Page 7 of You Fall First

“I see what you did there.” She beats the dirt off the back of her sundress. “A couple of Woody fans in costume, huh? That’s real commitment.”

“He’s the one with the actual costume.” I straighten to my full height, wrangling Dutton over to me so he won’t run away again. “I happened to have a cowboy hat and the boots.”

“Good sport,” she says.

“My sister, Paige, brought him here a couple of days ago, and they played the movies nonstop. She left yesterday, and I’m watching Du—I mean Woody—until she gets back. We’re cowboys today. Tomorrow’s Buzz Lightyear.”

“Wow.” She peers up at me. “You happen to have a Buzz costume lying around?”

“Not exactly,” I chuckle. “I may have to bow out of being a space ranger.”

“So.” She shifts her gaze to address Dutton. “Guess you’ll have to hold down the galaxy on your own, sir.”

He nods up at her solemnly, and I scour my brain for the few memories I have of the night we met. “You’re Jojo, right?”

“Just Jo works,” she says, lifting her chin again.

“Just Jo it is,” I say. “I’m Noah.”

“Oh, I know.” Her blue eyes roam my face. “You’re friends with my brother. We met at Bridger’s party.”

I bob my head, suddenly tongue-tied.

“My nephew and my niece are over there.” She juts her chin toward a group of kids circled around a bunch of pigs and rabbits. “They’re the ones in the green shirts.” A farm employee hovers over them, monitoring the kids and animals. “Woody is welcome to join in,” she says. “If he wants to. And if that’s okay with you, Uncle Noah.”

“Yes!” Dutton hollers.

I squint down at him. “Yes, please?”

“PLEASE!” he hoots.

“Then all right, go on.”

The truth is, until Paige gets back, I’ll agree to just about anything to make Dutton happy. And he’ll be safer sitting with rabbits than running around with me chasing after him. He scampers over and plops down into the circle just in time for a baby pig to crawl into his lap. I peek at Jo, who’s watching the whole thing. A bright grin spreads across her face.

There go those dimples again.

Seriously. How did I not notice those the first time we met? I’m a red-blooded man with a beating heart, and Jo Michaels is beautiful.

Then I remember.

The phone call with my sister that day had been extra rough. Unlike me, Paige stayed in our hometown even after we lost our parents. She’d been trying to make things work, renting her own place, doing everything for Dutton. But the bills kept piling up, and she kept refusing my help.

So yeah, I was distracted that night, worried about the two people I love most, a thousand miles away in the Adirondacks. A whole different set of mountains from here.

“Harvest Hollow isn’t that big,” Jo says, breaking the silence. “I’m surprised I haven’t run into you since the party.”

“Work keeps me pretty busy,” I say, scraping my boot in the dirt.

“Havenwood, right? Physical therapy?”

“Yes.” Man. The woman pays attention. “I’m the PT and OT director there. You know how it is. Never enough hours in the day.”

She huffs a laugh. “I’ve been in a bit of a professional desert myself. And by that I mean I’m fully unemployed. But I’ve got a new job lined up. Not as big as yours, but still.”

“Good for you.” I tip my hat. “Doing what?”

“I’ll be a server at Tequila Mockingbird. You ever go there?”