CHAPTER 14
The screen door slammed behind me, and I struggled to get the bags to the kitchen without dropping anything. I’d picked up the wedding decorations for the patio after my meeting and would likely be up most of the night decorating. Not that it mattered. I wasn’t sleeping anyway, so I might as well be productive.
I lowered the bags to the floor of the kitchen and took a deep breath. I’d been going nonstop all week and was grateful tomorrow was finally the wedding. I would need the weekend to relax before the craziness of next week. With Birgitte’s surgery and my CT scan on Tuesday, I’d lose an entire day of work. This business wasn’t going to get off the ground by itself, not that Mathias seemed overly concerned about it, but I was. Working on these businesses was a defining moment for me. It was my opportunity to prove to myself that I could implement everything I’d learned in school and make these businesses profitable. In the beginning, I wanted them to be successful for Mathias, but the more I worked, the more I realized I wanted them to be successful for me. I’d worked hard to rise above my meager beginnings. Sure, Mathias had helped me over the years, but I would stand on my own feet with these businesses if it was the last thing I did.
I opened the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of lemonade, holding it to my cheek. I popped the lid off the bottle then took a long swallow as I watched the sky grow dark. When I’d left the house this morning, the sun hadn’t been up all that long, and I realized I’d been gone more than fourteen hours. Mathias had texted me a copious amount of times, which was nice, but I found it fascinating. Usually when he texted me during the day, it was to get a contact’s phone number, to see where a document was, or to confirm a meeting time. Today his texts asked how I was doing and when I’d be home. I found the new Mathias confusing, but exciting and a puzzle I liked trying to solve.
There was movement on the patio, and it only took one look to see it was the man himself. I opened the kitchen door and stepped out onto the patio. “Mathias?”
“Hey.” He set down a string of lights and kissed my cheek. “You’re home.”
“Just got here. I have all the decorations in the house. What are you doing out here?”
He motioned toward the patio. “Decorating.” He held up his finger, walked to the house, and flipped the lights off. He fumbled around on the wall for a moment, and then the entire yard lit up in sparkle lights. I gasped, my eyes working to take it all in at once.
“Mattie,” I breathed out, walking off the patio and down the path lit by rope lights. In the middle of the yard was a foldable dance floor, already set up with icicle lights hanging in the trees and rope lights around the base of the floor. “This is stunning. How did you do all this?”
He joined me on the dance floor. “Well, you have been gone all day,” he reminded me, winking. “Wait until you see the rest.”
He took my hand, but I tugged on it to hold him still. “The rest? Mathias, I have all the flowers and decorations that Charity wanted inside the house.”
“I know. All I did for the decorations was the lighting. The rest is kind of double duty.” He tugged me along behind him to the honey shack and opened the door. He flipped on the lights, and I paused, one foot over the threshold.
“Mattie!” I squealed. “What did you do?”
“You keep asking that,” he teased, his hand squeezing mine. “The answer is, I took your plan and completed it.”
I walked in a daze toward the coolers that ran along the back wall. They were stocked with drinks for the reception tomorrow but were also exactly what I had wanted for the honey business. “I can’t believe you got the coolers I wanted.”
“I cheated,” he said, coming up behind me and holding my arms. “I found your notes and followed them to a T.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because you know our business. You have a reason for everything you do, and I would never question it. I just pay for it.”
“I can’t believe I’m witnessing it in the flesh,” I whispered, running my hand over the cooler. “It flows even better than I pictured it would.”
He rested his hand on my waist to steady me. “Maybe you shouldn’t second-guess yourself all the time. You’ve got more creative skill in your pinkie than I have in my entire body.”
My gaze traveled to the last cooler, and I inhaled deeply. “You got the cake already?” I ran to the cooler and peered through the glass. The tiered cake was sitting on separate shelves, waiting to be stacked.
“I called the bakery and asked them to deliver it. It’s one less thing for you to do. The cake decorator said they’d come out tomorrow and put it together if you don’t want to.”
“No, I can do it. It’s gorgeous, don’t you think? Beautiful but understated.”
“Just like you.” He kissed my cheek again, and I hugged him for a moment.
“Smooth, Mathias. I can’t believe how much work this takes off my back. Thank you.”
“I wanted you to enjoy yourself tomorrow.”
“It’s more likely that you didn’t want me to have a seizure in the middle of it.”
His lips quirked up. “It crossed my mind,” he admitted, running a finger down my jaw. “I don’t want you to be stressed, because I know that’s a problem. I also don’t want you to get too hot, so by having the food in the garage, we can keep you cool until it gets dark.”
“The Apple Orchard chef planned easy backyard food,” I said honestly. “I left the details up to them.”
He turned and faced me to the backside of the garage. “I left it up to me.”
