Joe held his hands up in defense. “Darlin’, this isn’t the first time her mother’s filed a report on her, and it’s not even the third. I looked over the previous instances with the deputy who took her call. She always turns up.”

“Oh.”

“She’s also got a bit of a criminal record, nothing dangerous. Shoplifting. Solicitation.”

“Solicitation?”

“She was arrested this summer and again a month ago, but the charges were dropped.” He rubbed my arm. “Still, I understand you wanting to help your friend. It’s one of the things I love about you.”

I worried that Joe was about to venture into dangerous territory, so I took a step back. “Thanks for the clarification. Now don’t we have some business to take care of?”

He looked relieved that I was going to let the whole Dolly Parton thing drop. “You wait here, and I’ll go get the paperwork. I was worried about you when I saw you sitting in your truck like that, so I left it in the car.”

I wandered into the retail space. There were more boxes than before. I found myself wondering what ideas Joe had cooked up.

After a moment, he came back inside and set a file on the shop counter. “I looked over all the paperwork. Everything looks to be in order. But since you wanted several specific clauses included, I thought we should be together when we signed it so there are no hurt feelings later.”

“Okay.” I moved next to him. “But are you sure you don’t want to let an attorney—” I stopped as I realized what I was saying. “Sorry. I keep forgetting you went to law school yourself.”

“I never fit the attorney mold. I found it too suffocating.” He cringed when I stiffened. “Rose, I wasn’t trying to insult Mason. Honest, that’s just how I always envisioned it.”

I relaxed. “Yeah, I have trouble seeing you as a lawyer.”

“I told you before that I only went to law school to appease my father.” He clicked his pen, getting ready to sign. “I’ve always wondered how different my life would have been if I’d stood up to him even then.”

The thought made me sad—not just for him, but for me. “When’s he gonna make you run for office again?” I asked softly. We both knew it wasn’t a matter of if, but when.

“I don’t know.”

He sounded wary, and I decided not to push it. We both knew he didn’t want to run, but he couldn’t turn his father down. J.R. Simmons would make me pay if he tried.

“I heard Hilary moved to Henryetta.” I still had a hard time picturing her living in such a small town, especially one as backward as ours.

He released a heavy sigh. “I didn’t ask her to do it, but it might make things easier in the long run.”

“But she’s not living with you out at the house next to my farm?” I asked, sounding more defensive than I’d intended.

He held up his hands in protest. “I know how it looks—”

Tears burned my eyes. “I don’t want to fight with you anymore, Joe. Every time we’re ugly to each other, it takes what we had together and makes it seem pointless.” I looked up at him. “But it wasn’t pointless. What we had was wonderful. You gave me so much to be grateful for. Even so, our relationship is over now.”

He studied me for several seconds, then swallowed. “I’m not moving out by you to start anything. The house is older and needs some work. Add onto that the fact that the banker’s body was found on the property, and no one else wants to live there now. The owner’s letting me rent the house for next to nothing in exchange for fixing it up.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked, incredulous. “You can afford anything you want.”

He shrugged. “Believe it or not, I like to fix up old things. It’s a solid house that needs some attention, and it’s something to fill my time.”

I didn’t respond.

“Look, it’s taken a while for me to accept that you’re really not mine. And while I’m not happy about it, I have to respect your decision.” His face softened. “I don’t want to fight with you either. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I don’t want to live without you. If I can only have you as a friend, then so be it. It’s better than not having you in my life at all.”

I smiled up at him, resisting the urge to hug him. “I’m happy to hear that.”

He studied my face for several seconds before giving his attention to the stack of papers on the counter. “And what’s more, our effort to get along will be advantageous to the business.”

We started to go through the papers, Joe reading all of it aloud, asking me if I had any questions when we hit a section containing a lot of legalese.

“Mason’s already gone over most of this with me, Joe. If you need to get back to work . . .”

“No,” he insisted. “This is important.”

After we read the entire document and signed and initialed everything, Joe broke out into a smile, looking happier than I’d seen him in months.

“Joe Simmons, business partner.” His grin broadened. “I like it.”

“Well, Joe Simmons, business partner,” I nudged his arm with mine, “tell me about your grand plans.”

For the next ten minutes, he told me about his ideas for the expansion and inventory, most of which had serious potential. I told him so, but then said, “I don’t want to sink more money into the nursery until it gets going in the spring. We don’t know what kind of fallout Violet’s indiscretion will have on the business, not to mention other things . . . The fact that the whole lot of us are steeped in controversy and scandal won’t help matters.”