Page 29 of All Because I Found You

“Take it any way you want.”

“For a second there, I was starting to like you.”

“Is that so?” he asked, moving closer to her.

She blinked up at him, shoulders squared and jaw set. “The feeling has since passed.”

Unable to control his urges, he lifted his hand, running a finger down the tension in her jaw. “That’s a shame, because I was starting to like you, too.”

“Like me or tolerate me?” Her words were a breathy whisper, and he felt satisfaction in knowing that he could affect her.

“Maybe a little of both.”

Her teeth slid over her bottom lip, setting his desires ablaze. He wouldn’t act on them though, so he put distance between them and grabbed the tongs. He flipped the corn over to the other side and watched Raelyn out of the corner of his eye as she took a deep breath, then tucked her hair behind her ear.

“How long will these take?” she asked.

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Okay good. I’m really hungry.”

He flipped the corn over again, making sure it cooked evenly on all sides. “How’s everything coming together for the wedding?” he asked, mainly to fill the silence, but mostly because he wanted to know.

“Good. Before I came by the barn today, I stopped at the florist to make all the floral arrangements. Isla is amazing at what she does. I doubt you remember her. She’s a couple years younger than me, so she would have been in middle school when you were in high school.”

“Is it still the same family who owns it? There was the older woman and her son and wife.”

“Mrs. Garrick. She passed away a couple months ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. She was always so nice to me when I went in there.”

“Did you buy a lot of flowers back then?”

“Like you said, I had a lot of girlfriends. But my parents also supplied them with sunflowers. We still do, but I just cut them. Gene arranges delivery. He never told me she passed. How’d she die?”

“Cancer. Such a shame, too. She had so much life in here until the end. Life’s just not fair sometimes.”

No kidding. Life wasn’t only unfair, it was cruel. Why was it that some people got to live long lives and others barely got to live at all? Anger and frustration raged inside him, unexpected tears pressed against his lids as his sister’s face popped into his mind.

“I need to get a plate to put these on.” He hurried off before one of the frustrated tears accidentally slipped out.

Once inside, he shut the door, rested his back against the wood, and inhaled. He let the breath out slowly, getting his bearings and forcing the sudden emotions into the dark crevices of his mind. He didn’t need to think about any of that right now. Not when Raelyn was here, spreading joy with her presence. He wouldn’t let the nightmares that had consumed him for so long control him, at least for today. Today he was going to go outside, get the damn corn and have dinner with a woman who made him remember he was still alive.

He pushed off the door and went into the kitchen, reaching for the top cabinet and retrieving a plate. He turned just as Raelyn walked in, holding up a twisted towel.

“I put the corn in here and just grabbed the ends. Kind of like a little cocoon for corn.”

He’d forgotten he brought the hand towel out there. She placed to corn on the table and bent down to the oven again. “Do you think it’s ready now?”

“Let’s check.”

He appreciated she just came in and acted like nothing happened. He would have hated if she dwelled on it. With his emotions all over the place, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep from storming off to avoid the topic.

He removed an oven mitt from the drawer and opened the oven, reaching in and grabbing the pan. The sweet smell of brown sugar mixed with the tang of vinegar and a variety of other spices filled the air as he pulled the foil away from the meat.

“Oh those look yummy,” Raelyn said, once again peering over his shoulder. He was finding he liked she did that.

He angled toward her. “They taste just as good as they look.”

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