The crowd dispersed with surprising speed—modern people with their short attention spans—and their party continued strolling down the street toward their cars. Anne glanced over her shoulder for one last look at the shoot, but her eyes widened when she recognized the man settling down on the director’s chair. He was the ridiculously handsome man from the winery.
“Huh. A director.” She turned back to the road with a bemused smile. “What a small world.”
“What was that?” Frederick ducked his head toward her, and his crisp, woodsy scent enveloped her. He smelled like autumn.
“What was what?” she whispered, her heart beating too fast.
He quirked an eyebrow. “I thought you said something about a small world.”
“Oh, it was nothing.” She meant it. Frederick’s nearness chased away any lingering thoughts of the other man.
Anne had fallen behind from the rest of the wedding party, but Frederick had stayed at her side. A tender strand of hope sprouted in her chest. Hope had to be the most tenacious of emotions. It just kept popping up like weeds after a rain. A part of her wanted to stomp on it and save herself the disappointment, but another, stubborner part of her wanted to cup it between her hands and nurture it until it blossomed.
“Nothing, huh?” Frederick squinted his eyes at her for a second, then let it go with a shrug.Good.Because nothing mattered except him in this moment.
“Why did you linger at the bakery?” Anne gave him a teasing smile, determined to cherish every second with him. “Did you scarf down another slice of pie for the road?”
“I did get more pie…” She couldn’t be sure with the setting sun, but Frederick’s cheeks seemed ruddy as he rummaged inside his jacket. She heard that crinkling sound again, and he pulled out a small gift bag. He handed it to her with a definite blush. “Here. For you.”
“What is it?” She took the bag from him and opened it with eager, fumbling fingers. She gasped. It was a pie-shaped refrigerator magnet. “Oh my gosh. This is adorable.”
“Yours is apple pie.” He withdrew something from his jeans pocket and held it out to her with a boyish smile—shy, pleased, and unsure. “And mine is olallieberry pie.”
Her heart broke into a thousand pieces, then knit back together into a frantic, pounding knot.This man.Even when they were together, he rarely showed this sweet, tender side of himself. But every time he’d shown her a glimpse of it, she had hoarded the memory away like a treasure.
And seeing it again tonight—being at the receiving end of something so precious after ten years of heartbreak—made everything crystal clear to her.I want him to be mine. Ineedhim to be mine. Because I’m already his. I always have been.
“Thank you.” Anne wanted to sob, but she smiled instead. “I love it.”
“I’m glad.” He cleared his throat, staring ahead. “It’s nice to be, uh, friends.”
“Yes… friends.” The word stabbed her throat like she was swallowing a porcupine. A vicious, miniature porcupine. She never knew how much she hated porcupines. Then she felt awful because she was a horrible person who hated porcupines. And just like that, the crystal clarity from the moment before shattered into dust—clouding everything even more. “It’s very nice.”
By the time she and Frederick caught up with them, everyone stood next to Bethany’s car, laughing and chatting about how much fun they’d had in Cambria. Anne felt that flush of pride again.
“There you are, Frederick.” Bethany smiled brightly. “We were waiting for you. Tessa and I bought glass bottles for our moonstones. One for Anne, too. I figured we should lighten your load now so you don’t have to drive back to Bosque Verde with rocks in your jacket.”
Anne gasped and rushed to take the glass bottle Tessa held out to her. She’d forgotten all about the stones. She felt awful for making Frederick walk around with their cumbersome weight all day.
“I’m so sorry.” Without thinking, she buried her hand in hispocket to relieve him of his burden, but he reached inside at the same time. She sucked in a sharp breath when his hand wrapped around hers. Thoroughly flustered, she tried to withdraw her hand with a fistful of rocks, but her hand got stuck. “Oh my God. Sorry.”
“Breathe, Anne.” Frederick squeezed her hand and lowered his head to meet her panicked eyes with his calm ones. “It’s fine. Just let go of the rocks.”
When she dropped the rocks and relaxed her hand, they were both able to withdraw their hands from his pocket. Tessa snort-laughed, and Bethany scowled and elbowed her. Anne wanted to sink into the ground. Frederick gestured for her to hand over her bottle, unfazed by her moment of fluster. He knew her too well.
“No, that’s okay. I can—” she began, not wanting to inconvenience him further.
“Anne.” He held out his hand with a half-amused, half-exasperated smile. A familiar expression he wore often when they were together. He’d always been good at coaxing her to lean on him. “Give me the bottle, please.”
“What good is a friend if you can’t have him carry some pebbles in his pockets for you?” Katie gently pried the glass from Anne’s hand and passed it on to Frederick. “And it certainly isn’t a big deal for him to pour them into a glass bottle for you.”
“Not at all.” Coraline wrapped an arm around Anne’s shoulders. Then she and Katie led her a few steps away. “I didn’t realize it when we were younger, but you always try to do everything on your own.”
“It’s okay to accept help sometimes,” Bethany added as she and Tessa joined their small circle for the impromptu intervention.
Anne bit her lip and glanced at Frederick, but he was well-occupied. The men had gathered around him as he transferred moonstones to the glass bottles, offering unhelpful commentaryon how best to accomplish the simple task. In other words, they were being men.
“I’m not sure about the other stuff, but you don’t need to apologize so profusely over some moonstones,” Tessa added, then glanced at their cousins with a small frown. “Does she really try to do everything on her own?”
