Winnie went into her bedroom, Rocky hot on her heels, and she methodically pulled the pins out of her hair, washed her face, and brushed her teeth. She shed her party clothes and slipped into a soft pair of pajamas that testified of her love of reading, the color purple, and hot tea.
She sighed, a round of tears pressing into her eyes for a reason she couldn’t name. Perhaps the fact that her own sister had abandoned her at the dance. Maybe because she didn’t want Ty to think she’d been fishing for a date when she’d talked to Wilder about him. Maybe because he’d asked her out, and she didn’t know if she could—or should—keep her personal pact and say yes.
Sinking to her knees at her bedside, Winnie bowed her head and let herself cry for several long moments. She didn’t vocalize anything, but she believed God could hear the prayers in her heart, and tonight, that would have to be good enough.
The following morning,Winnie’s phone rang just as she stepped through her sliding back door and onto the deck. She carried a plate with a rewarmed chocolate croissant in one hand and her morning cup of pomegranate tea in the other, and she couldn’t fish her phone out of her pocket immediately.
She did manage to get the croissant on the table and her hand in her pocket by the second ring.
“Tyson Greene,” she breathed out. Then she cleared her throat, lifted her head, and swiped on the call. “Hello?”
“Hey,” he said, and oh, that word could’ve just as easily been categorized as a bark.
Winnie waited, because he had initiated this conversation with that two-line text last night. Along the edge of her backyard, the river bubbled, filling the air with the cheery sound of running water that had won her over the first time she’d looked at this house.
“You wanted me to call?” heasked.
“You want to go to your friend’s wedding with me?”
“Well, I can’t go alone.”
Winnie sat down and lifted her tea to her lips. She blew gently on it as she watched the squirrels in her backyard run up the oak tree. “Why not?” she finally asked. “Lots of people go to weddings alone.”
Nothing came through the line at all, but Winnie imagined him growling, because it would fit his personality perfectly.
“All my friends have dates,” he finally said, his voice one flat monotone. “And I don’t want to go alone. If you have plans?—”
“I don’t have plans.” Winnie’s heartbeat zoomed through her body, making her head spin.
“So you just don’t want to go with me.”
“I’m a little surprisedyouwant to go withme,” she said.
“Why—I mean, why’s that? Why wouldn’t I want to go with you?”
Winnie tried to hear the ingenuine quality in his tone, but she couldn’t. He seemed honestly confused, and that only added toherconfusion. She cocked her head and took a sip of her tea as a blue bird landed on her bird feeder.
A smile spread across her face. “Do you like bird-watching?”
“Bird-watching?” Ty repeated. “No. Who likes bird-watching?”
Winnie’s smile faltered. “I do.”
“I mean, yeah, of course. Bird-watching.” He cleared his throat. “It’s fine. Well, I have to get to work?—”
“Why did you ask me?” she asked.
He coughed this time, and Winnie couldn’t believe it, but all the physical signs she could hear told her he was…nervous. To be talking to her?
Impossible.
Preposterous.
Ridiculous.
“Do you want me to be honest?”
She set down her teacup, the liquid still too hot to sip, and shewasn’t exactly sure where this conversation was going. “I generally advocate for honesty, yes.”
