“Come sit down,” I urged.
“When did you plan all of this, we’ve been out all day?” She dropped down onto the blanket, peering at the bottle of wine and studying the label.
“I had some help.” Taking a glass, I poured in some wine and offered it to her. “I organized the food and wine this morning when I left here. Gun brought it over for me when it was delivered. Cassidy had the candles from her old apartment, Gunner doesn’t like her to light them, so she was more than happy to donate them. And of course, you know that Lily and Bertie organized your bath and then Nash delivered you to me.”
“The whole family was involved.” She took a deep breath, her eyes going to the fire as the flames danced higher. “We’re kind of official then?”
“Yeah, I guess we are.” I clinked my glass to hers. “You okay with that, Brownie?”
“Yes, I’m okay with that.” A small smile touched her lips as she lifted the glass and took a sip. “Wow, that’s good wine.”
“That is all me. Believe it or not, I know a good wine when I taste one. Marshall Hargreaves at the liquor store gets it for me.”
Tally took another sip, her eyes fluttering closed. “It’s incredible. Best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
“I doubt that,” I scoffed, earning myself a groan from her. “What? You know how great I taste.”
“We may have to work on that ego of yours if this is to continue.”
She was joking, I knew she was, yet there was still a small pinch in my chest when she said it.
“Are you sure this is what you want, Brownie? Cause we can cool things if you’d prefer.” I had no damn idea where this unsure, nervous side of me had come from. I did have an ego. I rated myself in most situations yet around her, I’d suddenly become unconvinced of the choices I’d made. Not for me. I was more than positive that I’d followed the right path, but I wantedto be sure that I had for Tally, too.
“I think I’ve wanted this for longer than you or even I realized.” Her eyes darted down to her fingers playing with the stem of her glass. “I just think I denied it. Those mornings you left, and the bed felt empty, I told myself it was just warmer with you in it.”
The honesty in her voice gave me a peace like I only ever felt when I was working the land or riding my horse with the wind at my back. It gave me hope that maybe I could do this. I was not the product of Michael Miller’s inadequacies.
“I think,” I said, “caution has become a part of both our DNA because of past relationships. You with Declan, me with my father. It’s hard to be sure about things when you’ve only ever known failure.”
“Hey.” Tally took my hand in hers. “You didn’t fail in your relationship with him. He was the one who failed. He was the one who didn’t know how to be a father to you all.”
I shrugged. “Not sure he didn’t know how, just didn’t want to be. I could never be like that if I had kids. I’d want them to have the world. Be the best version of themselves. Enjoy having them in my life.”
“I’m so lucky with my mom and dad.” A smile upturned her lips, and her eyes sparkled. “I mean Mom is inappropriate as hell, but she’s a great mom. And my dad, he’s my guide to the sort of man I always wanted, which is why it’s weird I went for Declan.”
Chuckling, I cut some cheese and put it on a plate for her with a piece of thinly sliced beef. “Try that, it comes from a farm that Gunner and Cassidy go to for dinner sometimes.” Tally took a bite and moaned around the cheese. I needed to distract myself otherwise we wouldn’t even get to the marshmallows. “I know you were lonely, but there must have been something about him that you liked for you to marry him.”
Wiping the side of her mouth, she shook her head. “Not really, which makes me an even bigger idiot. He was nice to me, that was all.”
The enormity of her loneliness hit me. To marry a man just because he was nice to her didn’t strike me as Tallulah Brown’s normal behavior.
“It must have been real shitty there,” I stated.
“Real shitty. Working here, it’s just, I don’t know,” she looked up at thebeams and sighed, “worlds apart. It’s family. It’s fun and inclusive and I feel seen and heard. Do you know what I mean?”
And I knew exactly what she meant, because that was how she made me feel. Like she heard my insecurities and listened to the load of fucking baggage I carried around yet didn’t judge me for it.
Tallulah Brown was exactly what I needed to be the better version of myself.
Chapter 31
Best Day Of My Life – American Authors
Tally
We were like two adults in a kid’s playhouse moving around my tiny kitchen. I stepped on Wilder’s toes, and he knocked my coffee over, then we both tried to reach for the same piece of toast. It was bliss.
“We’re really going to have to come up with a routine,” Wilder said, chuckling as he wrapped his arms around my chest from behind. “Maybe have sections that we keep to, a bit like waitresses or bartenders.”
