like it,” Kate said with a head shake. “I should have known she wouldn’t have just come home with me so easily.”

  Laughter bubbled up in Freddie’s chest, and Kate laughed again too. “She really doesn’t like you, does she?”

  “No, she doesn’t, which is weird. Normal dogs like me, at least a little. Pumpkin isn’t normal.”

  Freddie pulled her close and kissed her hair. It was awfully nice being out in public with Kate as Kate and not Brenda Lee. He could get used to this. In fact, he could get used to being with her, period.

  Chapter 13

  Friday morning, Kate managed to be outside when Freddie took Pumpkin out for her morning constitutional—“managed” in this case meaning she was freshly showered, her hair looking its best, dressed in a cute top and pair of jeans, and watching out the residence window to make sure she spotted him. He was half an hour later than she expected and wasn’t wearing just pajama bottoms as she’d caught him on previous mornings, but she still called it a victory.

  “Good morning.” Her feet wanted to skip to him, and when she tried to slow them down, it turned into a kind of humiliating prance. But his smile when she caught his eye made her feel like every single thing about her was okay with him. Not that she needed someone else’s okay to be herself, but that appreciation in his look drew her to him like a bee to a pumpkin flower.

  “Good morning. Are you ready for your last day as Brenda Lee?” he asked when she was close enough that they wouldn’t be overheard.

  “My last day as ...” Her prance made a little hiccup, and she almost tripped. “Am I dressing up today?”

  Freddie chuckled at her, and that twinkle in his eyes made her want to roll up in a ball and giggle. He was so sexy and nice, and he liked her. And why wouldn’t he? Except for her history as relationship dynamite. “No, I just wanted to see what you’d say. Has it been so bad?”

  When she came within a couple of feet of him and her eyes drew to his lips, a weird little shyness crept over her. She smiled and feigned interest in deadheading the chrysanthemums in one of the landscaping barrels. “No, not so bad. A little embarrassing at times, but what girl doesn’t want a little humiliation in her life? Something to write about in her diary.”

  “Falling off a parade float is journal fare these days, is it?”

  “Absolutely. Top it off with bringing home the wrong dog, and you’ve practically got a best seller.”

  “Don’t forget performing a public reading in Winnie-the-Pooh and Darth Vader voices.”

  Feelings bubbled up, good ones. “It was Piglet, actually, but you’re right. Those would definitely make good copy, especially an audiobook.”

  A family with five children and optimistic-looking parents emerged from the path from the log cabins. Freddie and Kate exchanged good mornings with them.

  “Off to see the most beautiful farm animal contest,” the dad said, and Kate saluted him with a smile.

  “Always a worthwhile experience,” she encouraged them until they were out of sight. To Freddie, she added, “Once.”

  He looked worriedly after the family. “Not a winner, then?”

  “Let’s just say you find out very quickly that it’s a tongue-in-cheek contest, and while they can make it funny, it just becomes this long demonstration that farm animals are very homely.”

  “That’s too bad. Why not stop them?”

  Kate gave him a shocked look. “And deprive them of the experience? Attending the most beautiful farm animal contest is something to say you’ve done and tell others about. It sounds interesting, and if they do it too, then you have someone else who understands the misery of it.”

  “Like smelling something bad and trying to get someone else to smell it too.”

  “Exactly.” Her heart fluttered. Freddie spoke her language.

  “Good to know,” Freddie said, “good to know. So, what are your plans today?”

  “Me?” She loved that he was interested in more than her performance as Brenda Lee Mitford. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, I have an inn to renovate.”

  “One ceramic pumpkin at a time?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I don’t suppose you could use some more help?”

  Be still, oh fluttering heart! “Depends on who the helpers are.”

  “Well, I was thinking your cousin Dora.”

  “Oh, were you?”

  “And maybe her friend.”

  “Sostenes. Good thinking. Anybody else?” She willed him to say himself.

  “Well, I suppose I might be available.”

  Bingo! “Might you, now?”

  “Perhaps. If the pay is right.”

  “And what pay would you be expecting?” Possibilities toyed at her imagination, and her eyes dropped to his lips. Now that she knew what kissing Freddie was like, she could see herself becoming addicted. It may be too late already.

  “Oh, I’m very expensive.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Positively pricey.”

  Her eyes again tugged to his lips, and she ran her hands slowly over Freddie’s back, enjoying the way he pulled her closer in response. “You don’t say?”

  “Yes. Very sought-after.” He gave her a smirk, the chin dimple protruding.

  She’d always loved a good Cary Grant dimple, and she gav
e it a light kiss. The slight moan he made sent ripples through her. “So humble. I don’t know, maybe I can’t afford you.”

  “Oh, I think we can come up with something.”

  “Can we?”

  “Yes.”

  “That would be nice. Maybe write down your terms and put it in an envelope. I’ll see if I can match it.”

  “Where do I put the envelope?”

  “Right here,” she said, nodding slightly to the flowers, “in with the chrysanthemums and marigolds. I’ll watch for it.”

  “You do that.”

  “I will.”

  Finally, they kissed, and kissed, and kissed, and Kate was floating straight up to heaven ... until someone nearby gave a loud, “Ahem.”

  Forgetting that she was no longer dressed in costume and that this wasn’t a forbidden kiss, Kate jumped back a foot. Freddie must have forgotten too, as he did the same. Dora watched them with a hand on one hip, her work tote in the other. Sostenes watched with interest from a couple of feet behind.

  “Dora,” Kate said, because of course it would be her cousin.

  “Is this how you manage when your parents are out of town, then? Romancing the guests?”

  Kate was too used to Dora’s bossing to let it faze her. “I was just talking to Mr. Prescott about helping me with another project.”

  “I can see that.”

  “I—” Kate began, but she stopped to make a face at Dora. “I’m going to be working on scouring the linen laundry area today.”

  Dora blinked, her face relaxing. “Oh. Well, that is a good idea.”

  “I thought so.”

  “Let us know if you need help. Virgil said there’ve been some early checkouts, so we’re getting a jump on the cleaning. Full house again this weekend, it sounds like.”

  Now this was a conversation she didn’t mind having right now. Kate beamed back and forth between Freddie and Dora. “I know, isn’t it great? No vacancies.”

  “It is. You need to get that author of yours to come more often,” Dora said to Freddie, nodding at Pumpkin. “And the dog, too. The guests ask about them, and I hear things in town. This Love at Home business is putting the Cornucopia back on the map.”

  “So fantastic,” Kate said, wanting to jump up and down. “Maybe ...”

  She didn’t continue. Saying it out loud felt like bad luck, and Kate didn’t want to jinx it. She also didn’t want to get Dora’s hopes up, or give Dora space to say Kate was wasting her time and wouldn’t change her parents’ minds. She wasn’t ready to face that yet.

  “I’ll find you later if we need help,” she told Dora, and she waved as the two women headed toward cabin one. To Freddie, she said, “I’m starving. What do you say to a free breakfast? We have donuts, bagels, more donuts ...” She was trying to make it sound bigger than it was, though he knew well enough by now.

  He shook his head. “How about if I treat you to a real breakfast at the café? Breakfast burrito, omelets, hash browns, or they have this scramble with sweet potatoes, onion, chopped apple ...”

  “Mm, you had me at real breakfast. No, you had me at treat. Scratch that, you had me at this.” She slid her hand up his cheek and into his hair, pulling him down to kiss her again. They might have kissed right through breakfast, too, if a middle-aged couple hadn’t passed by just then, interrupting. Rude.

  “Breakfast?” Freddie whispered.

  A smile that was both disappointed and promising of more kisses to come made her knees weak. She nodded.

  Freddie offered her his arm, she gleefully claimed it, and off they went to the café. Tomorrow, Brenda Lee would be here, and then Freddie would be leaving on Monday. It was in the guest registry, so she had no illusions this was going anywhere. But today, Freddie was Kate’s, and she planned to enjoy every minute of it.

  ***

  Freddie didn’t mind helping around the Cornucopia. In fact, he liked working with his hands and fixing things up, from painting to securing handrails to raking the leaves that had started to fall from the trees. But spending time with Kate sprinkled his whole day with magic. She said she turned every relationship into a disaster, and that she was the most ordinary person around, but she said it with a smile and lightness that told him she was more of a force for good than a disaster. At least, she was a force for good for him. He hadn’t met someone as smart and funny as she was in a long time. Maybe never? Probably never.

  And besides, did she have to be the equivalent of what his parents would think of as a New York “it” girl? Fashion-slave, social-climbing, uber-conscious of connections and appearances? No, and he’d rather she wasn’t. He hadn’t known it until he met Kate, but he just wanted someone who was a good person and fun to be with. So far, that was exactly who Kate was.

  Also, he could check off the “good kisser” box, because she was that, alright. And completely irresistible.

  As they were finishing sorting a bucket of nails and screws, a comfortable quiet settled over them. Comfortable, as they’d been talking all morning about whether trees were emotionally competitive with each other, a topic he’d never known he’d been waiting all his life to have. His brain swelled with all the new ideas floating around, as did his heart.

  “Hey,” Kate said suddenly, standing up, “you know what we need to do? I bought an awning for outside, to go over the front entrance. It’s autumn orange with white stripes, and it will look great above the revolving door. What do you think?”

  “I think we should find containers for these nails and screws first, now that we’ve separated them.”

  “Excellent idea. I’m going to go find Dora and ask her where some containers would be. I’ll be right back.”

  Freddie put down the handful he’d been sorting and rubbed the grime off his hands. “I’ll go with you.”

  Kate looked pleased but wrinkled her nose at him. “Yeah? I don’t know. I might not be very entertaining, walking around the grounds looking for Dora. You might enjoy yourself more staying here and sorting nails.”

  He gave her a mischievous grin. “We’re almost done, and besides, I’ll take my chances.”

  They left their nickel-colored piles and wandered between the cabins, looking for Dora. A thought occurred to Freddie, thinking of a young Kate traversing these paths. “If you grew up here, is this where you played, too?”

  “Mm-hm. Learned to ride a bike all through here. The trick was to do it where there weren’t guests around.”

  “Sounds like the voice of experience.”

  “Unfortunately, yes. I once crashed into a seventy-nine-year-old. Fortunately, he was good at rolling out of a fall, which he didn’t know before I put him to the test.”

  “Very thoughtful of you.” Freddie chuckled.

  “During the winter was the best, though, when the cabins weren’t always full. Then I’d sneak a set of keys and go play house, usually in cabin eight.”

  “Why that one?”

  “Eight’s my favorite number, of course.”

  “How have I known you for a week and not known that?” He ignored the twinge that reminded him how little time he still had with Kate. He wanted to find out everything he could.

  “I even had a secret chocolate stash.”

  “No wonder it was your favorite place. Dairy-free chocolate, I assume?”

  “You are correct, sir. Full disclosure, I did hide chocolate in four or five other cabins as well, just to hedge my bets. You never knew which ones would be vacant.”

  “Of course. Do you still keep a chocolate stash?”

  She narrowed her brow, but a mischievous smile peeked through. “Like I’d tell.”

  Another fact to know about Kate: She hid chocolate. Natural question to follow: Would she share with him? He’d like the experience of sneaking off to a cabin to find it as much as he’d enjoy the chocolate. “So, tell me more about these cabins. Be honest. On which of these porches did you share a goodnight kiss with some lucky Harvest Ranch boy?”

  “All of them.”
Her teasing eyes flicked to his, and he realized his stomach had flipped in surprise. Oh, she knew how to get a reaction from him.

  He could tease back. “And which cabin was McGee’s lucky one?”

  She snorted. “McGee? I never ...” She poker-faced him, realizing she’d taken his bait. “All of them.”

  Freddie threw his head back in laughter. “Oh, poor McGee. He doesn’t even know what he’s missing.”

  He would have kissed her again right there if her cousin hadn’t emerged from one of the red cabins. That woman was everywhere, and her timing stank.

  But Kate had the opposite reaction. “Dora! We need your help. Do you know where I can find some containers to use for nails, maybe this big?” Kate held out her hand.

  Fortunately, Dora did—though she gave Freddie that stern glare again—and it was decided that Dora would go with Freddie and find them while Kate went to the next cabin over to see if Sostenes needed any help with the beds. This was not a disappointing arrangement. In fact, if Freddie were a cartoon villian, he would have rubbed his hands together, plotting. Who that he’d met so far knew Kate better than her cousin? Getting Dora alone could suss out some juicy information about Kate. That would be a double win, as he’d get to know Kate better from another perspective, plus he might learn something he could tease her about.

  “So tell me, Dora,” he said, diving right in as they walked, “what was Kate like as a girl? Into a lot of trouble? Sneak out of the house, steal apples out of the barrels at that market in town, that kind of thing?”

  “Hardly,” Dora said like it was the biggest disappointment of her life and she held a grudge. “Kate was always the perfect one—okay, except for when she went into a cabin she wasn’t supposed to, but she didn’t even do that as often as I did.”

  “And what’s wrong with that? Being perfect, I mean.” Although honestly, it was Kate’s imperfections he enjoyed the most.