“Sure.” I nodded, then stood with my hands on my hips as I watched them walk away, chattering away.
He hadn’t even kissed me.
* * *
The paradeof animals wearing derby hats went off almost without a hitch. Everything had gone well until a cow wearing an enormous floppy hat with two paper flowers that looked huge, even on such a large animal, flew off the cow’s head during a slight breeze. The owner took off after it while the cow, unperturbed by the event, paused to graze on the park’s grass. The rest of the entries marched past to the whistles and cheers of the crowd.
I had stationed myself with Cheyenne, whose bartenders were busy mixing pitchers of mint juleps for people to purchase. I was keeping a watchful eye out for Hans, who only an hour earlier had winked at me from several yards away while he fished a flask out from an inside pocket of his leather vest and took a sip. He’d held it out toward me with a raised eyebrow, then pointed at the pitcher of drinks in front of me. I shook my finger at him, earning a grin from the old-timer, and I couldn’t help but laugh in return.
From the stage, I watched as Zach was handed the list of best hats winners to announce. To my delight, Iain and Callie won for prettiest hat.
“Let’s hear it for the winners,” he said after he passed out the last award. He was a natural up there, not at all fazed by speaking in front of the crowd. “I’d like to take a minute to thank the town council for this honor of being part of your Derby Day celebration. And I think we all owe a huge round of thanks to Emalee Dawson for all of her effort in making this day a great success. Come on up here, sunshine!”
There was nothing I could do about the blush that crept across my cheeks as I made my way toward the stage among the loud applause and some whistles from Chase and Megan. Zach handed me the microphone, and I gave a quick, impromptu speech acknowledging the rest of the committee and thanked everyone for coming and encouraged them to fill up on the delicious food available.
The rest of the party went on with the pie contests, but the biggest part was over for me. Someone else was in charge of overseeing the pie contests and another for cleanup. Most of my job was done.
Zach escorted me down the platform but didn’t let go of my hand. He pulled me to a less crowded area of the park, then turned to face me.
“You did a great job, sweetheart.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you were able to make it after all, but I’m surprised you didn’t at least let Iain know.”Or me. But then, I hadn’t been very encouraging during our past few phone calls.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said, growing serious.
My stomach rolled and released that butterfly feeling. Nothing good usually ever started with those words.
“I want us to be together.”
My frustration grew. “I want that, too, Zach, but we’ve been over this. Now’s not the time to make too many changes. I don’t want to argue about this again.”
“I don’t want to argue, either. And I heard you when you said you weren’t ready to make those changes. But I am.”
I started to protest, but he rested his finger against my lips.
“I realized something when I was in Charlotte.” He took a deep breath. “Being a surgeon isn’t my dream after all. But being here with you and Iain and living in this crazy town that dresses up animals in hats and elects a bird for mayor? Turns out, that’s my dream.”
I held my breath as his words started to sink in. “But what about your internship? What about a job?”
His hands slid around my waist. “Let’s just say, Doctor Anders is currently searching for another intern.”
I gasped. “Zach. You can’t do that. You’ve worked too hard for it. I can’t ask that of you.”
“Good thing you aren’t asking then, huh? But you were right to ask once why it was so important to me.”
I felt ashamed I’d even asked it. “It doesn’t matter why as long as it’s what you want.”
“But that’s just it. I was chasing it for the wrong reason. I thought it would finally make my father proud of me. But with a little help from Chase’s fist and a fine closing argument from Clay, they helped me realize what I already knew.”
“Chase hit you?”
“It was deserved.”
I laughed. “Well, probably, but still…”
“Can we get back to the point, Sunshine?”
I grinned, sensing a lightheartedness in him I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen, not even when we were younger.
