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Wyatt shook his head. “No.”
“You want me to meet your family?” I asked, my disbelief still evident in my tone.
“Yes, Rhea, I’d like you to meet my family. I think you’ll like them, even if they’re all a bit crazy,” he replied.
If Wyatt was feeling any edge of nervousness about asking me this or what my answer might be, I couldn’t tell. He seemed to be completely unbothered, like it wouldn’t matter to him if I turned him down. And it was in that moment when it became clear to me that perhaps this was just a clever opportunity for Wyatt to fool me, to get me to play right into his hand.
I hated that I couldn’t trust the words he’d given me several times now when he’d confessed he was interested in me. That look on his face, the indifference in his whole frame, made me believe none of what we’d had was genuine. And the thought that he’d been immune to all that had been happening between us over the last month, that it was all just a means for him to get what he needed for his family’s business, was heartbreaking.
I swallowed hard and considered how to respond.
If I declined, wouldn’t that just mean I wasn’t confident in who I was?
But knowing somewhere along the line I started to develop a different mindset toward Wyatt, maybe it just wasn’t smart to mess around.
Apparently, Wyatt realized I was struggling to respond, and being true to the man he’d made me believe he was, he said, “Listen, I don’t need an answer on the spot. I’m not taking anyone else with me, so if you need to check your schedule first and want to let me know later, that’ll work for me. If you can come, great. I think we’ll have a blast. If not, no worries at all.”
Just like that, Wyatt had no problem giving me an out. He didn’t feel the need to pressure me, which I thought was the opposite of what he’d want to do if he was trying to pull one over on me.
Feeling like such a coward, I nodded at him. “Okay. Yeah, that would probably be better. I just need to check and make sure there’s nothing else going on. You said Saturday evening, right?”
“Yeah. I could pick you up around five o’clock,” he said.
Not wanting him to think the worst, especially if he wasn’t trying to pull one over on me, I smiled and said, “Perfect.”
“You still have my business card, right?”
I bit the corner of my lip, sending an apologetic look his way. “I’m afraid I threw it out.”
He shook his head and laughed at me. “I’ll give you my number after we finish our run.”
Nodding, I said, “We should probably do that now, shouldn’t we?”
Wyatt’s eyes roamed over my face briefly, a look that was the very opposite of indifference washing over his expression. “Yeah, Rhea, we should do that now.”
Without another word, Wyatt and I got back to our run, a million questions filtering through my mind for the remainder of it.
And when we got back to our cars, he didn’t hesitate to give me his phone number.
Even with the unexpected invitation to attend Wyatt’s sister’s birthday party, my day had gone well. It was surprisingly busy at my shop for a Monday, which I took as a sign that things were starting to turn for the season.
It was nice to have confidence about what was ahead, especially when it felt like we’d been struggling for so long. We weren’t exactly poor, but there was no question my family and I all worked very hard to make ends meet.
Maybe that made us fools for not even being willing to consider the Westwood’s offer. It certainly would make our lives easier.
But this farm, this land, was ours. It meant everything to us, and it was even more crucial now to hold on to the memories we’d made here.
All the good vibes I’d been feeling about the day I’d had went to hell about fifteen minutes before I was set to close the shop for the evening.
The phone at the shop rang. It wasn’t unheard of for me to have someone call late in the day to have me prepare a pick-up order for the next day, so I didn’t think twice about the call.
But the moment I answered the call and heard the voice on the other line, my blood ran cold.
“Hello?”
“Rhea?”
Every unwelcome feeling settled inside my body. I was merely grateful the last of my customers had left just a few minutes earlier.
