"You don't have to explain," she said.
"I'm glad you're here," he said. "I'm glad you came to this."
"Me too," she said, smiling at him.
She was beautiful.
"You didn't tell me you were coming," he said.
She shrugged. "I thought I'd see you at the visitation. I assumed that."
"Yeah, I guess. How long are you in town for?"
"Just last night and tonight. I'll head back tomorrow afternoon."
"You've already been here a day? Are you flying out of Butte?"
"Yeah. I mean, I have a connecting flight in Missoula, but it's easier this way since I'm in Butte the whole time."
Henry was interested in what she was saying, but he couldn't stop staring at her. It was the hug that had done it. He was distracted, thrown off, surprised at his own reaction to seeing her again. Henry was too distracted to realize if it was his turn to respond.
"All right," she said with a smile. "Shall we?"
"Sure," he said, snapping out of it and realizing this woman had him mesmerized.
Chapter 10
Amelia
Henry showed up at my door in time to take me to the funeral home. I had to arrive early, and he arranged to get me there in time. He was huge, and he had a warm and welcoming presence when I opened the door, so I hugged him. I breathed in his clean smell. I stayed in his grasp longer than usual because I needed a hug.
Everyone at the funeral home was closer to Donna than I was. I had spent my time there serving and being in the background while they talked to each other. I hadn't let myself be as sad as they were. I honestly hadn't let myself be sad at all.
It felt so good to hug someone that I held onto Henry longer than I should have. I held onto him for so long that I began to feel his muscles and notice his body under the layers of his fabric. As soon as that happened, I snapped out of it and let him go.
We had a brief verbal exchange, but I tried not to take in his physical presence, and within a minute, we were in his truck, heading to the funeral home. We talked about my life on the way there. He asked me about my last semester of school and what I was planning to do after graduation.
I had the series going, and I was helping my sister with some of her promotions. Plus, I wasn’t actually graduating. I still had one class to take. The series was set to start in May, and I wasn't sure of the date. One of my professors had been inflexible regarding my attendance at the end of the term, so I didn't even take his class. I would have to take one more class to officially graduate. But it was worth it to make the series, and I considered myself finished with school since it was only one class.
Henry had been busy during the last year. He and his dad had built a new building for the set on their farm, and it was gorgeous and period-appropriate for the series. I had seen pictures via Alex, and I knew they had done a lot of work on it. I had thought about Henry more than I should have during the last year, and some of it was because I had regular updates on the building he made.
We had just started talking about that when he parked at the funeral home. I was already a minute late, so I opened the truck door the instant he put it in park.
"I'm going to run in," I said. "I'll be in the kitchen. Thanks for the ride."
"Yeah, no problem."
"I want to hear more about that building," I said. "Come talk to me inside… or maybe we'll ride back together, if you can give me a ride back. If not, no biggie."
"No, yeah, I thought I would," he said.
I nodded at him and closed his truck door, heading inside without him. Henry Sutter was an absolute heartthrob, and I hadn't thought that would be a problem until now.
Before now, I had no thoughts of Henry.
Now I was having thoughts.
I blamed the hug.
