“I haven’t had much to smile about.”
The gleam in Willow’s eyes lit something deep in his chest. “Well, you’ve come to the right place. If you want to see what I’ve done to the cottage, you could come home with me.”
Zac nearly said yes, until he remembered he was only here for two weeks. The more time he spent with Willow, the more tangled in her life he would become. The only way he’d been able to get through the last few years was to keep his life simple. And he had a feeling a relationship with Willow would never be simple.
“Thanks, but I’ll have to see your cottage another time. I want to stain the lower deck on my house before I go back to Kabul.”
If Willow was surprised, she didn’t show it. “That’s all right. I’d better leave you to enjoy the rest of your run.”
“I’ll see you at Levi and Brooke’s wedding tomorrow.”
“Sounds great.”
And before he could call himself every fool under the sun, he left.
As he ran through the forest, he tried not to think about what he could have said to Willow. If Levi or any of his other friends were here, they would have asked her if she wanted to go to the wedding with them. But he hadn’t, and that was a good thing.
Or so he kept telling himself.
Willow parkedher truck beside the other wedding guests’ vehicles. As soon as she’d looked through her bedroom window this morning, she’d said a silent prayer of thanks. It was one of those wonderful March mornings when the sky was bright blue and you knew the day would be perfect.
Opening the passenger door, she took out her camera bag and jacket. Even though it was a beautiful afternoon the weather could change in a heartbeat. The barn was fully insulated and looked adorable, but she didn’t want to freeze if she went outside.
“You look amazing,” Sam said from behind her.
Willow turned and smiled. The soft chiffon skirt of her red dress swirled around her legs. “Hi, Sam. I love your jacket, too. It makes your eyes look as blue as the sky.”
Caleb, Sam’s husband, cleared his throat. “Do you like my dinner suit?”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. Anyone would think he’d never worn a suit before.”
Willow laughed. “You look very handsome, Caleb. How’s Levi?”
“Nervous. He told me to come and meet you.”
“He thought you’d get lost,” Sam added with a dry smile. “How’s Brooke?”
“She’s remarkably calm. The photos with her parents are lovely.”
Caleb took Willow’s camera bag out of her hands. “You’d better come with me before Levi sends out a search party.”
As they walked toward the barn, Willow checked her watch. “We’ve got plenty of time. There’s still twenty minutes until Brooke arrives.”
“Try telling that to Levi,” Caleb muttered. “He’ll wear a hole in the floor with the amount of pacing he’s doing.”
“Don’t worry about Levi,” Willow told him. “Once he sees Brooke, he’ll feel better.”
Caleb opened a door at the back of the barn. “I hope so. He’s waiting upstairs in the loft with his parents.”
Willow climbed the wide wooden stairs.
Taking the photographs of Levi and Brooke’s wedding was an honor and a huge responsibility. So far, everything had gone really well. The photos of Brooke, her family, and the bridal party were stunning.
If the images she took during the rest of the day were as good as those, everyone would be happy.
When Levi toldZac he was getting married in a barn, Zac hadn’t known what to expect. He’d imagined bales of hay for seats, cobwebs spun around the rafters, and mice living in the loft. But this barn was beyond anything he expected to see.
The red, two-story building sat tall and proud in the middle of a working ranch. Instead of horse stalls and a tack room, rows of wooden seats decorated with white bows and small bouquets of lavender filled the large, open-plan space.
