After thanking Amber, McKenna headed for the barn. According to Ginny, when she started her business, the picture-postcard red structure would’ve been too expensive to renovate. Plus, with specializing in western and rustic weddings she needed it for horses, and instead built the larger, modern barn tailored to her wedding needs.
When McKenna entered the barn, dust and bits of hay floating in the air caught the sun, sparkling like minuscule stars.
“Hey, Chance. Life been treating you well today?” She followed Zane’s voice. The horse snorted and whinnied. “I miss you, too, pal.” More snorting and whinnying. “Even if I could take you, you’d hate California. It’s nothing like Texas.”
Surprised by the almost wistful tone in Zane’s voice and feeling as if she was eavesdropping, McKenna called out. He stepped out of the stall, glanced her way, then scooped up a pile of hay with a pitchfork and disappeared.
When she stood outside the door and peered inside, Zane dumped the hay into the feeding trough on the far wall, his biceps flexing with his movement. Her palms grew sweaty and a flush spread through her.
How could a man who played video games for a living have such remarkable arms? His faded maroon Texas A&M association of former students’ T-shirt dotted with darker spots from sweat clung to his broad chest. She shook her head. Why couldn’t Aggies simply say alums?
“Once I finished here, I intended to come to the office to see you.”
“I can’t believe you would return to the scene of the crime so soon.”
“Crime? What’re you talking about?” He stepped past her, leaned the pitchfork against the opposite wall, and shut the lower half of the stall door. “I meant to thank you for getting me away from Campbell before she tore off my clothes.”
At his lighthearted, joking tone, every muscle in McKenna’s body tensed. Secretly, she’d hoped he’d take responsibility for his actions. So much for that. “You think today was funny? Do you know how hard it was for Ginny to convince Susannah and her parents to have the wedding in Wishing rather than a fancy destination wedding? She feared the wedding would appear rinky-dink and hokey here. Since the invitations haven’t gone out, she can still change to a destination wedding. Doing that would be disastrous. Because of the number of guests, we’ll make three times more on this wedding. Lucky Stars can’t afford to lose that income.”
“You done? Ready to let me get a word in?” he asked as Chance poked his head out between them and shoved his nose under Zane’s hand.
She crossed her arms over her chest, leaned back on her right heel, and nodded for him to proceed.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch worrying about Susannah cancelling. Mayor Timmons won’t let her. He likes being the big cheese, and he can only do that if the wedding’s in his kingdom.”
Considering what McKenna knew of the mayor, Zane could be right, but that didn’t mean she’d let him wiggle out of his actions. “However, he also gives Susannah anything she wants, which means we have to keep her happy. If she gets upset, so will her parents. That would get around town and would hurt our reputation.”
“Was Susannah upset when she left?”
“No.”
“Did they pick a dress?”
McKenna nodded. “The one you had Campbell try on.”
“Then what’s the problem? The bride left happy. The dress was picked out. Mission accomplished.”
How could he fail to grasp the seriousness of what happened? How could he laugh it off simply because of a good outcome? Unless they dealt with what caused the issue, they’d be in a similar situation again, and next time they might not be as fortunate. “It could have been a disaster if Susannah and Campbell had gotten into a major argument. Susannah could’ve claimed we didn’t handle the situation properly. She still might.”
McKenna shared the bride story she’d told Grace. “Darby discovered one bad review affected the business negatively for three months. Because of the risk, today’s behavior can’t be repeated.”
“I can’t control Campbell.”
“I was referring to your behavior.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” McKenna’s harsh, raised voice echoed around them.
Chance snorted, shook his head, and shifted nervously.
Zane smoothed a hand over the animal’s neck and crooned reassurances. “We need to take this outside. I don’t want Chance gettin’ upset. We don’t know what happened to him before we got him, but he was seized in a cruelty case, so it can’t have been good.”
What was wrong with her? How did this man so easily destroy her self-control? Now she’d scared a traumatized horse.
Before setting off to follow Zane, she turned to the animal. “I’m sorry, Chance. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
When she joined him outside by the corral, Zane stood with one foot on the lowest rail as he leaned against the top one. McKenna stopped a few feet away.
