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“It must’ve gone really well,” Mark said as soon as he got out of his truck, slamming the door behind him and carrying the binder that he used on jobs.
Her eyes caught on it, and her brows furrowed. What was he doing with that here? Did he want her to go over some things? Sometimes he’d ask her what colors went well together or would look good in a certain area.
He was the one with all the knowledge of what plants grew where, but when it came to design, he often got her insight and input.
“Yes!” she said, unable to contain her happy smile. “I couldn’t have imagined it going better. I guess the only thing that would’ve made it nicer would have been if I would have been able to talk to my mom before the meeting and been sure that all the plans I was making are going to be paid for.”
“Well, I know that our house has been full, but I talked your mom into staying, because she was going to leave right after breakfast. So, she’s going to be here for another night. That should give you an opportunity.”
“Really?” she said, so happy that he had realized that she would want to talk to her, and not over the phone. Sometimes her mom could be pretty short on the phone, and it was hard to figure out how to take her.
“Really. Don’t think I was going to forget?”
It reminded her again of how much he paid attention to her. Sure, he wasn’t perfect. He did forget things, so did she. But more important than whether or not he ever forgot anything was the fact that he put the effort into remembering.
“I really appreciate that,” she said, stopping in front of him, smiling up at him.
“Really?” he asked, and the tone of his voice had changed.
It was the tone that made her mouth go dry.
“Yeah,” she said, and her voice was softer, sweeter, just something about the way he was looking at her made her want to curl up in his arms. Again.
They stared at each other for a bit before he blinked. She had the feeling he wanted to say something, but he shifted and looked down at his hands as though just remembering that he carried something.
“Oh yeah. I have this.”
“That’s your binder for work?”
“Yeah. You don’t think I’m going to let you buy an inn and I’m not going to landscape it for you, do you?”
“I might not have money to pay for that. I... I want to do it eventually, of course.”
“And you’re not going to pay for it. After all, a man can hardly charge his wife when he does work for her, can he?”
“I’m sure there are husbands who can and do that very thing,” she said with more than a little irony in her voice.
“This husband is not,” he said, and there was no room for argument in his tone.
“Thank you,” she said, in that voice she hardly recognized. She didn’t even know she could talk like that. But these new feelings she felt for Mark brought it out in her.
“You want to go upstairs? We can sit on the floor, look at this, and I brought some food for us. I was going to warm up the casserole that Miss Lana brought us, but I made us subs instead.”
“You make the best subs,” she said, her stomach growling at the thought.
“I left them on the passenger seat.”
“I’ll grab them,” she said, running around to the side and getting the subs that sat on the seat along with the water beside them.
He pulled his work laptop out from behind his seat, and they walked into the inn together, her smiling the entire way. There was just something about someone being so thoughtful that made her feel...cherished, almost.
Maybe that was the way a wife was supposed to feel. She wouldn’t know; she’d never felt like this in her first marriage. Her first husband had been very much about himself, his hobbies, and making sure that he got what he deserved out of their relationship, and far less concerned about giving anything in return.
They admired the view while they ate, mostly in silence. A comfortable silence. The kind she always had with Mark.
Maybe he was thinking about plans and designs and all the possibilities for the inn. Probably she should be, too, but she wasn’t.
She was thinking about how much she loved his strong jaw. The laugh wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. The fact that he knew exactly how she liked her sub and made it just that way for her - extra mayo and pickles, light on the meat and cheese and lots of onions.
