She shook her head and lowered her voice. “She’s just now feeling well enough to start. She interviewed at one place but when they heard why she’d had to give up this last job, I think it scared them. Nothing like worrying about a new employee having to take off extensive time for sick leave, you know?” She sighed. “She’s stressed and not in a position to deal with this right now. So if I can get a second job for a while, it’ll take some of the pressure off her.”
“What about you?”
“I can handle it.” Chrissy’s spine straightened, and she lifted her chin as though daring him to contradict her.
He had no doubt she could, but at what cost? “I’ve watched my dad work himself to death all my life, Chrissy. I’d wake up in the morning, and he’d have been at work for hours. I would hear him come home again long after I went to bed. And it was rare to have a weekend when he was home even for part of it. He’ll deny it to his dying day, but it’s taken a toll on his health. On our family.” He rested a hand on her arm for a brief moment. “I don’t want to see you entering that kind of lifestyle.”
“What other choice do I have?” Her whisper was fierce, and unshed tears made her eyes glisten.
This was as good of a time as any. Wyatt took in a long breath before releasing it slowly. “So I’ve thought about this all day. At first, I was going to offer to give you some money to help, and I knew you’d turn me down flat.” She raised her brows and gave him a look that more than verified that hunch. “Then I thought I’d offer to loan you the money, but knew you’d say no to that, too.”
“Okay…” Chrissy looked confused. “Where are you going with this?”
“Gran desperately wants you to come to the family reunion.”
One corner of her mouth lifted in a half smile. “I know. She sent me an invitation herself.”
Now it was Wyatt’s turn to be surprised. Wow, Gran had a lot of nerve. “I didn’t realize that.” He paused. “Well, I thought maybe we could take our arrangement for the birthday party and extend it. What if you go as my date to the reunion, and I pay you for your trouble?” He told her the amount he had in mind, and Chrissy started to stand up.
Wyatt reached for her hand and held it in his, encouraging her to stay. “Hopefully it’ll be enough to keep you guys going until Emma can find another job. You won’t have to work your fingers to the bone, and it’ll make Gran happy. Not to mention get her off both of our backs.” When Chrissy tossed him a curious look, he elaborated. “On Sunday, she tried to persuade me to get you to the reunion one way or the other.” He shrugged. “She’s a hard woman to say no to.”
“I get that about your Gran. Trust me. But I’m not taking your money. I’m definitely not taking that much money.” She ran her fingers through a small section of her hair, apparently only then wondering about her appearance. Her cheeks turned pink, and she took the clip out, shaking her head to try to get her hair to fall into place. Several strands caught on the earring of her left ear.
Wyatt carefully used a finger to sweep them away, then lingered near her ear just a moment longer than he needed to.
Chrissy blinked at him. “Your Gran may want me there. I’m pretty sure Violet would do about anything to make sure I’m not. The way I see it, the votes cancel each other out.”
“I thought you’d turn down the money. So I have a plan B. What about a job for Emma? At the country club, I mean. There are several openings, and I think Emma would be perfect for one of them.” Chrissy looked stunned. “I’d love for her to drop by anytime next week and apply if she’s interested.”
Her mouth opened slightly before closing it again. “So you want me to go to your family reunion in exchange for getting Emma a job?”
Ugh, he was completely making a mess out of all of this. “Let me start over.” He paused for a moment. “There are several job openings at the country club, and I immediately thought about Emma. The schedules are super flexible, and the boss happens to know the situation so wouldn’t mind if she needs to take some time off for health reasons.” He smiled, but Chrissy didn’t return it. “The job opportunity has nothing to do with the family reunion.”
“You’re serious.”
“I am.” He bumped her knee with his. “And if a certain sister of hers insists on finding a second job, I’m pretty sure there’s one that requires weekends only.” Wyatt would rather she didn’t get a second job, but if she was going to be stubborn about it, at least she wouldn’t be working nights, too.
His comment earned him a small smile.
“I’ll let Emma know. Thank you, Wyatt.”
“You’re welcome.” Wyatt couldn’t get over the way her smile went right to her brown eyes, bringing out gold specks of color. “As for the reunion, what happens if I cast my vote for you to come along?”
“I…I…” She wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them closer to her chest. “I have to work on Friday.”
“You can go home and change, I’ll pick you up there, and we can drive over afterward.” He tried not to hold out too much hope that she might agree to go. “You get off work at four, right? Corpus Christi is just three hours away. We could get something to eat from a drive-through and be there before it gets dark.”
“Your family doesn’t need me crashing the reunion.” Chrissy got up and brushed her shorts off.
Wyatt followed suit, reached out, and cupped her elbow. “You realize you’re not crashing if you come as my date, right?”
“I couldn’t do that. It’s way too last minute.”
“Trust me when I say there are plenty of rooms at the resort my parents have reserved. There are always way more than we need, but they buy the place out for the long weekend anyway.” Her hesitation had his heart racing in panic. He’d enjoyed spending time with her over the last couple of weeks. Despite his own hang-ups about relationships, he’d been convinced there was something between them. Maybe it was all just an illusion. See, and this was exactly why he’d avoided this type of situation in the first place.
“Wyatt?”
“Yeah?” He tried to act casual as she seemed to search his face.
“If it means that much to your Gran, maybe I could drive up for the day or something to say hello.”
Wyatt smiled when he realized she’d completely misunderstood him. A breeze came through and blew some hair across her lips. She brushed it away, but he couldn’t take his focus from her mouth as she gently drew her lip in beneath her top front teeth.
“I don’t want you to go for Gran. Or to tick my sister off, although that would be a bonus.” He reached for her hand and held it gently in his. “I want you to come as my date because I’d enjoy spending some more time with you.”
“I don’t know…” Chrissy’s eyes went to their joined hands. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to go away for that long. What if something happens here?”
“Then we will drop everything and drive back.” He threaded their fingers together. “It’ll be fun. Or at least an adventure. What do you say?” This was either the start of something amazing, or he was just setting himself up for disappointment and regret. He wasn’t sure if he was more hopeful or nervous as he waited for her answer.
A tentative smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “I’ve always wanted to see the ocean.”
