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“Another foot toward the chapel.”
At least she didn’t say a smidge. A foot I could work with. Precise and no room for error. The exact opposite of us.
I caught on to what she was doing and moved the rest of them to match. I swiped the sweat off my brow and stood when the last urn was in place. My damn heart thundered in my head as she ran up to the doors of the chapel and spun around.
She clasped her hands together and looked out at what I’d put together for her. A light breeze kicked up and loose curls lifted around her freckled face. “It’s perfect.”
She damn well was.
Shit.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I’d never imagined a woman staring down at me from the end of an aisle. Even a makeshift one.
Her eyes shone in the golden light, and Christ, she was so goddamn beautiful it hurt.
“Rachel is going to be so excited.” She ran down the short steps and came right for me. Instead of opening her arms to embrace me, she shoved me back a few feet. “I gotta make sure it’s the same for how people will see her. Move.”
I stumbled aside and barely resisted the urge to bend at the waist and suck in oxygen. What the hell was wrong with me?
She whirled around and dropped into a cross-legged position, then she pulled out her phone from some sneaky pocket. She did a quick pan around the garden walkway and sighed before staring up at me. “Perfect.”
I held my hand out for her.
She narrowed her eyes, but finally, she accepted it and popped up too fast. She fell into me, and my arm instantly went around her waist, my hand at her lower back. She tried to back up, but I wouldn’t let her go.
“Let’s go clean up the rest.”
“I’m—”
“Save it.” She slipped out of my arms.
I tipped my head back. Maybe it was better to let her be mad, even if it made me insane.
I followed her back into the lodge and locked the double doors behind me. It only took us a few minutes to gather all the packing materials and tuck them back into their boxes. I assumed the urns wouldn’t be a permanent fixture.
We crossed to the front doors, gathering all of Rachel’s wedding paraphernalia. Chaos paused at the door, looking back at all we’d done.
“So much more to do before the big day, but at least then we’ll have the florist here to help.”
“You did a good job, Chaos. Rachel will love it.”
She glanced up at me, her gaze unreadable. “Thanks.”
We shut off the lights and checked the locks one more time. A large atrium connected the rooms with a massive apple tree as the centerpiece. To guard from curious kids, or entitled idiots, there was a directory and history of Happy Acres on a trio of stands blocking access to the tree. A beautiful stained glass ceiling above the tree afforded light and left interesting patterns of color on the bleached wood floor.
I was the one who had to catch up to her long-legged gait this time. She was a woman on a mission.
“Chaos.”
She whirled around. “Would you stop calling me that?”
“Willow, you need to stay with me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Never mind, use Chaos. My name sounds weird out of your mouth.”
I moved into her, dragging her close. “Unless I’m inside you.”
She licked her lips. “We’re not talking about that right now.”
