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She waved her hand like she needed to cool off her face. “What I wouldn’t give to have a man look at me like that. Like he both wanted to eat you and would stand in front of one of those scary-as-shit bulls lurking around here at the same time.”
Beth exaggerated a horrified shiver.
Paisley huffed. “Scary? Those bulls are beautiful. Just ask Daisy Mae over here.” She gestured at the cow with two little calves who were hanging out in a grassy, fenced-in area about a hundred yards away. “Penelope thinks so, too.” She waved at another cow with a tiny calf following at her side.
Dakota laughed, though her expression was soft as she turned to me and took my hand. “Well, I sure know that look Ezra was giving her.” She squeezed my fingers. “I’m just happy Savannah finally caught up to what it really meant because I’m pretty sure he’s been done for since the second he met you.”
She studied me as she held my hand, and I peeked at where Ezra had gone to sit in a chair next to his cousins and Cody under a tree in the distance.
He took a sip from his beer, though his attention was on me, burning through the cool breeze and lighting me up.
A tether that flamed.
Paisley drew my attention back to her. “Let’s get you a margarita and then we need to introduce you to my grandpa, aka, the best man who’s ever lived.”
“This is such a special day,” Dakota said, her gaze on her best friend.
Paisley touched her shoulder. “Thanks to you and your team, it’s even better. Thank you for catering all the sides and desserts. I think Grandpa is going to love it.”
Dakota looked to where a group of people were gathered in a circle of Adirondack chairs. A fire pit that hadn’t been lit yet sat between them. They were all chatting and laughing, but it was clear all their chairs were tilted a fraction to face the older gentleman who was using his hands to tell a clearly very vivid story.
Paisley shoved a plastic margarita glass into my hand, then urged me forward. “Come on, let’s go meet the man of honor.”
Paisley tossed out hellos and waved at people as we passed, though she didn’t slow until we came to the gathering where her grandfather was seated.
“There’s my girl,” he said, his weathered face crinkling into the brightest smile.
She knelt at his side and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “As if I would ever get far when you are right here.”
He chuckled with so much affection that my chest clutched. “You take such good care of me, Paisley Dae. I will never know how to thank you.”
“I guess I learned about taking care of someone I love from the best.” Adoration poured out of her when she said it.
I knew Paisley had been raised by her grandparents, and their close connection was clear. This love so intense. So different.
But I was seeing it all around me now.
The loyalty I hadn’t known.
The devotion that’d seemed figurative.
So out of reach.
And here, in this small town, it floated all around me.
“Grandpa, I want you to meet Savannah. She’s new to the area. Savannah, this is my grandfather, Arvil.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” I murmured.
He smiled a smile that was both welcoming and searching, his grayed eyes brimming with wisdom. “The pleasure is all mine. This one’s told me all about you.” He patted Paisley’s arm. “And it seems you stole the eye of one of our town’s best.”
I followed his gaze to Ezra who was still watching me, while he still seemed to manage to remain in a conversation with his friends.
“Well, I don’t know about that.” Gah. What was I supposed to say?
Because every person hanging out in that circle was watching me. I cringed when I saw the mayor was there, too.
“Nice to see you again, Savannah,” Jack Harris said. I could have been starstruck that the mayor knew my name, but I was too busy being worried that his advisor was also there.
“You, too,” I said around the lump that suddenly formed in my throat, and my attention went racing over the rambling yard in search of Hayden.
I caught sight of him where he was more than a hundred yards away, holding court in the middle of a group of people, everyone seemingly enthralled by whatever he was saying, although the distance was too great for me to make anything out.
My insides shriveled up a bit as I was hit with that unsettled feeling I got every time Hayden was near. That little nudge telling me that he was someone to watch. I just wished I could poke around in his pompous head without having to get too close to him.
At least I had Ezra on my side now, and I didn’t have to do it alone. When we got back tonight, I’d show him the journal and see if he could make anything of it.
