Page 129 of Blue Jean Summer

I took the empties from him. “Well, we had better get those replaced before we have a riot on our hands.”

Zach grinned, and it made me feel ten feet tall. He was starting to come out of his shell and had even accepted our invitation to spend an upcoming weekend with Hayes and me in DC.

“Anything else you need?” I asked as I grabbed two new bottles from one of the cabinets.

He glanced out the window at the growing line in front of the snow cone table. “Nah. I’ve got it.”

I handed over the syrups. “Thanks for pitching in.”

Zach offered a bashful smile and dashed out the door. Hayes and I watched as he slid back behind the snow cone maker and breezed through the line.

“You two get along well,” Hayes said.

“He makes it easy,” I said as I grabbed a paper towel to clean up a small spill. “Zach’s a great kid.”

“Seems like you get along with most kids,” Hayes mused.

Nerves danced along my fingertips as I tossed the paper towel in the trash. “I like kids.”

He draped his arm around my shoulders. “This is what the estate was missing.”

I laughed. “Chaos?”

His eyes creased at the corners. “Joy.”

The volume reached a fever pitch as volunteers passed out spoons and the kids tasted their ice cream for the first time.

Hayes clapped his hands together. “But it’s a little loud for me, so I’m going to enjoy the joy from afar.”

As the clock ticked steadily toward the end of the event, the questions began to swirl.

Since Lewis was out of the picture, were Hayes and I going to start the annulment process?

Was the estate fully his at last?

How awkward was it going to be when our sham of a marriage was over? Hallie had been one of my closest friends before I moved to the estate. Surely, Hayes wouldn’t expect me to stop coming around the house when we ended things.

But what if he did?

What if he started dating other women?

The Learning Cottage property was mine, but was I expected to make myself scarce? What if he did expect me to stay away? What then?

Two months ago, we had reconnected after decades. We had been legally married for almost as long. That wasn’t enough time for this to be real. Was it?

Surely, we couldn’t both have fallen head over heels like this.

But it had been two months of long conversations. Two months of leaning on each other. Two months of partnership.

I knew in my soul that what I felt for Hayes was real. But was it real because of the circumstances, or would it still be real now that all the reasons why we had to be together were stripped away?

The job offer, the contract, and the lingering comment that had stuck with me after the interview had all been pushed aside because of the weekend’s events. Now that things were beginning to slow down, they were all I could think about.

Finally, the last of the children went home, tuckered out from running around the fields, consuming copious amounts of sugar, and loving on the animals. When the last little one left, the quiet set in. With it came all of my fears.

“Let me get that.” Hayes startled me out of my thoughts as I tied up a garbage bag.

“Oh. Thanks.” I wiped my hands on the front of my jeans. “You didn’t have to stick around for the cleanup. I could have handled it.”