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“I get that. I feel rather protective of Riley, too. We are almost exactly eleven months apart, and I’ve always been protective of her, especially because she’s a rather wild female.”
“Wild, huh?” He grinned as he cut a tomato, and I found myself again enthralled with his smile and wondering how soft his beard was.
“Yeah, the stories I could tell you about Riley. Man, I think she gave my parents more gray hair than the rest of us put together.” He paused. “Although when Huntley joined the military, it stressed them out quite a bit too.”
“They didn’t want him to join?”
“Well, it wasn’t that they didn’t want him to join, they just worried about him.”
“Did they ever try to talk him out of it?”
He glanced my way, and I wondered if he remembered the conversation that I know he had overheard with my brother.
“They didn’t particularly try to talk him out of it, as much as they tried to understand his decision. I think they wanted to make sure he had thought long and hard about it.”
“They eventually accepted it?”
“Yep, they did. We all did. It was hard on all of us when Hunt went overseas, and I know we all worried about him immensely, but we knew he went there because he was doing a job that he believed in.”
I sighed as I stared down at my black sweatpants, picking imaginary lint off them. “I wish my family would accept my decision.”
“Why don’t they?”
I peered up at him from under my bangs. “Let’s just say they think it’s a worthless career.”
“Is it?”
“No. I happen to love doing it. It’s just that I have a sneaky competitor that steals all my clients.”
A smile crept over his face, and I pursed my lips. “Why are you smiling? Do you think it’s funny that I lose all my business to someone who has been trying to outdo me since we were in middle school?”
“Not at all.” He set the knife down, wiped his hands on a towel, and then came over toward me. “I was going to save this until dinner, but since we are on the subject now, I’ll tell you.”
“Tell me what?” I asked suspiciously.
Lee squatted down in front of me, and for a moment we stared at one another. I knew I looked like I’d been taken out back and beaten, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“I have a client for you; I mean, if you want it.”
“Excuse me?”
“My brother, Wes, is getting married in March, but he and his fiancée, Charlotte, are like crazy busy right now. Wes is a doctor, and Charlotte just started a new job. She’s a bit overwhelmed by the whole process, and Wes was telling me he wished that he had someone who could help them deal with all the details.”
“And they want to hire me? How did they even hear about me?”
“I called Wes yesterday and spoke to him after I saw you at the hospital. He was thrilled with the idea and told me he would speak to Charlotte. He called me this morning and told me that they would love your assistance.”
I blinked, and blinked again. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that?” I asked him, completely blown over by his willingness to do such a thing for someone that he didn’t know.
“Because you said you did that for a living, and I knew Wes and Charlotte needed help.” He studied me for a moment. “Although there is a catch.”
I knew it was too good to be true. They were going to want something outrageous, like tickets to Tahiti. “What?”
“The wedding will be in Millerstown, so you’d have to spend some time there taking care of the details.”
