She opened the door and slipped inside. The singing was done, and now the pastor was praying, so she stood at the back, head bowed, until he was finished. Moving quickly, she walked down the aisle and laid a hand on Will’s shoulder to alert him to her presence. He glanced up and then turned his legs to the side to allow her into the pew. She felt his hand briefly on her hip as she scooted past him and settled down once again between him and Isabella.
“Everything okay?” he asked as he leaned close to her, concern evident in the softly spoken words.
“Yep.” She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Just a bathroom emergency.”
It looked like he didn’t completely believe her, but obviously the middle of a church service wasn’t the appropriate place to have any sort of conversation. She gave him another quick smile before turning her attention to the front of the church. The pastor had called all the children forward for a prayer before dismissing them for their own service. As Isabella moved past Amy, she gave her a quick kiss and then gave one to Will as well.
Amy smiled at the sight of the dark haired girl skipping down to the front of the church. She knew that skipping wasn’t exactly appropriate in a church, but Amy liked the joy it exuded, and she thought it would make God happy, too. As she watched the children gathered at the front, Amywondered if this thing with Will might lead to the day when it would be a child of theirs joining Isabella and the others at the front.
She glanced at Will and found him watching the children at the front of the church as well, a small smile on his face. A memory came to her again, but this one was more recent as she recalled seeing him again for the first time when he’d showed up at the manor with Isabella just after she’d arrived in Collingsworth. Then she’d thought he’d look hardened and tense, but today he was anything but. The emotion on his face for Isabella revealed just how much he’d changed in the past few weeks.
Was she really responsible for it like some seemed to think? Or had his changes been more for his daughter than anything else?
Once the prayer was done, the congregation stood for one more song as the children left the sanctuary. This time Amy kept a tight rein on her thoughts and focused on the words of the song, desperate to keep any more memories at bay.
~*~*~
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Want to ride back with us?” Will asked Amy as they stood in the sanctuary with the rest of his family. “I brought the Escalade.”
Amy smiled at him. “Well, I certainly can’t refuse a ride in that.”
He was happy to see her smile. Her rapid exit from the sanctuary still played in his mind. He wasn’t entirely convinced it had been the bathroom emergency she’d claimed. For one thing, she hadn’t looked at him and had, in fact, looked like she was keeping her head purposefully down. But he wasn’t going to press her about it. They weren’t yet at that point in their relationship where they were sharing everything, so he’d bide his time.
Though he’d been disappointed that they hadn’t made their date the night before, it had been hard not to laugh at the events that had transpired for Amy that morning. If she hadn’t seemed so distressed about having missed their date, he might have chuckled about it. He hoped that one day they could look back on their first date and the events that followed and laugh about it together.
Once Isabella joined them, they stepped out of the church into the bright summer sunshine. It was a beautiful day, and Will looked forward to spending a relaxing afternoon at the manor with the rest of the family.
“I can get that file for you,” Will said as he sat with Matt and Lance at the picnic table after they’d finished eating. “I meant to bring it over yesterday but forgot.”
“Would you mind?” Lance asked. “Matt’s heading out early to the job site tomorrow. I hate to do business on Sunday, but I want to run the numbers with you two once more before the job starts.”
“I’ll go get it now. It’s at my apartment.” Will stood and extricated himself from the picnic bench. He glanced around and saw Amy sitting with Cami and Josh. He hesitated then walked over to where they were. He touched her shoulder. “Interested in going for a ride?”
She looked up at him. “A ride?”
“Yes. I have to go to the apartment to get a folder for Lance and wondered if you wanted to go along for the ride. We won’t be gone long.”
“Sure.” She stood and turned toward her brother and Cami. “See you in a bit.”
They both nodded, but Will didn’t miss the ever-present concern that was on their faces once again.
It didn’t take long to get to the apartment block even though he hadn’t even been going the speed limit.
“This is a nice place,” Amy said as he pulled into his parking spot.
“Yep. I own the building, actually. It was a bit run-down when I bought it, but I had Lance’s team gut it.” He got out of the car and met her on the sidewalk. “There used to be four apartments per floor, but they were small, so I combined some of them. The main and second floors still have the four apartments, but the third and fourth each have two and thetop floor just has one. Which is mine.”
He unlocked the door then held it open for her. She glanced around the foyer as he found the elevator key. There were two elevators at the far end of the entrance. One was for the first four floors, but the other one was strictly access to his apartment and was locked at all times. He placed his hand on Amy’s back to guide her into the elevator when the doors slid open.
Though he had initially planned for the elevator to open right into his apartment, he’d decided that as an added measure of security he’d still have a small entry with a locked door to his place. As they stepped into the apartment, he glanced at her to gauge her reaction.
“It’s beautiful,” Amy said as she looked around.
“I’m afraid I can’t take any credit for it. Interior decorating is definitely not my thing.” His phone rang, and Will glanced down at it. He frowned when he saw his mom’s number, but tapped the screen to answer it. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
Amy stood beside him as he listened to his mom ask him if he had a few minutes to talk. He didn’t, really, but at the same time, she was his mother, and he respected and loved her enough to give her what she needed. “Hang on just a second, Mom.”
