“Racks?” Reno supplied.
“Right. Racks. At any rate, Tessa and Charlotte are over the moon.”
“That’s great,” he replied with genuine pleasure. “They deserve huge success after all the hard work they put in building their company. How come you’re not with Tessa right now, celebrating?”
“She and Charlotte are working tonight. Revising their five-year plan for the business and figuring out how to grow much sooner and faster than they anticipated. I’m taking Tessa over to Apple Pie Creek tomorrow for a fancy dinner and night out. Speaking of which, how do you feel about hanging out with Makayla tomorrow evening? She’s a great kid.”
“You mean, like babysitting her?”
“Nah. She’s totally self-sufficient. But Tessa worries about leaving her all alone on the farm way out in the country. Normally, Tessa would ask the next door neighbor, Arlo, to keep an eye on her, but he’s out of town this week. He’s taking his first vacation in forty years.”
“Good grief. Forty years? Where’d he go?”
“California. Says he always wanted to see the giant redwoods.”
“Cool.” Reno sighed. “Yeah, I guess I can hang out with your kiddo. She’s gonna be my niece, after all.”
Dillon grinned and Reno rolled his eyes back. “Speaking of which, have you and Tessa picked a wedding date, yet?”
“I just proposed to her a few weeks ago. Maybe let us get used to that for a minute before you chase us down the aisle,” Dillon retorted.
“Not chickening out are you?” Reno teased.
Dillon’s expression went dead serious. “Not a chance. I can’t wait to marry her.”
Reno was startled. Since when did any Steele man wear his heart on his sleeve like that? Granted, it was a nice change from Dillon’s usual stoicism and I-don’t-deserve-to-be-happy-or-loved vibe.
Dillon pushed to his feet and went inside. He came back out a minute later, though, with two beers. He handed one to Reno and they sat side by side, sipping them in silence.
“I got out of the house today,” Reno said.
“Yeah?”
“Stopped at the bakery on Main Street. There’s a cinnamon roll on the counter in the kitchen for you.”
“Don’t you want it? Dillon asked.
“Not particularly.”
“Then why’d you get it?”
“To have an excuse to walk somewhere,” he answered honestly.
In front of him, the mountainsides burned fiery orange, cooled to pink and lavender, and started to fade toward black. Walter snored on at his feet.
“Did you meet Grace at the bakery?” Dillon asked without inflection.
“Yep.”
“What’d you think?”
Reno chose his words carefully. “She’s not what I expected.”
“How so?”
“My first impression was that she doesn’t belong here. I don’t mean in Cobbler Cove. I mean on Earth. She looks exactly like I expect angels to. Except then I talked with her, and she’s so down to earth. Just a normal, nice person. It was . . . jarring.”
“Mm,” he said. Then, “Did you like her?”
