Page 57 of Loving Decker

She smiled while he was still trying to kiss her, so he stopped. “Mm, you taste like strawberries.”

She laughed. “Thanks for coming, Deck. I honestly don’t even know if some of this stuff is worth keeping. If it were up to me, I’d throw it all away.”

“Well, let’s see here.” He lifted up an old rusty wrench. “This is a relic. Definitely belongs in a museum.”

“Yeah, the museum called Benson’s Dump.”

“Fair enough. You know, we haven’t been by Benson’s lately. We don’t even know what’s going on in this town.”

“We can certainly fix that today. Want to back my truck down here? Let’s just load up the bed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They worked hard for about forty-five minutes before Dylan showed up with Mav and a bunch of their friends. “All right. Man, good to see you guys.”

“No problem. Let’s get this stuff loaded. Mav backed his truck down here too.” Dyl pointed to the open barn door.

Faith high-fived them all. “So, ask me or Deck here if it’s a keeper or trash. And then we’re all going to pay a visit to Benson.”

It only took another forty-five minutes, and the place was cleaned out. They had a pile of donations, and she even gave some of her stuff to the guys. All in all, Decker was pleased with the results. He grabbed a broom. “Let’s get this place swept out, and then we can have dinner in here.”

“I’ll put Patch in here. Is that okay, Deck?”

“Oh right. Yep. Put him next to Electric. That should keep him happy.”

She laughed. “Or at least not bored. She’s bossy.”

They worked to finish the last few details, then piled in the two trucks and made their deliveries. Maverick pulled up to the dump first, and Decker’s phone rang. He turned it on speaker. “What’s up?”

“Hey, just wanted to let you two know that Benson told me the biggest news in town is that Decker Dawson and Faith Haws are finally dating.”

“Oh yeah, we made the big time!” Decker laughed.

“They’re predicting a July wedding. He asked if I wanted in on the bets.”

The guys in their back seat laughed and catcalled and made all the fun noises, but he and Faith were quiet. She wasn’t looking at him.

“Hey, don’t worry about them.”

She shrugged. “I’m not. Hey, it’s funny, right?”

He didn’t think it was that funny. He had actually secretly wondered if it would be possible to marry her this summer. And he hadn’t dared say a word about it to anyone. But now, he wasn’t sure. She seemed uncomfortable. Ugh. He couldn’t possibly bring it up yet. Then he really would look like a crazy guy. But he wished she’d at least have laughed or something about the July date.

When they pulled up to Benson, his eyes widened in surprise. “We were just talking about you two.”

“Yeah, we heard.” Decker shook his hand. “We have a huge load for you today.”

“I see that. You just go on ahead and follow Mav back to where I told him to dump the stuff.” But then he paused. “So, are things moving pretty quickly with you two? Any news in the close future?” His eyes searched their faces.

“You trying to see if you’re gonna win some bet, Benson?” Faith leaned across Decker to smile at the man.

He backed away shaking his head. “Of course not, just happy that two old friends are moving in the right direction.” He tapped the top of their truck. “You get yourselves settled back there and come have a soda with me in the back room.”

Decker drove forward, creeping along at a safe pace behind Maverick. “What would Willow Creek be without good ol’ Benson?”

“I don’t even know.”

Decker drove everyone back to Faith’s house. He kissed the top of her head. “Hey, I’ll go clean up and come back to pick you up. I forgot to tell you. Before couples therapy, first we get to play Bingo.”

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