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10
Gretchen couldn’t remember a better date than the one she was currently on. Sure, the conversation had been a little heavy on the drive to Castleton, but once they’d gone inside the restaurant, it had lightened up.
She’d gotten her “can’t decide spaghetti,” which came with marinara meat sauce and Alfredo sauce, and Will had professed his love for a good lobster mac and cheese. They’d talked about their siblings and their jobs, while staying away from the harder things like her mother’s death and his mama’s sickness.
She’d already confessed far too much to him that night as it was, and he seemed to feel the same way.
Now, he turned down her street, and a yawn pulled through her whole body. She couldn’t contain it, and Will chuckled. “Tired?”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “I’m not up this late ever. I go into the shop about dawn.”
“I’m up at four-thirty to run every morning,” he said.
Horror ran through her. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.”
“You won’t go tomorrow,” she said, not asking. “That’s in like four hours. Or will be, by the time you get home.” He drove an incredibly nice truck, and the clock blinked like diamonds in white lights on the dashboard.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see how I feel when the alarm goes off.”
“Will,” she said, helplessness in her voice.
“What?”
“You’ll be tired.”
“I’m a grown man,” he said. “I know what kind of sleep I need.”
“I feel bad.”
“So our next date we won’t stay out so late.” He grinned at her. “The Culinary Cabin on Wednesday? Or did you want to maybe get together on Sunday? That’s a slower day for me around the farm. I could go with you out to your daddy’s.”
Gretchen thought about it while he pulled into her driveway. The porch light shone in the midnight darkness, and her heart boomed in her chest. Surely this gentleman cowboy would get out and walk her to her door. Her lips tingled in anticipation of kissing him.
Would he even try to kiss her?
“Did I ask a really hard question?” Will teased. “It’s okay to say no, Gretchen. I can wait to see you until Wednesday.”
“Do you go to church in the morning on Sunday?” she asked.
Will sighed and reached to unbuckle his seatbelt. “Sometimes.” He looked at her. “I’d go with you.”
She smiled at him. “Great. I’ll come pick you up, and we’ll go. I usually go to my daddy’s right after that, but you can follow me in your truck so you can get back to the farm if you need to.”
“Oh, you’re gonna cause so much trouble for me,” he said, grinning at her. He got out of the truck before she could ask him what he meant, but she wasn’t going to let this go.
He opened the door for her and crowded into the space as if she couldn’t get down herself. She could, but she took his hand and let him slide his other one along her hip. “What does that mean?” she asked, staying close in his arms. “Why am I going to be trouble for you?”
“Remember my family?” he asked, his eyes a dark blue now. “We eat together every Sabbath Day. If I don’t show up…they’ll be all over me.”
“Then we’ll eat at your house—farm—wherever you guys eat, and then go to my daddy’s.” Gretchen grinned up at him, noting the shock as it marched across his face. “Oh, I see that’s worse.”
“Not worse,” he said, backing up as she stepped forward. “I’m just tryin’ to imagine the hullaballoo if I show up with a woman to Sunday dinner.”
“Because you haven’t dated in five years.”
“Right.”
