Page 80 of You Found Me

For a half second, Mason’s eyes widened, and his face brightened.

Then the excitement on his brother’s face darkened.

“Mason!” someone by the bar called out.

His brother shot him the look of resentment that had become familiar over the last few years, and turned away.

Well, wasn’t this going to be fun.

“Oh, Donovan.” Elyse put a soft hand on his arm. “You should take Lucy to the sunflowers. They’re due to peak this week. It’s lucky timing.”

“Sunflowers?” Della asked. “That sounds beautiful. I’d love to see that.”

“There’s fields of ’em off Route 2,” Ralph said. “You pick what you want. They charge by the dozen. There’s a picnic area and food trucks set up so you can make a day of it.”

Ward had to admire the way Della had completely distracted his parents. With a couple of well-placed questions, she’d moved past several awkward landmines. It was a masterful job of misdirection. He doubted they even noticed that they still knew nothing about his new mystery girl.

All that media training was actually good for something.

“Lucy,” Dad said, “why don’t you come with me. I’ll set you up with the best apple cider this side of anywhere.”

Della reached for the pendant around her neck and gave Ward a questioning look.

He gave her an encouraging nod. “Get me a Bud, would you?”

On impulse, he kissed her cheek. It was a light, feathery kiss. Barely a brush of skin on skin, but again, he felt that jolt of awareness.

“Bud,” Ralph said with a heavy dose of derision. “You’ll take my fall brew and like it. Lucy, has Donovan told you…”

They walked away, their conversation quickly swallowed by the noise in the courtyard.

He almost went after them. No telling what stories Dad would tell her.

Elyse moved closer to him as they left. “I like her.”

“Me too.” It was true, he realized. Wasn’t that a kick in the ass?

“Is she the one?” Elyse held out the tray of pigs in a blanket.

He popped one into his mouth. “It’s way too soon for that.”

Elyse’s eyes danced with amusement. “It’s never too soon, especially when she’s the first girl to cross the threshold since Rachel. I can practically hear the church bells.”

“We just started dating six months ago,” he protested.

He watched Dad hand Della a tray of mugs and point to the dessert table.

Della moved carefully toward her destination with a determined look of concentration. He doubted she’d ever done anything that domestic in her entire life.

“Uh-huh.” Elyse winked at him and moved into the crowd with her tray of appetizers.

Hell. He’d been smiling at her. He could tell by Elyse’s knowing glance back at him that there was probably already a betting pool going about his hypothetical wedding date.

He’d known bringing a “girlfriend” would be a distraction. He reminded himself that this was all a good thing. It meant Lucy had an entire town looking out for her.

Problem was, they watched his every move along with hers. That made his back itch right between the shoulder blades, like he had cross hairs on him.

Any other protection detail he was a shadow in a suit. He watched the crowd while his protectee did what they had to do. No one noticed him unless there was a problem.

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