“Harry sent me the list for the wedding party today,” he said. “You and I are walking down the aisle together.”
Joey nodded, because she’d gotten the list too. Belle had taken her size and would have her bridesmaid’s dress before Christmas. She didn’t know what to say into this silence, and Adam was the better communicator out of the two of them anyway.
“It’ll be fun. Don’t you think?” He raised his eyebrows. “Walking down the aisle together?”
“You realize that when a man and a woman get married, they don’t walk down the aisle together,” she said. “It’s not like we’ll be practicing for our own wedding or anything.”
“Of course not,” he said, but the smile on his face didn’t go anywhere. He sobered and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’m really sorry about your apartment. Sometimes Satan puts roadblocks in our way, because he knows we’ll start to doubt ourselves, and he knows if you do what you’ve been planning to do, it won’t be good for him.”
Surprise lifted Joey’s eyebrows. “Is that right?” she asked.
He nodded soberly.
“Did your momma teach you that?” she asked.
“I actually heard it in a sermon when I was a teenager.” He stepped back and took her hand. “Let’s go get some food. I’m starving, and then you can decide if you’d rather read in here or watch movies on the couch with me.”
“I want to be with you,” Joey said softly, and Adam nodded just once.
She let him take care of her from then, driving them to the barbecue stand. He went to order from the outdoor hut while she stayed warm and dry in the car. He drove them back to his house, put their food on a tray, and tucked her in with a blanket before turning on the TV. He kept their conversation light and easy, telling her about the concert series, and how his sister was pregnant again, and that he had finally told his mother that they were dating.
Joey knew most of what he said, which was why it was so comforting for her. Once she’d eaten her fill of brisket and macaroni salad, she lay down with her head in Adam’s lap. He covered her with the blanket and stroked her hair. She closed her eyes and let herselffloat.
She’d felt lost in her life before, and she’d been physically lost in New York City. That had been a panicked, frantic feeling, with her breath coming quickly and her mind moving fast.
Feeling lost in her life felt hopeless, like she was drifting out to sea on a raft made of sticks, screaming for help with no one around to hear. Thankfully, she didn’t feel like either of those things right now.
She felt safe and cared for. She was warm and comfortable, and she knew she was exactly where she needed to be. So whether she was able to move into the basement apartment or not, it didn’t matter.
She was with Adam, and for the first time, she felt deserving of his love, attention, and care.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Adam stepped up to the mirror in his master bathroom and straightened the tie at his throat. He’d gone Christmas shopping with Joey this week, finally picking out a few things for her parents and siblings, as well as the members of Country Quad, and lastly, Harry and Belle. He’d taken all of his gifts to a woman in the neighborhood to wrap them, as his gift-wrapping skills matched his cooking ones.
As part of that shopping expedition, he’d bought himself a tie to wear to church today. He wasn’t like Cecily, who wore an apron covered in elves, and his tie was a deep, beautiful red with a gold paisley pattern woven throughout it. The thread shone metallic in the light, and Adam sighed and looked into his own eyes.
“This is it,” he said, though he wasn’t exactly sure what “it” was.
He got himself out of the house and down the highway to Coral Canyon. Despite the fact that Joey had not moved into her apartment yesterday as planned, and would not have to walk into the service alone, he had agreed to go with her. Truth be told,hewas the one who needed someone to walk in with him.
He pulled into the parking lot at her grandparents’ condo just as it started to snow again. He hadn’t minded the weather until the last couple of weeks, when it seemed to snow for a whole day, take a day off—just long enough for everyone to dig themselves out—and then Mother Nature would arrive with another dump of the white stuff.
Adam had bought a snow-blower, and then quickly realized that he could hire a pair of teenage brothers to come clear everything for him while he sipped coffee and went over notes in his office. So he’d done that instead.
He tossed his cowboy hat onto the passenger seat before he went to pick up Joey, because the wind would simply try to steal it from him anyway. He rang the doorbell at the condo and shivered inside his suit coat in the several seconds it took Joey to answer the door.
She wore a dark green dress that looked like it had been made of a thousand pleats. Silver thread sparkled throughout it, and Adam felt the same shine move through him.
“Wow,” he said. “Look how pretty you are.”
He forgot all about the cold and the need to get out of it, his desire to kiss Joey much stronger. He did that, notingthat her grandparents were not here, and then took her hand and led her back to his car.
“What color is your suit?” Joey asked once they’d gotten in. “Is it black or blue?”
“It’s midnight blue,” he said. “But you can really only tell in the bright sunshine.”
