When he approached her, Winnie was out of breath and had a sheen of sweat on her face. He frowned. He’d seen her medical chart, along with her blood pressure, and knew she needed to be careful.
“I just spoke with Eliana, and she’s sick.” Worry creased her brow.
“Oh no.” Asher had never been a good actor, so he tried to keep his wooden reaction to a minimum as he directed her to a chair.
Winnie sat with a grateful smile. “I know you’re a busy man, but could you be a dear and bring her some bread I made? She always loves to nibble on bread when she’s not feeling well, and I’m technically not supposed to drive. Horace, of course, is nowhere to be found.” She said his name with an unexpectedly sour twist.
He sat beside her. “Are you okay, Winnie?”
“I’m going a little stir-crazy being stuck here so often,” she admitted.
“I’d offer to drive you around, but all I have is my motorcycle.”
“That sounds exciting,” she said, looking a lot like Eliana when she got an idea. Her eyes lit up, and he regretted his words. He imagined hitting a bump in the road too hard and accidentally flinging Eliana’s grandma off the back of his motorcycle. Yeah, a ride was not happening.
“So, what were you saying about bread?” he prompted.
“Oh, yes. Can you take some to Eliana? I’m just waiting for her to message me her address.”
“Sure.” He had no idea how Eliana was going to get out of this one, and felt almost bad for her. Winnie was a force, especially when it came to taking care of her loved ones. “Just message me,” he said.
She pulled him into a tight side hug. “Thank you, Asher. Oh, there’s Nancy. I’ve been trying to get a hold of her for the turtle fundraiser. Don’t go anywhere,” she ordered as she bustled after Nancy.
He pulled out his phone to check the time, and saw he had three messages from a number he didn’t recognize. He’d completely forgotten about the texts from earlier.
Eliana:MAYDAY. MAYDAY.
Eliana:My grandma is trying to set us up again.
Eliana:With BREAD this time. DO NOT AGREE TO BRING IT TO ME.
Uh oh. Well, that ship had sailed.
He saved Eliana’s number into his phone and sent her a text back.
Asher:Too late. She caught me before I saw your texts.
Eliana:AAAAAAASHER.
He smiled. He could hear the groan in her voice as if she were right there, saying it to him.
Eliana:What have you done? We’ll be married before Julia and Logan at this rate.
He snorted out a laugh that made both Nancy and Winnie stop their conversation to look at him with questioning glances. He felt his cheeks turn pink, but went back to his phone.
Asher:Would that be so bad? We already live together.
He wasn’t used to banter like this—and a tiny part of him worried she might think he was low-key proposing—but something about Eliana brought this side out of him. He liked making her laugh. Liked surprising her.
Relief rolled through him when her next text came in.
Eliana:I plan on becoming a crazy turtle lady in my old age, FYI. So you marry me, and you marry the whole bale.
Asher:Bale?
Eliana:That’s what a group of turtles is called.
Asher:Ah. All named after single women?
