Page 108 of Lee

Lee looked down at her, his expression serious. “I really don’t want that ending for us.”

Rori pressed her cheek to his arm as she tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “I don’t want that either.”

“I guess I don’t need to ask if Rori is giving Lee a chance,” Gareth said with humor in his voice. “It’s pretty obvious she is.”

And yet, in Rori’s mind, it felt more like Lee was giving her a chance. Any woman would be lucky to have Lee.

“Yep,” Lee said. “And I’m very grateful.”

Charli smiled at them from where she stood, slowly bouncing Shiloh. “You’re both just so sweet.”

After Gareth said a prayer for the food, they began to fill their plates and then found seats on the blanket or the chairs set out around the picnic table.

Rori and Lee ended up on the blanket, and Rori quietly ate while conversation swirled around her. There was a part of her that tried to convince her that things were moving too fast. But in her heart, Rori felt like she’d been waiting her whole life for a man like Lee.

No. Not a man like Lee.

Lee.

Now that they were building something between them, she couldn’t imagine being with anyone but Lee.

The realization came with a wash of love for the man and took her breath away. In that moment, she understood just how much she had to lose if things didn’t work out for them.

And so, as she bent her head over her plate of food, Rori prayed like she’d never prayed before, pleading with God to make her worthy of Lee. She needed to know that God heard her prayers. She had to become someone that God would listen to.

It was time to learn how she could do that. How she could become a Christian.

Unfortunately, the easiest path to that information—Lee—was one that she wasn’t prepared to take yet. She didn’t want him to know that she wasn’t a Christian until she had the chance to understand what that even meant for her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Lee.” Rori’s voice drew Lee’s attention from the paperwork he was finishing up on a dog that had been brought in earlier.

Lee relaxed back in his office chair as he smiled at her. “What’s up?”

“Cheryl’s on the phone for you.”

Lee gestured at the phone on his desk. “You could have paged me and saved yourself the walk back here.”

“I could have,” Rori said with a growing smile. “But I didn’t want to.”

They’d agreed to maintain physical distance at work, except for the time they had together during lunch. However, that didn’t mean they couldn’t flirt a little, especially when they were alone.

“Well, I appreciate the effort,” Lee told her. “More than I can say.”

He loved to see her cheeks pink slightly, as they did then. Almost two weeks had passed since their first date, and it had been great spending time together, getting to know each other.

What he’d loved the most about the past two weeks was learning that Rori had a great sense of humor—one that previously had only been hinted at in the occasional twinkle in her eyes.

Now he knew how to make her laugh, and he loved putting that knowledge to good use. He loved it when she laughed with unfettered delight, and knowing he’d been the one who’d brought that out of her made him so happy.

She gave him a smile as she headed for the door. “See you later.”

Lee stared at the empty doorway for a long moment before he remembered he had a call waiting for him. He grabbed the receiver and punched the blinking line.

“Hi, Lee,” Cheryl said, her voice more chipper than Lee might have expected, considering she’d given birth not that long ago. “So, a little birdy told me that you and Rori are dating.”

“A little birdy, huh?” He smiled, even though there was no one there to see. “Would the birdy’s name happen to be Alys?”

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