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Meg shook her head.
“What did he say?”
“That his motives were pure, that I’m not the easiest person to approach so he felt he needed a little help.”
Baylee snorted a laugh.
“Hey!” Meg swatted her friend’s leg.
“You’re honestly going to disagree with that?”
Meg slumped her shoulders. “No,” she whispered. “But…”
“But what?” Baylee’s voice softened as she rubbed Meg’s shoulder. “Sweetie. You have so much to offer someone like Chet. But you’ve guarded yourself for so long, you just don’t know any other way.”
A tear slid down Meg’s cheek and she swiped it away.
“Chet is a confident guy,” Baylee continued, “but when it comes to us women, even the boldest ones can need a little help sometimes. What Chet did was not meant to deceive you. It was merely meant to crack open a door between you that was shut.”
“She’s right.”
Meg looked up to see Rachel and Eva standing there. They both had contrite looks on their faces. Dottie sat beside Eva, her leash in Eva’s hand. With her ears back and down, even Dottie looked sorry.
“I really am sorry, Meg,” Eva said. “I had no idea you were there. But I’m glad you heard what you did.” She sat on Meg’s other side. “Chet’s my big brother so it’s fun for me to give him a hard time. But he is also one of the best men I know.” She smiled. “He’s been wanting to ask you out for so long.”
“I don’t think that’s a secret,” Baylee added. “The way he looked at you, Meg, whenever he came in the diner was proof enough.”
Meg smiled.
“Wow! You have come a long way,” Baylee said. “You used to protest that until you were blue in the face. Now I get a smile?”
“Maybe him wanting to ask you out wasn’t such a secret,” Eva continued. “But the depth of his feelings was stronger than heever let on. I’m his sister. I know how to read him. Hereallylikes you, Meg. His eyes have only been on you since he moved here.”
“I owe you an apology, Meg,” Rachel said. She stood before the other three women, both hands on the umbrella propped in front of her. The resemblance to Mary Poppins was uncanny. “I hesitated at first when Chet asked me to pair you two for the fundraiser. I was concerned about this very thing. But what made me agree is everything Eva is saying. He is the most loyal, honest man I know. And there’s a bit of a shyness behind all that bravado. He was terrified to ask you out and be rejected. He was afraid to lose any chance he might have with you.”
“Man,” said Meg, shaking her head. “I sound awful.”
“That’s not it at all.” Rachel smiled down at her. “You have been through more than most, Meg. And you’ve navigated it with admirable strength. You didn’t let it destroy you.”
Baylee rubbed Meg’s back. “She’s right. It wasn’t about you being too closed off or as you say, awful. You were understandably protective of yourself.”
“And Chet saw that,” Eva said. “He never saw you as closed off. Just…guarded. He sensed it was from something painful and honestly just wanted to know what it was so he could be there for you.”
Chet’s words to Meg the night they had danced on his porch came back to her. He’d said he just wanted to hold her when she wasn’t okay. Nothing she had shared with him had caused him to turn and run. In fact, it had been the opposite. The more she opened up to him, the closer to her he moved.
“I feel horrible.” Meg dropped her head in her hands.
“Well, how did it end with you two?” Eva asked.
Meg looked up, heat rising in her cheeks.
“Based on that blush,” Baylee said with a smile, “I’d say it didn’t end as badly as you fear.”
Meg covered her face again, then dropped her hands and smiled. “It ended fine.”
“You are not getting away with just an ‘It ended fine.’” Eva gently pushed on Meg’s leg.
Meg laughed. “Okay! Okay! He kissed me. I was still kind of mad but I was also processing his explanation and it was a good one and…ugh. I don’t know. The whole thing happened so fast. He grabbed me and kissed me and I swear I saw stars and then…he ran off. He had to go to work.”
