Chapter 1 – The Produce Stand
It was a scorching summer day in Georgia. One that was all too familiar with Jack Thornton.
He grew up working on a farm with his mom and dad. His dad taught him all he knew about farming.
Until that late night when his dad went to work.
Sadly, his dad was killed in the line of duty that night. A drunk driver side-swiped his patrol car and he was killed instantly.
Jack removed his cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from his brow.
He glanced up at the sky, noting there were no clouds in sight.
"Another hot one," Jack mumbled under his breath as he took a seat on the tailgate of his old Chevy pickup truck.
The truck had been a gift from his parents when he graduated high school. Nothing fancy, just an old Chevy single cab truck with a wooden bed and a rusty old tailgate.
People came and went at the produce stand on the side of the road for hours.
Come lunchtime, Jack decided to pull out his lunch and take a much-needed break.
He sat down under the shade by a tree and pulled out a bag of pork rinds, a turkey and cheese sandwich and a jug of sweet tea.
Just as he was finishing up his lunch, he happened to look down the dirt road at a red convertible speeding leaving a cloud of dust behind its path.
"Who in the…" he said as he stood up and dusted off his jeans.
He looked on as the convertible got closer and stopped right beside of his pickup.
The cloud of dust trailed in about ten seconds later, making Jack fan the air in front of him to see who was driving this nice of a car.
The dust finally settled and he was awestruck at the driver.
Moments before…
Driving down the interstate with the top down, the driver decided to turn off at the next exit to get something to eat. Her stomach wouldn't stop growling.
"Alright…let's see what this town has to offer in terms of food," Elizabeth spoke as she stopped at the stop sign off the interstate.
She kept driving before she realized that she was completely lost.
"Great! Now, what do I do?" Elizabeth thought as she kept driving around the small town.
She decided to keep driving, only to be frustrated soon afterward because of all the dust.
"Ugh… my skin is going to be dried out with this heat and dust. What kind of town doesn't have paved roads?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes and turned down another dirt road, unsure of where this one led.
This road led down a long dirt road running beside a cow pasture with wooden fences.
A few moments later, Elizabeth scrunched her eyes together and looked ahead.
"Finally! There's someone ahead. I can ask them for directions."
Elizabeth pulled up beside the old truck that was parked by the side of the dirt road.
Dust overtook both of them as soon as she parked.
She pulled her sunglasses off and looked over at the person standing beside the truck that she had seen minutes before.
She was completely captivated when she saw him.