“Well, and the legal career helps with that sort of thing too.”
“Why do you think I became an attorney in the first place? Strong-willed parents—there happens to be a couple of benefits to having them.” She laughed and drained the rest of her drink. “What about you? Tell me about your parents. Your mom’s not the mayor of Silver Plum, is she? Because with the way my mother shoehorns our mayor…”
“My mom is not, but my friend is.”
Carolina raised her glass and smiled. “Well, good luck with that.”
The rest of the night was okay. Carolina was fun to talk to, and he felt good having someone to commiserate with who wasn’t exactly happy to be there either.
There was the presentation of awards, followed by some quick photos of Liza and her family. Probably because he was standing right there, the photographer insisted Zane join them in some of the shots, and Carolina kept him entertained with quiet comments during the photos.
“I like that wall; I like that wall,” Carolina muttered under her breath.
“That’s the best wall I’ve ever seen,” he agreed.
When the photographer focused her attention on someone else, Zane touched Carolina’s elbow. “I think I’d better head home.”
Alrighty then. That was over. Even though he didn’t want to, he thought of Mabel the whole way home, hoping she’d still have feelings for him after spending the day with Doctor Conforth.
Right before bed, he checked his email and, with dread, opened a new message. His head began to throb, and his throat went dry. It was the kind of email he’d always hoped he’d never get.
Chapter 20
Mabel drove to Rexburg early that morning, feeling nervous anticipation, like she was about to take a big test or give an important speech.
It probably had more to do with her feelings for Zane than the events of the day ahead. She felt an undercurrent of fear that her relationship with him would revert to somewhere it was before: the icky unknown.
She wanted to seal this up in a bottle, put a cork in it, and set it high on a mantle, protecting it from the world.
And they hadn’t had a chance to talk much since the debacle in the cow pasture the day before.
When she arrived at the reception center, there were three things very clear to her.
One: it was going to take a lot of work to get this event up to the expectations of the powers that be.
Two: Several people from the committee weren’t there yet.
And three: She might just need to go buy a chunky milkshake for herself before too long. Because it was just her and Dallin, and even though she knew she was a hard enough worker and good enoughwith design to pull this off, she needed backup in the form of creamy, chocolaty, melty goodness.
“Where’s the rest of the committee?” Mabel asked when she entered the reception center to find Dallin lounging on a sofa in shorts and a t-shirt. She’d only ever seen him in scrubs and formal wear.
“They’re coming. They’ll be here in and out throughout the day.” He threw an arm up in the air. “What can I say? Nursing students are busy, busy folk.”
“You know this, yet you have to form committees full of students just to pull the gala off.”
“This gala has been an institution here at this school since the very beginning. We’ve got this.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. Doc Conforth was an attractive man who seemed to maybe have feelings for her. But the fact that he was an attending physician and a professor at the school was only one small part of her hesitation.
The other much bigger part? Zane. It was always Zane.
Something had happened as things progressed with him these last few days. Now she knew what she wanted, full-hearted. She just had to make it through this day.
Dallin cast lines, trying to flirt with her in the morning. By the afternoon, it was clear he was all about the flirting. At that point, there was no trying. Just doing. And again, the eyes of the other nursing students held questions.
Late afternoon waned, and students came and went until it was just the two of them again. While they were finishing up making the most gigantic balloon arch she’d ever seen, Dallin reached his arms around her from behind, his hands around her waist and his chin near the top of her head.
Everything in her shouted foul play. She stepped from his embrace, rolling her shoulders as his arms slipped away.
