“I know.”
We both laughed.
“He’s your lobster. Don’t let him go.” Stella patted my arm before walking away.
He’s your lobster.
I was hopelessly in love with Isaiah. I repeated it out loud to myself. “I’m hopelessly in love with Isaiah.” A chill ran through me.
The love bug wasn’t just some story.
It was the truth.
And it brought me to the love of my life.
CHAPTER SIX
Isaiah
I pulledinto the front spot of Appleridge Sweets and parked my truck. A loud crack of thunder erupted in the sky, and I glanced out my window at the darkening clouds. I hoped we’d make it home before the rain came. Mud from the last storm still lingered in the cracks and crevices and I dreaded adding more to it.
Opening my phone, I checked the weather app. A warning popped up, announcing the impending storm and the torrential downpours that would likely result.
Another crack of thunder echoed through the sky and rain poured down, as if someone had turned a faucet on to high, water flowing all over. Killing the engine of my truck, I unbuckled my seat belt and hopped out. I bolted for the front door, but when I pulled on the handle, it wouldn’t open.Fuck!
Rain poured down on me, soaking my t-shirt and jeans, as I knocked on the door.
No answer.
I knocked again, louder this time.
Finally, after my clothes were drenched through to my skin, Paisley stood at the door, unlocking it and pushing it open. “Oh no, you’re soaked!” She said as she pulled me inside, water dripping all over. “Let me see if we have any towels in the back. Wait right here.” Paisley kissed me before hurrying to the kitchen.
A minute later, she ran back out with two towels. She handed one to me and used the other to wipe my face and hair. “I’m sorry. I had to help Ruby with a last-minute order.”
“Don’t apologize, sweetheart. My dumb idea to get out of my truck, but I wanted to shield you from the rain.” I wiped myself down with the towel, my clothes dripping.
“You’re so sweet.” She ruffled the towel in my hair, and I caught her hand in mine, our eyes locked on the other.
Paisley ran one hand down the side of my beard and smiled. So much love and kindness showed on her face, and it was all for me.
How did I get so lucky to find this woman?
“Paisley…”
She pressed a finger to my lips. “Let’s get out of here first.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, taking her under my wing, and pulling my jacket around her, tucking her inside. We hurried to my truck, and I helped her in before running around to my side and hopping behind the wheel. I started the engine, put the truck in gear, and shot her a grin. “We made it. Let’s go home and take a shower.”
Yes, I saidhomemeaning my place. It was her place, too. I wanted her there. With every fiber of my being.
Paisley knew everything there was to know about me, more than I’d ever told anyone else. I wasn’t close to my family, something I regretted most in my life, and I confessed to her how I barely knew my two older sisters and younger brother now, their lives so vastly different. Growing up, I was always theodd one out. All of them moved out of this small town, wanting a change, but I stayed put in Appleridge. It was my roots, myhome.
While I had friends around town and from work, there wasn’t anyone in my life as special as Paisley.
She described her own life to me, her parents, and the two older sisters she had, as I had in my family. She was the baby of the family, but her parents doted on the older sisters, the athletic one and the smart one, while she was the quiet one who liked to bake. When she left the city and moved here, she expected them to stay in touch, but it kind of fell off, as they were busy with their own lives. Her parents reached out occasionally, more often than mine did who only called on Christmas.
Paisley was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. The one I wanted to protect from harm, to love so hard, and to give her everything she deserved.
