slow cooker of stew on the counter, and they were both adults. They could make their own supper, and she would eat when she got back.
When she reached the water, she kicked off her flip-flops and waded out into the cool water until it came up to the edge of her cut-off denim shorts. She was deep in thought about her grandmother when a big splash startled her so badly that she whipped around to see what was going on. Tex was swimming toward her, and Jackson was taking off his shoes at the edge of the creek. She took a couple of steps, and then her foot landed on a slippery rock and she lost her balance. On instinct, she sucked in a lungful of air just before the water covered her face, and then she came up sputtering. Jackson was right beside her, a big grin on his face and laughter in his blue eyes.
“I haven’t seen you here in a whole week. I thought you were mad at me,” he said.
She pushed her wet hair out of her face. “I’ve been here every evening.”
“But did you get in the water or just sit on the bank?” Jackson swam over to the falls and climbed up to the top.
She followed him and sat down beside him. “I swam, but I wore a bathing suit, not my clothes.”
“Well, it couldn’t be any cuter than what you’re wearing now,” he said.
“If that’s your best pickup line, it’s no wonder you’re still a bachelor,” she told him.
“It’s not a pickup line,” he protested, “it’s the truth. Why didn’t you wear your bathing suit tonight?”
“I didn’t plan on swimming. I was just coming to the falls to think for a while,” she said. “I cleaned out the hall closet today. I always thought my grandmother was perfect. That’s why I’m here.”
“Because Miz Lucy was perfect?” Jackson asked. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, darlin’, but nobody on this earth is perfect.”
“Don’t I know it,” she sighed. “Did you ever think that someone was?”
“Yep. I always thought Uncle D. J. was the greatest man on earth, but I found out different when I moved in with him,” Jackson answered. “He had his faults, and so did Miz Lucy.”
“I’m finding that out. When the court settled the issue of the will, I just knew I could find it—whatever it is—here in Blossom, because this is where I was happiest when I was a little girl. I’m beginning to think that whatever it is, it’s just an elusive dream anyway.”
Jackson nodded. “I feel you, but I’m five years ahead of you. I haven’t found ‘it’”—he put air quotes around the last word—“but I’m content, and I keep hoping that it, whatever it is, will find me if I sit still long enough. I read once that happiness, or it—whatever you want to call it—isn’t a destination, it’s the journey. What makes you think you won’t find it here in Blossom?”
“Finding out that Nanny Lucy wasn’t perfect has really, really burst my bubble. How can I find what I’m looking for when all these years I was wrong about this place?” she asked.
“Maybe fate brought you here because this is where you will begin the journey to happiness,” Jackson said. “Most days I’m happy to make my furniture, go to the craft fairs, have a beer after work and a swim when it’s warm weather, but there’s still an ache down deep inside my heart that screams at me that there is something more than this,” Jackson said. “Then I feel guilty for not being satisfied with what I have and the peace that it brings me.”
“Yep,” she agreed, and then she dived into the water, swam out to the edge of the creek, and sat down on the grass beside Tex.
“Are you running from me?” Jackson teased before he did a perfect swan dive into the deep water.
Nessa couldn’t very well tell him that she was attracted to him and that just sitting beside him jacked her hormones into overdrive, especially when she thought about that kiss they’d shared. Or that she wondered if he had something to do with whatever she needed to be happy.
“Nope,” she answered.
He got out of the water, tossed his towel toward her, and said, “Use this to dry your hair. Did you ever miss not having siblings?”
“Oh, yeah, I did.” She soaked up most of the water from her thick, red hair and then handed the towel back to