AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Minty only smiled her secret smile.
“You don’t think I should wait until tomorrow anymore?” I asked incredulously. They’d all been pushing me to wait, I was suspicious as to what caused the changed in opinion.
Minty answered, “You’re in a much better place now than you were a week ago.”
I relaxed back in my seat. That made sense.
Mara spoke from the back seat, “Zale says to drop Willa off at Calum and Jeanie’s. Barrett is there and he wants to take her somewhere as a surprise… Oops...”
“What the heck?” I asked.
“You nailed it, Merry,” Bex teased, and Mara laughed.
“Oh!” Mara looked again at her cell. “Zale and Rhys are there, too. That’ll make drop-off easy for you. Minty.”
“You should come in and meet Calum and Jeanie. They’re a hoot! Nicest people you’d ever want to meet,” Bex invited.
“I don’t want to impose,” Minty replied in her soft, cool voice.
“They aren’t going to want two extra people dropping in!” Junie added.
“No, really! I’ll just text Rhys right now,” Bex replied.
There were protests and excuses and options discussed until Bex interrupted.
“There! He says they want nothing more right now than to meet Willa’s friends.” It was quiet again in the car and then I snort-laughed.
“Well! You’ve got no choice now! You’re coming in!”
“That’s okay,” Minty answered softly. “I want to meet them. I’m interested to see what it took to produce Barrett.”
Junie laughed. “Me too!”
Jeanie and Calum greeted us at the door and invited us all in. Bex introduced everyone and Jeanie bustled everyone into their family room that overlooked their private and spacious backyard. Zale and Rhys stood up from where they had been lounging on the couches. Bex introduced Rhys to Junie and Minty, Zale, of course, had known both for years.
“Where’s Barrett?” I asked.
Jeanie took hold of my hand and pointed to the window that overlooked the backyard.
“He’s waiting for you out there,” she said.
I turned to look out the window to see Barrett, sitting on a bench beside a new arbor covered in greenery, looking at his cell phone. He put his phone down and glanced towards the house and stood. He paced back and forth, drumming his thumb against his thigh.
“He’s nervous,” I whispered.
“Go make it better,” Jeanie whispered back and gave me a gentle nudge toward the door.
The sound of it opening bought me his full attention. He stilled. His gaze rested on my face, assessing my wellbeing.
I felt that.
I walked faster, in a hurry to get to him and he moved toward me quickly, scooping me up on his way, just like he did in the bar the night he earned the nickname ‘Thor’. He tucked his face in my neck, spun on his heel, and headed back the way he’d come.
He placed me down on my feet and tipped my chin up to stare into my face.
“You have the most beautiful eyes,” I whispered. “You have the most beautiful heart. You are the best person I know.”
He bent and brushed his lips softly over mine, then stepped back from me, and went down on one knee.
