Call it fate, p.14
Call it Fate, page 14
“Yeah, it was really good, Mom.”
“Thank you both, but Iain, how many times have I told you to not talk with your mouth full?” I scolded.
Iain chewed faster and made a show of swallowing hard.
Chuckling, I told him, “That’s better. Now, help clear the table, please.”
“But I had to clean this morning!”
I gave him the stink eye, and even though he rolled his head, he wisely kept his mouth shut. I didn’t think I asked too much of him to help around the house. I’d seen enough spoiled kids come and go from vacations with their parents, and I didn’t want mine to behave the same way.
Zach stood and grabbed some dishes.
“You’ve already helped so much. You don’t need to—”
His hand rested on my arm. “I’ll help,” he answered quietly.
I froze. He was so close I could smell his clean and outdoorsy scent mixed with something a bit spicy. It was the scent I’d fallen asleep to as I cuddled against him years ago. Even after all these years, it was familiar, comforting.
The moment was broken when he told Iain, “Come on, bud. When someone cooks for us, we help clean up.”
It sounded like such a fatherly thing to say. I paused for a minute. That was something I would need to get used to. Or would I? What involvement did Zach want? Sure, he appeared interested now. But everything was new and easy. What would happen when it got hard?
Between the three of us, dinner was cleaned up quickly. Iain asked if we could watch a movie. He curled up between Zach and me on the couch. Halfway through, the day’s adventures caught up with Iain, and he fell sound asleep.
“Guess playing outside wore him out, huh?”
“It was a big day.”
Zach’s face was uncertain. “Do you need to wake him up? I could carry him for you if you don’t want to.”
“He should brush his teeth, but I guess one missed night won’t hurt.”
Zach stood and carefully lifted Iain into his arms like he weighed nothing. It had been years since I’d been able to do that with any ease. He stood still, holding his son, staring at him with a look of incredulity on his face.
I had to blink several times to clear my eyes, but when I glanced again at Zach, I saw his eyes were also wet. I cleared my throat and crooked my finger for him to follow me. He gently deposited Iain on the bed and took his shoes off, then covered him with his blanket. Our son immediately rolled to his side, still sound asleep.
I pressed a kiss to the top of his head, then stood in the doorway as Zach paused at the side of his bed, doing nothing more than staring at him before he also bent and pressed a kiss to his head.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly when we returned to the living room.
He turned his head to me, and I saw the wet trail on his cheeks. “He’s wonderful, Emalee. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on such an incredible son all this time.”
I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, Zach.”
“Shh. I know we have a lot of things to figure out, but one thing you need to do is stop apologizing. We can’t go back and change things, so let’s take one day at a time now, okay?”
He made it sound so simple, but then, maybe I was making it too hard. “Okay.”
Zach stood with his hands tucked into his pockets, staring at the pictures of Iain and the rest of my family. Usually, at this time, I showed him the door, but tonight, I hesitated.
He must have picked up on my change of behavior. “It’s funny, you know.”
“What is?”
“When I first arrived, I couldn’t wait to get out of here. Now, I don’t want to ever leave.” He turned to me with a lopsided grin. “The past few days have been the absolute best.”
“I’m glad you had fun. It’s not always like that, you know,” I teased. “Sometimes, he can be a little terror, especially on days he can’t go outside and run off some of his energy.”
His expression grew serious. “I want it all, Em. The hard times as well as the fun ones. Please don’t make me beg for them.”
“Zach, I wouldn’t do that.”
“We have to tell him. Soon. It’s going to be weird if I keep coming around when I’m not staying here.”
My body locked. It wasn’t like I wasn’t expecting him to say it, but I was just getting used to things the way they were, and now, he wanted to change them again. “I know we do, but I’m not sure how.”
“I find honesty really is the best policy. I think he can handle it, depending on how we handle it. If we’re calm, he’ll be. If we’re upset, he’ll sense that, too.”
“That makes sense.”
“As for honesty, there’s something else you should know.”
I froze once again, my brain automatically imagining all the things he could say to shatter my world. He had a girlfriend? He wanted custody? He wanted Iain to live with him?
“What’s that?” I asked in a raspy voice.
He took enough steps to stop right in front of me. He cupped my neck, his thumbs running back and forth along my jaw. “Iain isn’t the only one I want to spend time with.”
Butterflies, long since asleep, awoke and stretched their wings in my stomach—and a little further south. When I looked into his eyes, they were peering back with an intensity that made me catch my breath.
This time, I couldn’t resist as his lips brushed against mine, so softly I almost couldn’t be sure it happened, then with more firmness and certainty. But there was no pressure for more, but still had me wanting it to linger.
As he pulled his lips from mine as slowly as he’d placed them there, we stared into each other’s eyes, gold meeting green, searching for what was and what might be.
His hands fell away. “It’s too soon, I know.” He took a step back but never took his eyes from mine. “But you and me? We’re not done, either. And I’m going to prove that to you.”
Chapter 20
Emalee
* * *
Teagan carried a pitcher of sangria to the table and put it next to the platter of tapas I’d made. It had been too long since I’d seen my friends, and I really needed them to help me sort out everything that had happened.
“Girl, those smell delicious,” Teagan said as she poured the drink into the glasses I already had laid out. “If I could cook like you, I’d be as big as a house. I don’t know how you stay so slim.”
I laughed at one of my closest friends. “Try keeping up with the inn along with an active six-year-old. It’s as good as any exercise class.”
She poured herself a drink and toasted me as an acknowledgment. “You’re amazing.”
I shook my head. “We all do what we have to.”
Megan burst into the room with Cameron right on her heels. All of us practically gaped at Cam’s state of dress. My cousin was practically a fashionista, always dressed more like she worked at a high-end law firm instead of a construction company. But she seldom left the office for the work sites. Instead, she managed the design packages and the business itself. Tonight, however, she was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt under a flannel jacket, and work boots. Even so, she still had her makeup artfully done and her hair pulled back in a perfect French braid.
Megan put down her tray of desserts, her specialty, while Cam plopped down a box of chocolate.
“Sorry,” Cam panted. “I didn’t have time to do any better. My damn lead foreman quit last week and took a couple of my guys with him to work on a big government project in Nashville. I guess they pay more, I don’t know. So, in the meantime, I’m trying to oversee the projects myself until I can find someone new.”
“Where’s the loyalty?” Teagan asked.
“Right?” She took a long sip of her drink and fell back on the couch next to me.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I put an ad in newspapers all over Tennessee and North Carolina. Hopefully, someone decent applies. I had a guy call me today, and he kept asking for Cameron. I kept assuring him that was me, but he said he was looking for a man, not some woman.”
We stared at her with big eyes. “I hope you hung up on him.” Megan scowled.
“I didn’t have to. He hung up first.”
“Then he wasn’t the right one for the job,” I said.
I knew how hard Cam had worked to keep Sterling Construction going after she inherited it from her grandfather. She’d double majored in Interior Architecture and Interior Design so she could add a new dimension to the company.
She’d worked alongside him for several years before he was killed, along with his wife, brother-in-law, and several other church members when their bus rolled down an embankment coming home from a seniors’ trip with their church. It had shaken our community horribly.
As a result, Cam had inherited her grandfather’s construction business, and Chase had inherited their great uncle’s farm. Bristol had inherited their big country house. But she was having too much fun traveling the racing circuit with her dad and hadn’t come home for years. I was still hoping that someday she would, but the longer it went, the more I had a feeling she’d sell it. But for some reason, she hadn’t pulled that trigger yet.
“No, he wasn’t, but I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t find someone qualified soon. I’ve had to temporarily promote one of the guys on the crew, but honestly, he’s not ready for these big projects.”
I leaned over and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry you’re having a rough day. Hopefully, you can forget about it for a while tonight.”
I closed the living room pocket doors after making sure the sign that said Private Party was on the outside.
“Okay, let’s eat and drink!” I called.
We piled up our plates and settled in on the couches and chairs. When I’d picked the furniture for this room, it wasn’t only the guests I had in mind. I wanted a place where my friends could come over and where I could host since my home was too small.
The rest of us chatted about how our work was going and shared a few things about our families, all while killing off the large pitcher of sangria. Cam wasted no time opening one of the bottles of wine I’d put out and poured herself a large glass. My poor cousin. She was such a hard worker but never too busy to help others, same as her twin. I hoped she’d find the help she needed soon.
“So,” Megan began, a sly look on her face as she glanced at me. “There’s a new vet in town.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Teagan said, sitting straight up with an almost dreamy look on her face. “Have you seen him? I’m the one who put together his rental contract and met him to give him the keys. He’s moving in this weekend, and let me tell you,” she used her napkin to pretend to fan herself, “he’s incredibly hot and single.” At Cam’s arched eyebrow, she shrugged. “I asked.”
“Oh, he’s a handsome one, all right. I saw him a couple of days ago,” Megan answered. She tipped her wine glass in my direction. “Ask our girl here about him. She knows all about him.”
“Megs, hush,” I scolded.
She widened her eyes with an innocent smile. “Why? Am I wrong?”
Cam looked confused. “What am I missing?” She turned to me. “Are you dating someone? That’s wonderful, honey.”
Megan looked at the rest of the girls while I studiously avoided their eyes and chewed on my lower lip. “Dating, dated… she knows him. And I do mean in the biblical way.”
Teagan choked on her wine and grabbed for a napkin. “What? How? He just got to town.”
“Em?” I looked over at Cam, who was staring back with a concerned expression in her brown eyes.
“It’s Zach. He’s here.”
“What? You’re kidding!” I winced as Cam put her glass down so hard, I was almost surprised the wine stem didn’t snap. “Honey, are you okay? When? How did this happen? Does he know?”
Teagan looked on with a confused face. “Okay, now I think I’m missing something. Do you guys know the new doc?”
I took a deep breath. “He’s Iain’s dad.”
Teagan’s mouth dropped open. “Holy shit. You’re kiddin’! You know, I kept thinkin’ there was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it. Now, I get it. Iain is the spittin’ image of him.” Her drawl was more pronounced with her surprise—and maybe the wine.
I took a slug of my drink. “What were the odds, right? After being unable to find him, he suddenly shows up here? Crazy.”
“Or maybe fate? You guys have a second chance,” Megan said with a dreamy look.
“Wait,” Cam said. “How do you feel about all this? Does Iain know? What was Zach’s explanation? We’re pouring a concrete slab tomorrow if you need me to bury a body.” When my eyes popped out at her, she grinned. “Just sayin’.”
I shook my head. “No need to commit any crimes. Once he got over the shock and we finally talked, he’s been very forgiving. More than, actually. Turns out there was a lot of misunderstanding.”
Cam frowned. “Not sure what there is to misunderstand when you see your man’s tongue in another woman’s mouth. Or how he conveniently disappeared weeks later.”
“What?” Teagan exclaimed. “Why are all the cute ones jerks?”
“But he’s not,” I inserted. I filled them in on the details of what really happened. “We’re figuring things out about Iain, that’s all.”
“Does this mean you’re going to get back together?” Teagan asked.
“No. This is about trying to work things out for Iain’s sake.”
“You’re still attracted to him, though, right?”
“I mean, I still think he’s good looking, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to pick up where we left off. Too much water has passed over the dam. We’re just trying to be friends.”
Megan pointed her finger at me. “You’re lying.”
“What? No, I’m not.”
Megan jabbed a finger at my face. “Right there. You bite your lips whenever you fib.”
I looked at her like she was crazy. “How do you know? I’m an honest person. I’m just hungry, and those chocolates look good,” I defended hotly, then stuffed one of the candies in my mouth for good measure.
“No, not like you’re hungry. You do this thing where you pull your lower lip into your mouth and bite down. You remember that time when I asked if you liked Aaron? You totally said you did, but you were doing that thing and then said ‘yes.’ But later, I overheard you in the girls’ bathroom telling Cheyenne that you thought he was a jerk, and I could do better.”
“I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
She went on like I hadn’t spoken. “And then there was the time when your mom almost caught us trying to sneak some wine, and you bit your lip, then told her we were just looking for soda.”
“She’s right!” Cam said. “I remember when she was spending the night once and our grandparents came home early. She made her lip bleed when they asked how the living room lamp got broken, and she said the cat jumped on it so Bristol wouldn’t get into more trouble.”
“That was different!”
“And then there are all the times when Iain asks you if you ever found that kazoo he won at the strawberry festival. You know, the one you hid behind the extra glasses on a top shelf in the kitchen? And all those times you forgot to do the tooth fairy thing and told him he was sleeping right on top of the tooth, so she didn’t want to disturb him? You always bite your lip, even with him.”
“Okay!” I shouted. “Fine. You’ve proven your point. I lie. Everyone lies. But I’m only trying not to hurt someone else’s feelings.”
“That’s wonderful, Em. But admit it, you’re lying to protect yourself now by saying you don’t want something with Zach.” Megan smiled with satisfaction as if she’d just presented the final piece of evidence to a jury.
My friends fell silent as the fire hissed and popped, much like the emotions that warred within me. “I can’t deny I’m still attracted to him. And I’m pretty sure he feels the same way,” I finally said. “But,” I hurried to add before they cheered, “it’s too soon. We still have too much to work through, and even then, I’m not sure we can find our way to the other side. There are too many complications. Attraction just isn’t enough.”
“But maybe you can start with that and build it into something more. Isn’t that the way most relationships work? Maybe it will work this time.”
Teagan nodded at Megan. “She’s got a point.”
Cam put her arm around me. “Well, nothing has to be decided for now. I say take your time, and see where it goes. No need to tackle the hard questions before you need to.”
She was right. I thought about her words as she guided the conversation away from me and on to other things. Pretty soon, we were all laughing until it grew late. The girls helped me clean up, and then they headed for the front door.
“So, wait a minute. Let me get something straight.” Teagan hesitated in the front foyer and faced me. “You did that mouth bitey thing when I made that vegan cake, but you never said anything.”
“Oh, honey,” Megan said, patting her arm. “That time was real. She was trying not to choke.”
We all burst into laughter, even Teagan.
Chapter 21
Emalee
* * *
“Chase! Can we go feed the goats now?”
“Iain, wait until everyone at the table is done eating,” I admonished.
But Chase winked at him. “I gotta finish filling my belly first so I have the energy to take you out on the ATV later.”
“All right!” Iain gave a fist pump. “I wish Zach was here so he could go, too.”
Chase and Cameron raised their eyebrows simultaneously. But whereas Cam’s expression was more speculative, Chase’s eyes narrowed, and his mouth flattened.
“Zach?” he ground out.
I gave him a subtle shake of my head, not wanting him to say anything in front of Iain.
“Hey, Iain, while you wait for me, how ‘bout you go check on Tabby in the mudroom? She had her kittens last week.”
“Thank you both, but Iain, how many times have I told you to not talk with your mouth full?” I scolded.
Iain chewed faster and made a show of swallowing hard.
Chuckling, I told him, “That’s better. Now, help clear the table, please.”
“But I had to clean this morning!”
I gave him the stink eye, and even though he rolled his head, he wisely kept his mouth shut. I didn’t think I asked too much of him to help around the house. I’d seen enough spoiled kids come and go from vacations with their parents, and I didn’t want mine to behave the same way.
Zach stood and grabbed some dishes.
“You’ve already helped so much. You don’t need to—”
His hand rested on my arm. “I’ll help,” he answered quietly.
I froze. He was so close I could smell his clean and outdoorsy scent mixed with something a bit spicy. It was the scent I’d fallen asleep to as I cuddled against him years ago. Even after all these years, it was familiar, comforting.
The moment was broken when he told Iain, “Come on, bud. When someone cooks for us, we help clean up.”
It sounded like such a fatherly thing to say. I paused for a minute. That was something I would need to get used to. Or would I? What involvement did Zach want? Sure, he appeared interested now. But everything was new and easy. What would happen when it got hard?
Between the three of us, dinner was cleaned up quickly. Iain asked if we could watch a movie. He curled up between Zach and me on the couch. Halfway through, the day’s adventures caught up with Iain, and he fell sound asleep.
“Guess playing outside wore him out, huh?”
“It was a big day.”
Zach’s face was uncertain. “Do you need to wake him up? I could carry him for you if you don’t want to.”
“He should brush his teeth, but I guess one missed night won’t hurt.”
Zach stood and carefully lifted Iain into his arms like he weighed nothing. It had been years since I’d been able to do that with any ease. He stood still, holding his son, staring at him with a look of incredulity on his face.
I had to blink several times to clear my eyes, but when I glanced again at Zach, I saw his eyes were also wet. I cleared my throat and crooked my finger for him to follow me. He gently deposited Iain on the bed and took his shoes off, then covered him with his blanket. Our son immediately rolled to his side, still sound asleep.
I pressed a kiss to the top of his head, then stood in the doorway as Zach paused at the side of his bed, doing nothing more than staring at him before he also bent and pressed a kiss to his head.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly when we returned to the living room.
He turned his head to me, and I saw the wet trail on his cheeks. “He’s wonderful, Emalee. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on such an incredible son all this time.”
I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, Zach.”
“Shh. I know we have a lot of things to figure out, but one thing you need to do is stop apologizing. We can’t go back and change things, so let’s take one day at a time now, okay?”
He made it sound so simple, but then, maybe I was making it too hard. “Okay.”
Zach stood with his hands tucked into his pockets, staring at the pictures of Iain and the rest of my family. Usually, at this time, I showed him the door, but tonight, I hesitated.
He must have picked up on my change of behavior. “It’s funny, you know.”
“What is?”
“When I first arrived, I couldn’t wait to get out of here. Now, I don’t want to ever leave.” He turned to me with a lopsided grin. “The past few days have been the absolute best.”
“I’m glad you had fun. It’s not always like that, you know,” I teased. “Sometimes, he can be a little terror, especially on days he can’t go outside and run off some of his energy.”
His expression grew serious. “I want it all, Em. The hard times as well as the fun ones. Please don’t make me beg for them.”
“Zach, I wouldn’t do that.”
“We have to tell him. Soon. It’s going to be weird if I keep coming around when I’m not staying here.”
My body locked. It wasn’t like I wasn’t expecting him to say it, but I was just getting used to things the way they were, and now, he wanted to change them again. “I know we do, but I’m not sure how.”
“I find honesty really is the best policy. I think he can handle it, depending on how we handle it. If we’re calm, he’ll be. If we’re upset, he’ll sense that, too.”
“That makes sense.”
“As for honesty, there’s something else you should know.”
I froze once again, my brain automatically imagining all the things he could say to shatter my world. He had a girlfriend? He wanted custody? He wanted Iain to live with him?
“What’s that?” I asked in a raspy voice.
He took enough steps to stop right in front of me. He cupped my neck, his thumbs running back and forth along my jaw. “Iain isn’t the only one I want to spend time with.”
Butterflies, long since asleep, awoke and stretched their wings in my stomach—and a little further south. When I looked into his eyes, they were peering back with an intensity that made me catch my breath.
This time, I couldn’t resist as his lips brushed against mine, so softly I almost couldn’t be sure it happened, then with more firmness and certainty. But there was no pressure for more, but still had me wanting it to linger.
As he pulled his lips from mine as slowly as he’d placed them there, we stared into each other’s eyes, gold meeting green, searching for what was and what might be.
His hands fell away. “It’s too soon, I know.” He took a step back but never took his eyes from mine. “But you and me? We’re not done, either. And I’m going to prove that to you.”
Chapter 20
Emalee
* * *
Teagan carried a pitcher of sangria to the table and put it next to the platter of tapas I’d made. It had been too long since I’d seen my friends, and I really needed them to help me sort out everything that had happened.
“Girl, those smell delicious,” Teagan said as she poured the drink into the glasses I already had laid out. “If I could cook like you, I’d be as big as a house. I don’t know how you stay so slim.”
I laughed at one of my closest friends. “Try keeping up with the inn along with an active six-year-old. It’s as good as any exercise class.”
She poured herself a drink and toasted me as an acknowledgment. “You’re amazing.”
I shook my head. “We all do what we have to.”
Megan burst into the room with Cameron right on her heels. All of us practically gaped at Cam’s state of dress. My cousin was practically a fashionista, always dressed more like she worked at a high-end law firm instead of a construction company. But she seldom left the office for the work sites. Instead, she managed the design packages and the business itself. Tonight, however, she was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt under a flannel jacket, and work boots. Even so, she still had her makeup artfully done and her hair pulled back in a perfect French braid.
Megan put down her tray of desserts, her specialty, while Cam plopped down a box of chocolate.
“Sorry,” Cam panted. “I didn’t have time to do any better. My damn lead foreman quit last week and took a couple of my guys with him to work on a big government project in Nashville. I guess they pay more, I don’t know. So, in the meantime, I’m trying to oversee the projects myself until I can find someone new.”
“Where’s the loyalty?” Teagan asked.
“Right?” She took a long sip of her drink and fell back on the couch next to me.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I put an ad in newspapers all over Tennessee and North Carolina. Hopefully, someone decent applies. I had a guy call me today, and he kept asking for Cameron. I kept assuring him that was me, but he said he was looking for a man, not some woman.”
We stared at her with big eyes. “I hope you hung up on him.” Megan scowled.
“I didn’t have to. He hung up first.”
“Then he wasn’t the right one for the job,” I said.
I knew how hard Cam had worked to keep Sterling Construction going after she inherited it from her grandfather. She’d double majored in Interior Architecture and Interior Design so she could add a new dimension to the company.
She’d worked alongside him for several years before he was killed, along with his wife, brother-in-law, and several other church members when their bus rolled down an embankment coming home from a seniors’ trip with their church. It had shaken our community horribly.
As a result, Cam had inherited her grandfather’s construction business, and Chase had inherited their great uncle’s farm. Bristol had inherited their big country house. But she was having too much fun traveling the racing circuit with her dad and hadn’t come home for years. I was still hoping that someday she would, but the longer it went, the more I had a feeling she’d sell it. But for some reason, she hadn’t pulled that trigger yet.
“No, he wasn’t, but I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t find someone qualified soon. I’ve had to temporarily promote one of the guys on the crew, but honestly, he’s not ready for these big projects.”
I leaned over and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry you’re having a rough day. Hopefully, you can forget about it for a while tonight.”
I closed the living room pocket doors after making sure the sign that said Private Party was on the outside.
“Okay, let’s eat and drink!” I called.
We piled up our plates and settled in on the couches and chairs. When I’d picked the furniture for this room, it wasn’t only the guests I had in mind. I wanted a place where my friends could come over and where I could host since my home was too small.
The rest of us chatted about how our work was going and shared a few things about our families, all while killing off the large pitcher of sangria. Cam wasted no time opening one of the bottles of wine I’d put out and poured herself a large glass. My poor cousin. She was such a hard worker but never too busy to help others, same as her twin. I hoped she’d find the help she needed soon.
“So,” Megan began, a sly look on her face as she glanced at me. “There’s a new vet in town.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Teagan said, sitting straight up with an almost dreamy look on her face. “Have you seen him? I’m the one who put together his rental contract and met him to give him the keys. He’s moving in this weekend, and let me tell you,” she used her napkin to pretend to fan herself, “he’s incredibly hot and single.” At Cam’s arched eyebrow, she shrugged. “I asked.”
“Oh, he’s a handsome one, all right. I saw him a couple of days ago,” Megan answered. She tipped her wine glass in my direction. “Ask our girl here about him. She knows all about him.”
“Megs, hush,” I scolded.
She widened her eyes with an innocent smile. “Why? Am I wrong?”
Cam looked confused. “What am I missing?” She turned to me. “Are you dating someone? That’s wonderful, honey.”
Megan looked at the rest of the girls while I studiously avoided their eyes and chewed on my lower lip. “Dating, dated… she knows him. And I do mean in the biblical way.”
Teagan choked on her wine and grabbed for a napkin. “What? How? He just got to town.”
“Em?” I looked over at Cam, who was staring back with a concerned expression in her brown eyes.
“It’s Zach. He’s here.”
“What? You’re kidding!” I winced as Cam put her glass down so hard, I was almost surprised the wine stem didn’t snap. “Honey, are you okay? When? How did this happen? Does he know?”
Teagan looked on with a confused face. “Okay, now I think I’m missing something. Do you guys know the new doc?”
I took a deep breath. “He’s Iain’s dad.”
Teagan’s mouth dropped open. “Holy shit. You’re kiddin’! You know, I kept thinkin’ there was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it. Now, I get it. Iain is the spittin’ image of him.” Her drawl was more pronounced with her surprise—and maybe the wine.
I took a slug of my drink. “What were the odds, right? After being unable to find him, he suddenly shows up here? Crazy.”
“Or maybe fate? You guys have a second chance,” Megan said with a dreamy look.
“Wait,” Cam said. “How do you feel about all this? Does Iain know? What was Zach’s explanation? We’re pouring a concrete slab tomorrow if you need me to bury a body.” When my eyes popped out at her, she grinned. “Just sayin’.”
I shook my head. “No need to commit any crimes. Once he got over the shock and we finally talked, he’s been very forgiving. More than, actually. Turns out there was a lot of misunderstanding.”
Cam frowned. “Not sure what there is to misunderstand when you see your man’s tongue in another woman’s mouth. Or how he conveniently disappeared weeks later.”
“What?” Teagan exclaimed. “Why are all the cute ones jerks?”
“But he’s not,” I inserted. I filled them in on the details of what really happened. “We’re figuring things out about Iain, that’s all.”
“Does this mean you’re going to get back together?” Teagan asked.
“No. This is about trying to work things out for Iain’s sake.”
“You’re still attracted to him, though, right?”
“I mean, I still think he’s good looking, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to pick up where we left off. Too much water has passed over the dam. We’re just trying to be friends.”
Megan pointed her finger at me. “You’re lying.”
“What? No, I’m not.”
Megan jabbed a finger at my face. “Right there. You bite your lips whenever you fib.”
I looked at her like she was crazy. “How do you know? I’m an honest person. I’m just hungry, and those chocolates look good,” I defended hotly, then stuffed one of the candies in my mouth for good measure.
“No, not like you’re hungry. You do this thing where you pull your lower lip into your mouth and bite down. You remember that time when I asked if you liked Aaron? You totally said you did, but you were doing that thing and then said ‘yes.’ But later, I overheard you in the girls’ bathroom telling Cheyenne that you thought he was a jerk, and I could do better.”
“I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
She went on like I hadn’t spoken. “And then there was the time when your mom almost caught us trying to sneak some wine, and you bit your lip, then told her we were just looking for soda.”
“She’s right!” Cam said. “I remember when she was spending the night once and our grandparents came home early. She made her lip bleed when they asked how the living room lamp got broken, and she said the cat jumped on it so Bristol wouldn’t get into more trouble.”
“That was different!”
“And then there are all the times when Iain asks you if you ever found that kazoo he won at the strawberry festival. You know, the one you hid behind the extra glasses on a top shelf in the kitchen? And all those times you forgot to do the tooth fairy thing and told him he was sleeping right on top of the tooth, so she didn’t want to disturb him? You always bite your lip, even with him.”
“Okay!” I shouted. “Fine. You’ve proven your point. I lie. Everyone lies. But I’m only trying not to hurt someone else’s feelings.”
“That’s wonderful, Em. But admit it, you’re lying to protect yourself now by saying you don’t want something with Zach.” Megan smiled with satisfaction as if she’d just presented the final piece of evidence to a jury.
My friends fell silent as the fire hissed and popped, much like the emotions that warred within me. “I can’t deny I’m still attracted to him. And I’m pretty sure he feels the same way,” I finally said. “But,” I hurried to add before they cheered, “it’s too soon. We still have too much to work through, and even then, I’m not sure we can find our way to the other side. There are too many complications. Attraction just isn’t enough.”
“But maybe you can start with that and build it into something more. Isn’t that the way most relationships work? Maybe it will work this time.”
Teagan nodded at Megan. “She’s got a point.”
Cam put her arm around me. “Well, nothing has to be decided for now. I say take your time, and see where it goes. No need to tackle the hard questions before you need to.”
She was right. I thought about her words as she guided the conversation away from me and on to other things. Pretty soon, we were all laughing until it grew late. The girls helped me clean up, and then they headed for the front door.
“So, wait a minute. Let me get something straight.” Teagan hesitated in the front foyer and faced me. “You did that mouth bitey thing when I made that vegan cake, but you never said anything.”
“Oh, honey,” Megan said, patting her arm. “That time was real. She was trying not to choke.”
We all burst into laughter, even Teagan.
Chapter 21
Emalee
* * *
“Chase! Can we go feed the goats now?”
“Iain, wait until everyone at the table is done eating,” I admonished.
But Chase winked at him. “I gotta finish filling my belly first so I have the energy to take you out on the ATV later.”
“All right!” Iain gave a fist pump. “I wish Zach was here so he could go, too.”
Chase and Cameron raised their eyebrows simultaneously. But whereas Cam’s expression was more speculative, Chase’s eyes narrowed, and his mouth flattened.
“Zach?” he ground out.
I gave him a subtle shake of my head, not wanting him to say anything in front of Iain.
“Hey, Iain, while you wait for me, how ‘bout you go check on Tabby in the mudroom? She had her kittens last week.”
