“I’d be willing to buy a jumpsuit in a different color,” Winnie said. “Will we be dancing?”
“I don’t want you there as my nurse,” he said.
“I thought I already agreed to that,” she said. “I was asking to know if I should wear heels or not.”
“I have no idea what the itinerary is,” he said. “It’s awedding, Winnie. For the love of eight seconds.”
Winnie burst out laughing, though she didn’t think Ty had meant to be funny. Nope. He didn’t join her, but she couldn’t help the giggles streaming from her mouth.
She sobered and asked, “What time do I need to be ready?”
“I don’t know.”
Winnie grinned out into the peacefulness of her backyard. Yes, Taylor would be up soon, and Winnie would have to pretend to care about her new boyfriend, but for now, she could enjoy the mid-morning sunshine, the squirrels, and teasing Ty. She could hardly believe that last one, but well, she was just trying to live in the moment.
“I’ve got to be honest, too, Ty?—”
“When are you ever not?”
“It sure seems like maybe you pocket-texted me,” she went on. “I didn’t see you drinking last night, and I’m pretty sure you drove away in your truck, but…you text me at almost one in the morning, and it was practically a demand to go to a wedding with you in ten days. But you don’t know what I need to wear, or if there will be dancing, or what time I need to be ready?”
“I—I don’t drink.”
“That’s a relief.” Winnie pictured his dark eyes and all that hair, which he’d admitted he kept long to annoy his mother. “Shoot straight with me, cowboy, because I’ve had enough of men who lie right to my face.”
She took a deep breath and hoped she wouldn’t regret the next words out of her mouth. “Did you ask me to the wedding because you were jealous?”
Silence.
Two seconds, then five, then seven, passed.
“Yes,” he barked. “Okay? Yes. I don’t want to watchyou go out with someone who isn’t me, okay? Yes, I was jealous of this other guy who might ask you out.” His breath heaved on the other end of the line, and then he quieted again.
Winnie ducked her head, her soul practically singing. She wasn’t sure if her heart was ready to take on a man—another cowboy—like Tyson Greene, but oh, she wanted to find out.
“Okay, then yes,” she said, using a lot of the same words he had. “I’ll go to the wedding with you next weekend if you can get me some additional details very soon.”
“I can,” Ty whispered.
“Great,” she whispered back. “Well…Happy New Year, Ty.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Happy New Year to you too, Winnie.”
The call ended, and Winnie sighed into the silent morning air. “I don’t know what this will be, Lord,” she murmured. “But can You please make it something good? I don’t know if I can take any more sad, bad, or lonely.”
She ate her croissant and sipped her tea, and when her phone chimed, she found a text from Ty.
The ceremony is at five o’clock on Saturday, up at Shiloh Ridge Ranch. There’s a dinner, reception, and dance party right after. Judy says there’s no color requirements, so wear whatever makes you smile—heels or no heels. I think I need to pick you up at four for us to be there on time.
Winnie smiled and watched a pair of squirrels chase each other along the back fence. “It might be nice if Ty and I could get along,” she added to her prayer. “Okay? Just for a couple of hours.” She nodded and tucked her phone back onto the side table with her now-empty teacup.
Yeah, it sure would be nice if she and Ty could learn how to get along…maybe for longer than it took to attend a wedding together. But Winnie didn’t want to ask too much of God too soon, so she simply said, “Amen,” and left it at that.
3
Tyson finished unloading the dishes he’d just brought in from the veranda and retied his apron around his waist to make it tighter.
The kitchen at Colt’s new restaurant at the apple orchard bustled with cooks whipping up French toast stuffed with apples, frying bacon, or poaching eggs. Tyson didn’t love restaurant work, and he normally ran a crew in the southwest part of the orchard.
