I listened to the warbled chorus of the frogs singing their evening songs from the trees. Aside from a short life span, needing to scavenge for your own food, and never having air-conditioning, nature’s creatures had it so easy. “I don’t know that I’ll try again.”
“The Hattie Sutton I know will go back.”
Fine. Miller was right. I’d decided in the car ride back home. But I figured I would change my mind a dozen times before the morning, so my final decision was written in glitter and disappearing ink. “The rodeo runs all week, so there’s a little time.”
“I’ll go with you.”
That had me sitting up. “What?”
“The key to sealing a deal is to know when to work on it solo and when to call in reinforcements.”
“And you’re my reinforcement?”
Miller grinned. “You’re welcome.” He then booped the tip of my nose like he had felt zero, zip, or zing. Like I was his friend’s little sister. “We’ll take the girls. It’ll be their first rodeo.”
“I can do it alone.”
“I know you can.” Miller’s hug was brief, over before it started. “But you don’t have to.” Standing, he suppressed a yawn as he stretched his arms. “The right guy won’t leave you. Your dad taking off was all about him—and was never about you. Same with the so-called men you dated who were too dumb to know what they had.”
I grabbed a pillow, but it was a poor substitute for Miller’s presence beside me. “I know that—in my head. I guess it’s just getting the heart on board that’s the problem.” Not to mention my subconscious, my neocortex, and my prefrontal lobe.
“You’re worth staying for, Hattie.” Miller stood at the edge of my porch like an avenging hero, the wind in his hair and the inky sky his backdrop. “You’re more than worth it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Acloud of confusion and melancholy hung over me two days later.
With all the walls in place or knocked out according to plan, Rosie held another evening painting party at the bookshop Wednesday night. She’d invited every family member and friend, providing a bounty of food in exchange for a few hours of help. The flooring would be installed the next week, and then the store would almost look habitable.
I knew the moment Miller arrived. His girls preceded him, but even without Poppy’s chatty entrance, I would’ve sensed the magnetic presence that ignited my every sense and beckoned me to follow.
Lowering my paint roller, I turned as he stepped inside, a vision in an old t-shirt and running shorts.
“Would you look at that?” Aunt Frannie paused in her waitressing duties, holding a plate of cupcakes in one hand and fanning herself with the other. “If I were twenty years younger…”
“You’d still be robbing the cradle.” Olivia swiped a streak of white paint across the wall. “But we’d let you. Wouldn’t we, Hattie?”
“Sure.” I watched Miller get his nieces plates and help the youngest select some fried chicken and potatoes. I smiled when he insisted she include a few veggies. Poppy only had eyes for Aunt Frannie’s baked goods.
“Somehow, Aunt Frannie, I don’t think Hattie would like you dating Miller,” Olivia said. “My sister can’t take her eyes off of him.”
I abruptly returned my attention to the wall in front of me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, I think Miller is back with his ex-girlfriend.”
“I doubt that,” Frannie said. “Not with the way he watches you.” She wiggled her ringed fingers in a wave in his direction. “Yes, he surely does find you in a room.”
Just as I was about to deny it, Miller left his nieces with my grandmother at the food table and walked in my direction.
Holy heartbreaks, he was a vision. Normally I wasn’t attracted to the overly confident type who left a wake of success behind his every step. Surely one too many broken engagements had short-circuited my brain, temporarily rewiring the motherboard. Because my pulse tripled in tempo, and every inch of my skin flushed as hot as a Deep South July.
“Good evening, ladies.” Miller flashed that smile at Olivia and Frannie before turning to me. “Hattie, I didn’t get a chance to talk to you today at the farm.”
“You two should talk every day,” Frannie said. “Being coworkers and all. Very important.”
“I was busy.” Memories of Miller on my porch a few nights ago scrolled through my mind, and I replayed his parting words for the thousandth time.
“You’re worth staying for, Hattie.”
I had spent the last few nights dreaming of Miller being the one to finally stay. Those were dangerous, unbidden fantasies that had no business occupying space in my head. To counter my all-too-frequent Miller thoughtsandmy need for a wedding date, I had gotten very proactive with the matchmaking apps. Surely even he would approve of my latest match.
