Page 86 of Lyrical

Perry nodded. “Please say you’ll do it soon, Chase.”

I fucking loved that she was comfortable enough to fall asleep on me. It didn’t matter that we were in a noisy, crowded bar. She knew I’d look out for her, take care of her. I’d always fucking take care of her.

I ran my thumb over the ring finger of her left hand. I wanted nothing more than to see purple shining back at me for the rest of my life.

“Soon,” I said.

Purple caught my eye. Then yellow. A smattering of bluebells took over next, and I had a sudden desire to run singing barefoot over the hills.

“Wow, Perry, this is absolutely gorgeous.”

“Told ya.”

Stephen parked in the flat, grassy area and hopped out of the truck. I quickly followed suit. We’d just spent the last thirty minutes bumping around on country roads after the hour spent on the freeway to get there, and my ass was sore. I needed to stretch.

“Can you grab this other end, Chase?” Stephen yelled from the hatch.

Chase went to help him unload crap from the back as Perry and I took in the full view. When Perry said farm, this was not what I had in mind.

The four of us had planned to spend a good portion of the day there setting a few things up and checking out the property to see what best went where. Kind of like a prerehearsal. There was still another month till the wedding, but it was such a clear, beautiful day and we didn’t want to waste it.

I spotted the little white house farther off in the distance. “Should we go in and say hi?”

“No,Auntie Emwill be in town most of the day. Not sure if we’ll be gone before she gets back, so she left the door open in case we need to get inside.”

“Okay, let’s go walk around.”

“Did you know I was almost named Dorothy?”

I laughed. “No, you weren’t.” I grabbed hold of her arm. “Come on, I want to go over by all those wildflowers. That would make an amazing backdrop for pictures.” I made a mental note to look up the blooming season when I got home. I hoped it’d still be this colorful for the wedding.

“Where do you want this, Perry?” Stephen asked.

There was a tent spread out on the ground. It didn’t look too big. “You’re planning on having more than this, right? What if it rains?”

“Yes, we’ll have more. In case the sun is too hot and people need shade. We’re just doing a trial run on one of them now.” Perry pointed to a less overgrown area closer to the house. “My aunt said to have the food and stuff set up more on the incline, and we want the ceremony to be held where it’s more level, so… over there.”

Stephen nodded and he and Chase began pulling the tarp over, along with a handful of supplies.

“Don’t you think we should help?” I asked when Stephen dropped a bag of spikes and they scattered in the dirt.

“I don’t think either of them needs any help pitching a tent.” She winked. “I’m sure they’re both well-equipped in that department. Well, I can only attest to one but—”

“Yes, Perry I get it.”

“What? I was going to say that I know Stephen would rather do that stuff than nail down all these other little details. He’s not going to care where the cake stand goes.”

From where we stood, it was easy to scan the entire landscape and get an overall picture of how everything would play out. As long as the weather cooperated, it would be a breathtaking ceremony.

“You’re amazed, aren’t you, Jills? I can see it in your face. Don’t you feel bad for doubting me now?”

“It’s not that I doubted you….” She pursed her mouth. “Yeah, I guess I did, but do you blame me? You said farm and the first thing I thought of was tractors.” I noticed her looking down again. “Why do you keep looking at my hand?”

“I thought I saw one of those weird beetles on it. It starts warming up and they’re out in droves.” She waved her hands around. “Oh, I can’t wait to show you the trellis. That looks like it back there. Let’s do that first.” Perry gripped my arm, dragging me along. “We can use it for the ceremony, and from the pictures, it looks awesome.”

The closer we got, the more I could see how right she was. “This is perfect, Perry.” I grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her inside the arch. “Yes. You need to take your vows right here.” It was white, twined with live vines and silk flowers. Plenty of space for two to fit. “The officiant can stand right over here—who’s that again?”

“Chase.”

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