A Pumpkin and a Patch

by Jennifer Peel

“No. I was thinking more along the lines of, kiss me, and see how important you are.”

“I picked the prettiest pumpkin in this patch.”

“Why would you want to be thrown into the blender in order to mix in with the masses, only to get cut by the blades?” Wow. That was a profound thought. “For years, I let others cut me with their words and insults, but I realized it was because they so badly wanted to be

in the mix. When I finally learned it was okay not to be, it changed my life. From then on, I didn’t give a damn about what anyone thought of me.”

know, you’re Andi’s teacher and I’m the rogue pirate,” he said, as if he were proud of the moniker. “But you can’t tell me you don’t feel this thing between us.”

“I don’t want to lose my job.”

GOD YOU QONT GET FIREDX

“Uh, hello, he helped the brothers all day long while the sisters, I’m told, spied on him. Our dads actually had to stop them from following you out into the field with him. My mother already had the other tractor fired up.”

These women jeez

“This is weird.” Jenna held up a fifty-dollar bill. I gave her my attention, even though I was itching to text Reece. He had no idea what his words meant to me. “What’s up?” “There’s a note on this bill. It looks like it’s from someone’s grandparents.” “I wonder why someone would donate that?”

Ahhhhh this iss from the other book

told you it’s scientifically proven that you can learn a lot about a person from kissing. For instance, my observation that you are a passionate

am scared,” I admitted. “I’m not used to my dreams coming true.

“Josie, I’m not offended in the least bit. I would be your pirate any day, if that’s what you want. What do you want?”

“Hands down, it’s The Godfather.” “That is such a guy answer.” “Well, I am a guy.”

“Josie, I’m a one-woman-at-a-time kind of man. And why would I waste my time when I plan to have secret liaisons with you in all my spare moments?”

“I understand that, but sometimes you have to stand up for what you want—for what’s right. Not that I’m asking you to risk your job. I would never do that. I’m just saying it’s okay to push sometimes.”

“Josie, you should always be the first person to stand up for yourself. I’m always happy to play backup for you, but the first step to getting out of the blender is to see your worth—and to realize you’re worth fighting for.”

“Josie.” He gently grabbed my arm, begging me to look at him. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’re the only person who is letting that story define you.”

Tis the season,” she quipped. “Fall-a-la-la-la,” I sang. “I see what you did there. Clever.” “I try to be. How was your day?” I was stalling going in. “Busy, but good.” “Are you still trying to solve the case of the fifty-dollar bill?” “Maybe,” she said mysteriously. “Do you need some help?” “No,” she was quick to say, almost as if she were hiding something. “Are you sure?”

“That’s tough, but I think you owe it to that girl to find her. She turned out to be a fantastic woman.”

“You know, I don’t think that was because of Pride and Prejudice. Did you see all those women tonight? You’re a hot ticket item.” I tried not to sound jealous. He squeezed my hand. “What other women? All I saw was you.”

“I don’t know how this day ends, but what I can promise you is that falling with you will be the thrill of a lifetime, and I will swim with you until you make it safely to the shore.

Did I ever. I sighed. I could hardly believe I was Reece Cavanaugh’s girlfriend. Yes, we’d had the define-the-relationship talk already. Don’t judge. We were jumping off cliffs together.

“Your timing is impeccable; I just threw away all the takeout containers and placed the food on my own dishes.” She laughed. She was my kind of woman—it made me like her even more. I

“It was. I promised myself and Reece we would take our tragedies and make them triumphs here. I had just received my associate’s degree and gotten what I considered my first real job as an assistant occupational therapist.”

You turned your tragedy into a triumph, not just for you, but for dozens of children and their parents. I hope you realize that.”

“But”—he nipped my earlobe—“you are the most intoxicating and gorgeous pumpkin in the patch.”

Blehhhh

That just goes to show that you should never compare your life to the one people portray, especially online. We all have our personal demons. Some are just better at hiding theirs.

Perioddddd

“This is why I like you. You’re real. I’ve wanted real for a long time now.” “I might be too real.” “No. You’re perfect. I mean that.”

“My mom,” I moaned. “I love her. I really do, but it’s like she can’t let go of what she thinks happened all those years ago. It makes it hard for me to let go. I get it, her generation has some weird hang-ups about sex that they inherited from their parents. For them it was taboo, even sinful. Not to say our generation has it all right. We’ve gone from one extreme to another. I just want her to meet me in the middle. She freaks out if my nephew uses anatomically correct words to name all the body parts. I can’t fathom why. It can be dangerous not to, and it makes it seem like we should be ashamed of our bodies,”

“You undo me, Josie Peterson. It is your finest quality.”

“Believe me, darlin’, if I were younger and this ring wasn’t around my finger, I’d hog-tie that man and show him some southern hospitality.” Great, now I was going to have to get that image out of my head. “Well,

If her haughty expression was any indication, Nicolette seemed unfazed. How could she not understand the pain she was causing her child?

looked Nicolette square in the eyes and said, “I needed new material for the sequel.”

“You knew the rules, Ms. Peterson. Why would you deliberately break them?”

WHAT RULE?????

moving on?” “She’s your daughter’s teacher,” Mr. Nelson gritted out. “Yes, she is. And who did my daughter run to today when she felt scared? She ran straight to Ms. Peterson, because she knows Ms. Peterson loves her and will keep her safe. You’re willing to let go of your best teacher because her biggest crime is that she’s consensually dating a parent? How does that make any sense?”

“You want to go for a ride, cowgirl?” Reece drawled.

“Josie,” Reece said my name so beautifully, “I think you should know I’m falling in love with you.”

Triumphs, not tragedies. Andi. Me. The pirate girl.

“They mess with you, they mess with all of us.” Aline sounded

“Let’s see: I probably had over a hundred phone calls from past and present parents, threatening to pull their kids and funding if I even thought about firing you. Then two women called saying they were organizing a protest and they had local news station connections.”

“You know, I was really looking forward to seeing you in that tight skirt tonight,” he groaned in my ear. “I thought we could play out the boss/secretary fantasy. I would play the part of secretary, of course.”

just want you to know that if you want to write a sequel, you have my blessing. I probably won’t read it, but you should do what makes you happy. You’re a talented woman.”

“Thank you, Reece.” “For what?” “Believing in me. Helping me to love the pirate girl.” “That was easy. That girl was always you.”