Laurel glanced away from the ribbon she was wrapping around a ring. “Care to share?”
“Uh. Nope.” Will could only imagine the awkwardness that would ensue should he spill his thoughts. “What were you trying to get my attention for in the first place?”
“I was just saying that these ring things are pretty easy.” Violet held up the one she was working on. “And I thought you should give us a hand since it’s for your daughter.”
Will watched as Amy picked up a ring and a long strand of ribbon. When she headed in his direction, he held up his hands. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s really easy,” Amy said. “If you can do a piñata, you can do this. Here I’ll show you.”
She held out the ring, leaving him no choice but to take it from her. Will tried to keep his attention on her words as she bent down to show him what to do. Unfortunately, the brush of one of her blonde curls on his cheek distracted him almost as much as the soft scent of the perfume she wore.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Hold this part with your thumb like this,” Amy said as she placed the ribbon against the ring and moved his thumb to anchor it leaving long strands of it hanging free. “Then you just loop this part through over and over again. Cover just the edge of the ribbon already on the ring each time. When you’re done, you’ll have two long tails of ribbon. Then we’ll knot them. Easey peasey.”
As Will began to loop the ribbon like Amy had shown him, he glanced at Matt and Dean. Both men were watching him with smirks on their faces.
“Too bad you guys aren’t talented enough to help with such a simple craft,” he muttered, which sent both men into guffaws of laughter.
When the laughter suddenly died down, Will looked up to see Violet and Laurel each approaching their husbands with a ring and a length of ribbon. He didn’t bother to hide his own snort of laughter.
“Seriously?” groused Matt as he frowned at his wife. “At least make this a little fun.” He grabbed Laurel and pulled her into his lap. “Now you can show me what to do.”
Violet didn’t even wait for Dean to grab her. She settled herself comfortably on her husband’s lap and began to give him directions.
One would have thought with several people working it would have gone faster, but both Dean and Matt seemed to need a lot more instruction from their wives than Will had needed. For obvious reasons. He wondered what it would be like to have the right to be that way with Amy.
Shocked by the thought, Will turned his attention back to the ring he held. He stared at it for a minute trying to work through the realization he’d just had. In the past when his siblings had been affectionate with each other, he’d felt a pang of longing for what he’d had with Delia. This was the first time he’d wondered about experiencing that intimacy with someone else. Even though he had been wondering about something with Amy, this was a first.
Guilt rippled through him. He’d never thought that way about anyone but Delia. Without even trying, apparently, Amy had managed to slip past his defenses and turn his thoughts to her. He just wasn’t sure how he felt about it. It had been almost seven years since Delia’s death. His family had begun hinting a few years ago that he should move on, but he hadn’t been ready. Now it seemed maybe he was.
He just wished he could tell if Amy might be interested in him the way he was in her. With Delia, there had never been a doubt. She’d flirted outrageously with him, making it clear, almost from their first meeting, that she was interested in him. Amy, on the other hand, seemed to treat him the same as the rest of the men in the family.
“Are you having a problem?”
Will looked up to see Amy standing beside his chair. “What?”
“You stopped working on your ring. Just wondered if it was giving you problems.”
“No, but you are”was what he wanted to say. Instead, he shook his head. “Apparently I can’t think and work at thesame time.”
She took the ring from his fingers and studied it. “What you’ve done so far looks great. Keep it up.”
Her smile of encouragement did funny things to his gut. “Thanks.” He looked back down at the ring and began to loop the ribbon once again. This time he made sure that he continued to work even while dealing with all the thoughts in his head.
If she wasn’t Josh’s little sister and Cami’s sister-in-law, he might not be as hesitant to pursue her, but he didn’t want to make things awkward for either of them. And if it didn’t work out, would they be able to go back to being friends? Timing would be everything, Will figured. For Isabella’s sake, he didn’t want to upset things before the party, but once it was over, he would see how things stood and decide whether or not to take the risk. In the meantime, he could put out some subtle feelers with her. See how she responded to him. Or if she started avoiding him. Truth be told, now that he’d thought about it, some of his interactions with her had already bordered on flirting. She made it so easy when she brought out that lighthearted side of him that had been absent for so long.
He looked back at the table and realized that Isabella and a couple of the other girls had abandoned the play structure and were kneeling on the benches of the picnic table.
“Can we help?” Julia asked, reaching out to touch one of the completed rings.
“Sure!” And revealing why she made such a good teacher, Amy patiently showed the girls how to loop the ribbon around the rings.
Once the younger girls were started on rings of their own, Will got up and approached the table.
“I’m done with mine.” He held it out to her, keeping the tops of the ribbon tails pinched between his fingers. “Do I pass?”
“Hold it for a second while I finish it off.” Amy quickly knotted the two ends of the ribbons then looked up at him and smiled. “Excellent! Ready for another one?”
