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His brows furrowed slightly. "Why do you say in their own way?"
She smiled at him. He was empathetic and concerned. How refreshing. "My parents are very driven. They don't show emotion easily and seldom tell us they're proud of us. My dad thinks that builds character."
His lips formed a straight line. The waitress brought their meals and her eyes rounded at the size of the steak on his plate.
"Oh my. You weren't kidding."
He grinned and shook his head. "Nope."
Her chicken was crispy and delicious. But she envied Henry's steak. It smelled amazing.
Their meal was nearly over when his phone rang. "Excuse me, please."
He stood and exited the patio to the backyard area.
She watched his face as he talked. He smiled a lot, laughed a couple of times then pocketed his phone. He entered through the back door and she noted how he filled the room. He was impressive.
"My parents are here. They're at the HOG now. When we're finished with dinner, we'll meet them at the farm."
"Okay. I'll bet they’re so excited for you."
He chuckled. "They are."
She felt a bit of envy. What it must be like to be close to your parents. She had no idea. She saw her parents, maybe a week every other year or so.
11
Henry and Everleigh pulled into the driveway of his farm. Yes, it was sinking in that this was his farm. His farm!
His eyes scanned the area and didn't see his dad's truck or his mom's SUV. He parked and glanced at Everleigh. "Ready?"
She chuckled. "I'm ready. Are you?"
Laughter bubbled up in his belly. "Gotta be honest. I'm fucking excited right now. "
She laughed with him. He looked into her eyes, her lips turned up into a gorgeous smile. "I'm excited for you. This is tremendous."
He exited the truck and hustled around the front to help Everleigh down. She took his hand as she stepped down, and he squeezed her fingers. "Thank you for coming back here tonight."
"Thank you for inviting me. I didn't want to spend the entire evening alone."
"I'll bet you have a lot of lonely nights on the road."
Her smile didn't reach her eyes when she replied. "Yeah."
He turned so they were toe to toe. "You know, I asked why you went into negotiating, but I failed to ask if you always wanted to do it. Did you? Always want to be a negotiator?"
Her head tilted back so their eyes met. "My parents decided for me."
"So, that's a no."
"I don't know what it is exactly."
He nodded his head and turned toward the house. Everleigh turned with him, and they stared at the tired old house in need of repair together in silence. It was comfortable though, and he'd never quite felt that before.
After a long while, Everleigh softly said, "If you repaint the house white, you can paint the trim black. Black rocking chairs on the porch, two sets of them." She pointed. "Two there with a little table in between." She moved her hand to the other side of the porch. "And two over there. You can watch the horses in the pasture on the first and the foals in the pasture on the second."
He looked down into her smiling face and his lips broke open into a large smile. "That's a fantastic idea."
