I jumped out of the styling chair and my eyes hit on my reflection in the mirror. I looked pretty. I hadn’t taken the initiative to fix myself up since the day the OB/GYN told me that my baby wouldn’t survive to term. I stared at myself silently before grinning. I was finally starting to see glimpses of the Bailey I thought I lost. It felt good to see her again.
When I answeredthe door for Bright at exactly 7:45 that night, he looked even more handsome than usual. He worked with his hands, which meant his typical style of dress leaned heavily casual. But that night he was wearing cream colored button-up and matching cream colored cargo pants. But it was the smile he gave me that sent the butterflies in my stomach into overdrive. I reminded myself that I was married before smiling back at him. I remembered that feeling from back when Xander’s gazes used to give me life. I missed having a man look at me like I was something good to look at.
“Hey.”
“Hey. These are for you.” He handed me a bouquet of wildflowers featuring two prominent sunflowers. I smiled again as I took the bouquet from his hand.
“I’ve always found myself drawn to sunflowers. Thank you.”
He followed me into the house. I needed to put the flowers in water because I wanted to enjoy them for days to come.
“I heard that sunflowers track the sun. Wherever the sun is, sunflowers lean to catch the sun’s rays. That kinda remindedme of you. You’ve been fighting through a dark space, but you haven’t given up. You’re still tracking the sun. Looking for the light. Being the light.”
“You’re gonna make me cry.” I shook my head to shake away the notion of messing up my light beat with tear streaks. “I’ve been kinda emotional these last few days. Starting from when I watched Xander trying to destroy my mother’s front window. Talking to my delusional ass mother-in-law. Then talking to Xander. Today has truly been everything I’ve needed, Bright. I needed that drive up, what’s it called? What’s the name of the road?”
“Road to the Angels of God.”
“Yeah.” I grinned at the memory of the beauty of the drive. “I needed that drive. I needed the thoughtfulness behind the breakfast and this date.” I blushed slightly. “I needed the way Perkins pampered me while she did my hair. I needed your mother and my mother bringing in racks of outfits choices for me. Oh my gosh!” My giggles floated into the air. “I’ve never had anybody do that for me before.” I felt tears threatening again. “I needed these flowers and the explanation of what they represent.” After sitting the bouquet on the island, I stepped closer to him and threw my arms around his waist.
He pulled me into a tight embrace. “You deserve it, Bae-Bae. You deserve all those things.”
“Thank you for making me feel soft.” My whisper barely carried from my lips into the atmosphere, so I wasn’t even sure if he heard me until he spoke.
“You are soft, lil mama.”
Bright tookme toGood Ashesat the lodge. I wasn’t mad at all. I loved the food atGood Ashes. Brewer was the head chef, and his food was some of the best I’d ever tasted. As a girl from Chicago, I didn’t play about food, because my city had some of the best that the world had to offer. But Brewer always fed me properly.
Bright helped me out of the SUV, led me into the restaurant, and didn’t stop until we were at the chef’s table.
“It’s so nice here,” I gushed. I’d eaten a lot of food fromGood Ashessince I’d been in Jackson Falls. Bright was always bringing me take-out to the bed and breakfast. And I was devouring the Dungeness crab cakes and mac-n-cheese from theGood Ashesbooth at the spring festival. But I’d never actually sat down and had a meal in the restaurant. It was just as swanky as I would’ve imagined. It gave wild west, but it also gave masculine and upscale luxe. It was a gorgeous place, and the aromas wafting through the air had my stomach grumbling.
Bright waited for me to take a seat then sat across from me.
“I already know exactly what I want.” I picked up the menu.
“Let me guess, you want crab cakes and either mac-n-cheese or the butter and lobster loaded mashed potatoes.”
I grinned at him before the two of us fell into a companionable silence. I really liked that about being with Bright. I grew up in a house filled with women. There was always chatter, giggling, crying, yelling, and laughing. There wasn’t a lot of silence. Then I married Xander. When he was around, he talked constantly, seeming to need to hear himself talk. When he wasn’t around, the silence was deafening. It was a different experience for me to get to be quiet with somebody. I liked that Bright didn’t have the impulse to constantly prattle on and on.
“It’s so quiet and relaxing here,” I mused.
“Yeah. Brewer is the quiet one of the Strong brothers. If any of the other of us had a restaurant it would probably bea sports bar. Only Brew would want a place where patrons felt encouraged to whisper.”
We both laughed.
“I think the people are so quiet because the food is so good. Who wants to talk when you can eat food that makes your tastebuds act up?”
The waiter took our orders. Bright went for the T-Bone steak, the loaded butter and lobster mashed potatoes, and the collard greens. I got my beloved crab cakes, along with the creamy three-cheese grits, and broccolini. The waiter set a bowl of soft, steamy bread down on the table and filled our glasses with ice water before walking away to put in our orders.
“Earlier, you asked me what I dreamed about,” Bright said.
“Yeah. You played me off, so I let you make it.”
“I didn’t play you off.” His brown eyes were bright with humor. “I needed to think about it.”
“What did you come up with?”
“Lately, I’ve been dreaming more about having what my brothers have. I never thought about it too much before.”
