Stirred: A Love Story Read Free

woke up early and put in the work, were important. They worked as hard as Garrett did, sometimes harder, and it was part of his job to make sure they always knew they were valued. When he’d taken over most of the operational responsibilities, his father had told him, “People need to feel they are a part of something more than a paycheck.”
    George and Angela lived with their teenage daughter on the farm. Their house used to be Garrett’s grandparents’, before the main house, where his father lived now, was built. Ryeland Farms was barely shy of fifty-five acres complete with three barns, the newly converted offices, a four-bay garage, an orchard, beehives, and a large pond with ducks. The main house was where they were all raised and where Garrett had lived until he was about twenty-five. That was when he moved out to the house he’d designed and helped build toward the edge of the property, near the apple trees. His house was small, but it was uniquely suited to him, and it felt like home. Growing up, Logan and Kenna had left for lives of their own, still connected, but away from the farm. Garrett had always known he would work with his dad and eventually take over. He loved what he did, but there was a sense of blending into the background that he’d only recently started to notice. He’d become a fixture, like Gracie the goat. He coexisted with the image of their childhood, Ryeland Farms, as a whole. He didn’t cook like his brother or have a child like his sister. Both of them ran something separate from their shared past, and Garrett had stayed behind.
    As they thumbed through the last of the pictures, Garrett wondered if his life would always be this way. Would he spend every Christmas Eve with George or his family and their spouses and children? If that’s how it was all meant to play out, he was happy with that. It was all he needed. Garrett would always take “same old, same old” over disruption and uncertainty. The last time he’d been uncertain, he was nine. He’d gone to school one morning and returned to a very different life. Since that day, after the initial “what now?” moment, Garrett had created a solid foundation for his family, steeped in hard work, chores, and keeping things steady. They counted on it, or at least they did growing up.
    Walking George to his office and then greeting the sales guys waiting for him by the front door, Garrett knew his family wasn’t going anywhere. Both his brother and sister were getting married, but that didn’t mean anything needed to change. He and his father ran the farm, and that would always be. By the time he closed the conference room door, he’d answered his own wonderings—yes, his life would always be exactly as it was.

Chapter Two
    “W ait, is that the actual name of the book?” Kenna asked that morning while she and Sage were rolling silverware and sharing holiday stories.
    Sage nodded, and Kenna took the Kindle out of Sage’s purse. After flipping through a few pages, she snorted a laugh. “Wow. Well, according to this, I need to work on my naughty too.”
    “It is pretty. . . comprehensive. Hollis always loves to challenge.”
    “Huh, well, this isn’t you. I’m sure you’ll have a good laugh with your sister and then you can delete that thing right—”
    “I’ve read the first three chapters, so I think I’ll try out step one and maybe two at the New Year’s Eve party on Friday.”
    Kenna looked like she might laugh again but instead furrowed her brow and continued flipping pages. “Step one, let’s see here. Are you referring to the Dress Like You Were Just—” Now came the laughter. “Holy hell, Sage. Do you even know what that looks like? I mean, I’m not saying you’re a prude, because you’re not. Except when you wear that one corduroy skirt and those Catholic schoolgirl-looking shoes, because no one will ever get laid in that outfit. But other than that, you’re middle of the road, right? Not