The Bunkhouse Season

Mindi never left Mission Creek.

She stayed when other people moved on. She learned the rhythms of the farm by heart—corn mazes in the fall, the petting patch on weekends, the same judgmental pig watching everything with quiet disapproval. She fits this place. The land knows her. The routines steady her. This life makes sense.

Jace is the one who comes and goes.

Every season, he finds his way back to the bunkhouse like it’s neutral ground—a place where the past can’t quite catch him. He helps where he’s needed, keeps his distance, pretends he’s just another pair of hands passing through. But the truth has always been simpler, and harder: he never really left. He just never stayed.

This year, the distance doesn’t hold.

As the corn maze goes up, the cider starts flowing, and the patch fills with families and laughter, the quiet between Mindi and Jace grows heavier. She isn’t waiting anymore. She belongs here, fully and without apology. And she’s done making space for someone who won’t choose her out loud.

Set among golden fields, late sunsets, farm chores, and a pig who seems to know exactly what’s going on, The Bunkhouse Season is a cozy, emotionally charged romance about roots, return, and the difference between loving a place—and loving a person enough to stay.

Some people find home.

Some people come back to it.

When they stirred again, it was close to 10 a.m.

Given the all-night rain, the emotionally loaded maze escapade, and the sheer effort of untangling five years of longing, confusion, and wildly misfired timing, it felt right to stay in bed. No rush. Just warmth, quiet breathing, and a slow-dawning peace neither of them had felt in years.

Outside, the storm had passed. Inside, the bunkhouse glowed dim and cozy.

Then came the unmistakable stutter-step of waddling hooves on the porch.

“Oh God,” Mindi groaned, flopping face-down into the pillow. “Why am I always naked when your sister shows up?”

The door creaked open.

Pug Pug the Pig burst in, snorting like a creature possessed. He thundered over to the bed, his entire round body radiating smug satisfaction. With a victorious oink, he threw himself dramatically down at Jace’s side of the bed, giving them a look that clearly said: About damn time.

Jace laughed, pulling the blanket up higher around Mindi as Jackie followed right behind, boots squeaking on the wet wood.

And then Tip appeared, stopping cold in the doorway. “Whoa! Okay! Sorry! Didn’t knock! I’ll, uh… stand here. Eyes closed. Definitely closed.”

Jackie, unfazed, crossed her arms and leaned on the doorframe.

“Well. I see we’re naked again,” Jackie announced flatly. “Do you two ever do anything besides screw these days? Like… eat food? Or talk? Or exist as fully clothed members of society?”

Mindi curled tighter against Jace’s chest, eyes still closed, grinning. “Defend my honor, please. Your sister is mean.”

Jace gave her a kiss on the forehead, still chuckling. “Jackie, please. My lady is delicate.”

Jackie snorted. “Your lady is a feral sex machine.”

Mindi didn’t even deny it. “True. But I’m your best friend.”

“Whatever,” Jackie said, but she was smiling. “Pug approves, by the way. He’s been emotionally unstable since you left him with Tip and me last night.”

Pug let out a low, theatrical grunt, squeal, letting the room know of his emotional state.

Tip, still covering his eyes, whispered, “I can feel the judgment in this room. I’m just going to be outside.” Tip sidesteps through the door, closing it gently.

Jackie flopped into the old rocking chair with the dramatic weight of someone exhausted by other people’s emotional arcs.

“Really?” she said, waving a hand at them. “Would you like to join us here on planet Earth?

Jace quipped, “We were having a moment.”

Mindi rolled over, still entirely under the blanket, dragging Jace’s arm tight around her like a body pillow. “Multiple moments,” she said with a giggle.

Jackie rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful. “Okay. Can we have an actual conversation now? Please? I’m not putting you”, she pointed at Mindi, “back together again if this explodes, and I am not covering for you”, she aimed at Jace, “if you disappear for another season like a country boy on a reverse migration pattern.”

Jace pushed himself up onto an elbow. “Jackie, I think Mindi and I, “

“What?” she interrupted with a smirk. “Were you about to say you’re going to ‘figure it out on your own’? Really? That’s… actually kind of cute. You two couldn’t work yourselves out of a wet paper bag without at least three miscommunications and one dramatic misunderstanding.”

Mindi poked her head out from under the blanket. “She’s… kinda got a point,” she said, laughing.

Jackie stood, pacing a bit now. “You two are so enraptured with, well, screwing, running off together, staring into each other’s eyes like it’s a CW show finale, you haven’t actually figured out what happens next, have you?”

She paused. They exchanged a glance.

“You had all day. And night. To talk. And what were you doing? Probably running around naked, making love under a full moon like characters in a barn romance novel.”

Jace blinked. Mindi bit her lip.

Jackie stared. “No. Come on. Don’t tell me, really?”

They both started laughing.

Jackie groaned, spinning toward Tip. “I made that up, I was being sarcastic! It was the most ridiculous thing I could think of! What was it, the petting zoo? The pumpkin patch?”

Jace, suddenly uncomfortable, tried to signal Mindi to stay quiet. “No, Mindi, “

“The corn maze,” Mindi said cheerfully. “It was… a thing.”

Jace let his head flop back on the pillow with a theatrical groan. “Guh. That one’s going to haunt me.”

Jackie raised a hand dramatically, ready to launch a monologue, but then stopped, tilted her head. “Corn maze… Center clearing, right? During the storm?”

Mindi smiled. “Mmmhmm.”

Jackie squinted, then slowly nodded. “Okay… I can see it. That’s kind of cinematic, honestly.”

Jace rubbed his eyes. “What kind of dysfunctional Dr. Ruth therapy is this?”

Jace rolled over again. “We were talking. Maybe you were leaving?”

Excerpt from “The Bunkhouse Season”