“Do you have a few minutes? We could go for a walk.”
“Always.”
Holly slips off her white coat, revealing bronzed skin and I suck in a breath. The top of her dress has these little sleeves, kind of like the ruffles at the bottom, and they move whenever she does.
She hangs her coat on a hanger behind the desk and reaches into a drawer to pull out her purse. Once she slings it over her shoulder, she grabs the tote bag and looks up at me.
I reach an arm out for her, and she doesn’t hesitate to come to me, tucking herself into my side. I let my arm fall on her shoulder, resting my weight on her as I open the door for us. Summer is in full swing. The sun shines brightly up above. Even though it’s lunch time, it’s already hot and humid. Holly pauses, closing her eyes and tilting her head back toward the sky. My eyes fall to her sleek neck, and I have to physically restrain myself from leaning in to nip at her soft skin. She inhales a full deep breath, her chest rising with the act, and when she releases it and her eyes open, I’m already smiling down at her.
“You look like you can breathe.”
Her face breaks into a smile, and she links her fingers with mine. “I can, and it feels wonderful.”
We stroll in silence for a block, admiring the small shops that line the main street of this town.
“This one used to be a bakery when I was a kid,” I point out, referencing a tall brick building. “They had the best mini cheesecakes. They’d do fruity ones for summer, pumpkin ones in the fall, and these Bananas Foster ones that I’d drive all the way here for year round. I’d eat an embarrassing amount of them in the truck before I even pulled out of the lot.”
Holly snickers at that, tucking herself further into my side. “Are cheesecakes your favorite?”
“All desserts, really,” I say, tapping my stomach. “That’s clear. But any type of cheesecake is probably my first choice. Man, I haven’t thought about that place in a long time.”
She reaches a hand over to rest atop my stomach. “We need to find you some Bananas Foster cheesecake, then.”
We pass by the hardware store, the independently-owned book store, and the butcher shop. Once we reach the end of the business section, we cross the street and head down the other direction. Our steps slow as we near the edge of town where a row of small apple trees line the sidewalk with their branches stretching out towardthe footpath. The trees open up into a quiet orchard that leads us straight into the park. A white gazebo sits in the center, surrounded by wildflowers, and a picnic area that’s private enough for us.
“This is gorgeous.” Holly glances around the space, tipping her head back to look at the trees, when I notice a small patch of purple pansies along one wall. She sits at the table, and I squat down, plucking a small but firm one. The top two petals are purple, and the bottom two start out purple but bleed into shades of yellow. It matches her dress perfectly.
Slinging a leg over the bench, I straddle the wood to face her and lean forward, tucking the stem of the flower behind her ear. Her lips purse, and she looks up at me in a way that makes my chest tight. “Look alright?”
“Never seen anything better,” I choke out.
I lean in to kiss her, placing a soft, slow kiss on her lips. I try to pull away, but her hands are on my face, bringing me back to her for another taste. “Hi,” I say again, and her corresponding smile has blood coursing through my veins.
Picking up the tote from the ground, I set it on the bench between us and start pulling out containers. “I hope you’re hungry. My mom didn’t know what you liked, so she packed a little bit of everything.”
She opens up the first container that holds the fried chicken and fishes out a piece, immediately bringing it to her mouth for a bite. “This is seriously incredible,” she says, covering her mouth with her opposite hand. “Sorry, you’re going to have to witness me talking and chewing.”
I pull out the rest of the containers—macaroni and cheese, tossed salad with multiple options for dressing, brown sugar glazed carrots, and a slice of blueberry pie for dessert. “The blueberries are the first ones picked from my mom’s patch, so consider yourself lucky there.”
“There is no way I’m ever going to eat all of this,” she says, stabbing her fork into a pile of mac and cheese.”
“Good. It can be leftovers for dinner so you don’t have to cook.”
Her eyes widen at that. “You aren’t going to eat with me?”
“Nope, all you baby. I ate lunch at home before I came.”
We sit in comfortable silence with Holly eating her lunch and both of us looking around. I point out a few of the other buildings I recognize, letting her know which ones changed from when I was a kid. She asks me about the farm, about the animals, and when the silence lingers, I finally ask the question that’s been bothering me all week.
“Are you ready to go back to the ER?”
She exhales heavily, setting the fork down on her half-eaten salad. “That’s the million-dollar question I’ve been asking myself lately. I owe it to them to come back as promised. It’s where I’ve worked my whole career. They’ve had a lot of turnover, too, even since I’ve been gone. I don’t want to leave them hanging when they’re nice enough to hold my position for me.”
“Those are all really good things to say, Holly, but that doesn’t answer my question.”
Her gaze, which had been glued to the table as she spoke, swings up to meet mine. “Damn you for paying attention.”
I chuckle at that, raising a hand to rest between her shoulder blades, running smooth lines up and down her back. “What do you want, Holly?”
