Her eyes narrow as she points a piece of bacon at me. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
I push my seat closer to hers so I can pull her out of her chair and tug her into my lap as I steal what’s left of her bacon. “I don’t want you to worry about the water wheel. And I definitely don’t want you regretting what led to it breaking.”
She runs her hand along my cheek, kissing me lightly. “I don’t one bit. I trust you, Ryder.”
My chest tightens at her words. The girl who won’t rely onanyoneis choosing to trust me.
And I swear, I will never give her a reason not to.
29
EVE
Ryder and I walk into town together, wrapped in our respective coats. The whole time, he has his hand on mine or his arm around my shoulder, and against my better judgement, I melt for him. My mother may have ditched me and the farm for a man who looked just like him, but years and years ago, my grandmother met the love of her life in a bar and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for that.
So while my fear is strong and at times unmanageable, I decide to let my heart lead the way. Just a little bit.
When we get to the municipal building, he opens the door for me to head inside first.
Out of the six companies who agreed to stop by for a quote, five showed up. Out of the five who showed up, three thought they had the experience and materials necessary to do the job justice. Out of the two who actually gave us quotes in a timely manner, only one gave us a reasonable price.
Ryder asked if I wanted to hold out and see if we couldn’t get a few more quotes, but Luke, the owner of arestoration company named The Way It Was, seemed kind and genuine, and although I can’t make every decision based on a gut feeling, something told me he would do a respectable job.
He seemed genuinely excited about fixing it up purely for the sake of saying he charged his phone via water wheel.
Ryder rolled his eyes when he said that, letting out a soft laugh because he knew who I’d be choosing based on that conversation alone.
I pretended to give it a few days of thought, but when he was the only one who submitted a reasonable quote, I gave up the act.
Ryder wasshocked.
I head for the table up front, spying Margie with her big red hair. She pushes her glasses up onto her head when she sees us coming, her red lips spreading into a wide grin. “Hello, kids.”
“Hi, Margie,” I say, resting a copy of the quote on the desk between us.
“How are you two doing?” she asks, not bothering to glance at the paperwork and instead looking between the two of us. “I hear a certain guest has been a frequent flyer at the sunflower farm.”
Ryder shrugs. “There’s just something about a sunflower that always manages to draw me in,” he says, nudging me with his elbow in a way that sends a full blush across my cheeks.
Margie’s hand flutters to her chest. “Oh, my heart, this is wonderful. Evie, your grandmother would be so happy.”
I hold my hands up to slow her down as Ryder chuckles next to me. “Margie,” I say, hoping she gets the picture thatyes, he’s hotbut alsoit’s new so please play it cool for Christ’s sake!
“Okay, okay,” she says, turning her attention to the paperwork in front of her. “So what do we have today, you two?”
“The water wheel needs a little work. Just submitting a quote for the historical society to approve.”
She hums, turning her attention to Ryder. “Anything from you?”
He shakes his head. “Still working on a new proposal. Storm delayed me a bit. Then Evie got sick.” He shrugs. “I’ll get something over to you within the next few weeks.”
She nods, flipping to the second page of the quote. “What happened to the water wheel?”
And Ryder says, “The storm just—” as I try to explain, “I accidentally—” and we both stop, glancing at each other.
Margie cocks her head to the side.
“Eve is apparently the Hulk?—”
