hair.
Now that the apples were in full blossom, the kids would have to be out of the way when the honey girls came to check the beehives at the orchard today. Liv had worked out a deal with her friends, Allie and Josie. They had placed their colorful boxes of honeybee hives there for half the price, in return for Liv letting them keep the apple blossom honey to sell at their business, Sticky and Sweet. Finances were tight, and Allie and Josie were angels for doing this since they could pretty much get apple honey from any of the orchards in the territory.
“Okay, we need to leave in ten minutes.” Liv ate hurriedly, as if not sitting for breakfast made her more efficient. Her elbow knocked into the framed photograph of her brother at boot camp, and she quickly backtracked and adjusted the frame before Momma caught it out of place. Momma mostly decorated her home with pictures of the family. Her children were her pride and joy, though they all missed Grey. The last time they’d seen Liv’s brother was when he’d returned home after his honorable release from the Navy Seals last year. He’d been so eager to find his next adventure, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he went back on the road a month later. What Liv would do to have her big brother here to help her take care of things.
Her boys rushed through their meal, and she washed off the ketchup from Pip’s nose and cheeks… and hands. Goodness! She’d hide the ketchup next time she was in a hurry. Replacing Pip’s shirt with a black one, she headed for the door, calling to Charles on her way out. “Mimi is waiting. Let’s go!” Her son ran through the living room with his football. Liv held up a hand. “Oh no, baby, you’re not taking that into Mimi’s soap shop. You know what she said last time.”
His face fell. “But can’t we take it to the park later?”
Hmm, she supposed they could, especially after seeing that pleading expression. “Fine, if you leave it in the car.” She pushed open the door into a day painted blue with a perfect sky and overrun by singing birds and buzzing bees. Spring was her favorite time of year at the orchard with the pink apple blossoms glistening under the sun in full bloom. Liv ushered the boys into her father’s ancient 1975 Chevy Convertible, making sure they had their seatbelts on for their thirty-minute drive into town.
She slid into the front seat and sighed. Taking on this extra job was a headache. This country star had better bring her some good pictures to make all this trouble worth it.
Chapter Three
Ninety days in rehab. Ninety days to detox. Ninety days to form new habits. Ninety days to take a good hard look at himself and figure out why. What had made River get into drugs and alcohol in the first place? He’d wanted a good time, to laugh, to feel good… so why couldn’t he do that without doing what everyone else was doing? He’d somehow fooled the world into believing he was confident in who he was… even his own sister, who should’ve known him better than anyone else. To be fair, he hadn’t known what he was either. Now he just felt lost.
A young family rushed past him in the park, holding shovels for the cleanup. The youngest raised her tiny hand to wave and he smiled in return. Her mother did a double take and stiffened, before hurrying past. He bit down a self-effacing grin. Getting over a checkered past was a little harder when everyone knew his face. Social media made every town small.
Quite honestly, River could’ve used ninety more days. Nothing against Harvest Ranch. On the whole, people were friendly here. The committee members were a cheerful bunch, welcoming him with hardy handshakes. There was just something about fame that he’d identified in his support groups that triggered his need to fall back on his addictions. He’d simply stopped doing things for the joy of them, but to be seen. It was hard to explain, but his experiences, his stories, the moments of his life no longer belonged to him and to those closest to him, but to his audience. In the end, after he’d chased away anyone who actually cared about him, the validation he got from everyone else became a poor replacement for love.
He guessed his songs