I immediately had second thoughts. Oh, God, what was I doing? A weekend of splendor, and then what? I’d be more in love with him than ever. It would make the inevitable good-bye all the harder. Tears trembled on the edge of my lashes.
“Hey—are you still crying?”
“No.” It was a ridiculous thing to lie about, since my cheeks were wet and my vision was fuzzy. “Notsadcrying anyway. This is emotional, overwhelmed crying.” I looked up at him in the deepening twilight. “Know what would help?”
“What?”
“A visit to the potting shed.”
“You shameless hussy.”
“You’ve turned me into one.”
“Is that so?” His arm tightened around me, and he angled down a sexy grin. “In that case, I’d better check out just how good of a job I did.”
51
hope
Iwas adding shadows to the mural in the back room of the coffee shop when the black plastic drape covering the doorway moved aside and a female voice squealed,“Oh my gosh—this isamazing!”
I looked up to see Freret standing in the doorway separating the main coffee shop from the new addition, bouncing on her ballet flats.
“Shhh,” Kirsten said. She was standing on a ladder, hanging photos on the opposite wall. “What are you doing back here anyway? You’re not supposed to see it until the surprise party.”
“It’s notmysurprise party. It’s Miss Addie’s,” Freret said, walking into the room and staring at the mural. “Which I’m not sure is a good idea anyway, given her age. A surprise like this might kill her.”
I’d worried about the same thing. “I checked with her doctor, and he said she should be perfectly fine,” I said. “Besides, he’ll be here.”
“I want the unveiling to be a surprise for the whole town,” Kirsten said.
“News flash: since the whole town is donating pictures, they already know. Here are mine, by the way.” Freret handed Kirsten a stack of photos and stared at the mural. “Hope, you’ve done an incredible job!”
“Thanks.” I still had some spots to fix, but I was pretty proud of the way it had turned out.
“Hope is astounding. Look at the pen-and-ink of her grandmother’s house she did as a going-away present for Miss Addie.” Kirsten held up a five-by-seven I’d sketched from one of Gran’s photos.
“Oh, that is so gorgeous! I’d love to have one of my parents’ house to give them for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Could you do that?”
“Sure,” I said. “Just give me a photo of it.”
“Really?” Her face brightened. “You know, I can think of about a dozen people that would pay top dollar for house sketches. You could make a whole career out of doing this. Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind and stay in Wedding Tree?”
“Actually, I’d love to.” The answer surprised me as I heard it come out of my mouth. “I love it here. But this job—well, another one like it is unlikely to come around.”
“Excuse me for saying so, but men like Matt don’t come around every day, either,” Freret said.
The mention of Matt made my heart flutter. “Things aren’t like that between us.”
“I’ve heard reports from Mrs. Ivy that say otherwise,” Freret said.
Kirsten snickered.
“You know what I mean,” I said.
“No,” Kirsten said. “We don’t.”
“It’s a short-term thing. It’s not forever after.”
