The crowd applauds, and I blink.
Collin crosses the stage and shakes Sheriff McDermit’s hand.
Thank goodness. We’re done.
“Well, I think our boy did well, don’t you?”
I turn to where Bev is looking at me with a warm smile on her face. I return it. “I think so too.”
Dirk slings his arm around his wife’s shoulders. Collin and his dad are so similar, and yet they’re so different. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about Dirk, but something about him rubs me the wrong way.
“You’ve got to stop calling him ‘your boy,’ Bevvy. The man’s got to stand on his own two feet. He’s getting married soon.” Dirk winks at me when Bev starts gushing about the courthouse ceremony we have planned.
I hate that Collin’s dad knows about the wool we’re pulling over everyone’s eyes, but Collin’s mom doesn’t. It feels icky to me. Like it should be all or nothing.
Collin has finished up his goodbyes and is making his way toward us. My shoulders relax. But when I notice the way he’s isolated me with his stare and his eyes hold a depth of emotionI can’t begin to chronicle, I feel my body tense again, though not in a bad way.
“Hey, beautiful,” Collin greets me, planting a chaste kiss on my cheek.
Key wordchaste.He barely touches me. And yet my traitorous nervous system kicks into overdrive, and my entire body is buzzing. It’s like an electrical current zipped from my cheek to every one of my nerve endings. There’s no reason for that reaction, but I can’t deny that I’m having it and that I’m enjoying it. Also, calling mebeautiful?
Yeah, a girl could get behind that.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says.
I nod.
He turns toward his parents. Dirk is staring at us, and I immediately straighten my spine. Something about his glare makes me want to be on my best behavior. I can’t tell if he’s sizing me up to see if I’m worthy of his son or what. I don’t know why he would care. He knows this isn’t permanent.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Collin says.
“We wouldn’t have missed it.” Bev beams at Collin, and he steps forward and wraps her in a hug. My heart squeezes. It’s easy to see how much Collin loves his mom, and how much she adores him in return.
When he releases his mom, Collin’s dad stabs him with a look. “Good work, son. We’ll get a time on the calendar to talk about areas for improvement and what you can say in some of the written interviews that are on the horizon.”
Collin stiffens, and I kind of want to punch his dad.
Bev loops her arm through Dirk’s and tugs him along. “What your father means to say is he’s proud of you, Collin. We’ll see you both soon.”
Dirk shakes Collin’s hand and nods to me before the couple walks toward the auditorium exit. Collin watches them go, and there’s a wistful expression on his face.
I’m about to ask about it, but then he blinks, and it disappears. “Shall we?”
I take his hand, and he leads me outside. Poppy dropped me off so I could leave with Collin. If you would have told me at the start of the year that I’d be looking forward to spending time with him, I would have laughed in your face, but I feel almost giddy as I settle into his passenger seat.
“So, is Lloyd McDermit always such a tool?” I ask when he takes his place behind the wheel.
Collin puts his car in drive and blows out a breath. “I’m sorry about him.”
I wave him off, not wanting my insecurities to show. It doesn’t matter how I feel. “It was obviously a political move. Anyone who’s paying attention has to see that.”
“That’s what I think too.” Collin nods. “Though I’m afraid my dad and my campaign team will say I should have challenged him harder.”
“Is mudslinging about personal affairs really a good look?”
“Not to me.”
I’m inordinately proud that Collin took the high road. It shouldn’t matter that much to me, but it does. I’m going to be joined to this man for the foreseeable future. It’s good to know we’re on the same page about things like this.
