“You can be straight with me. If this is too much, tell me now. I understand my life is not a normal situation.”
“No, that’s not it. I understand. It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about that, but if I’m in the picture, how does that affect Naomi’s mother?” she asks.
I puff out a breath. “That’s the complicated part, and I’ll be honest, I’m not ready to lay that out there. But it’s not because I don’t—” I cut myself off. Those words are far too serious, too intense for barely knowing each other.
“It’s because her mother is not in the picture that I want to be careful with women who are not directly related to me,” I hurry out.
Mae smiles. “I respect that. It’s okay, I can keep my hands to myself.”
I chuckle and place her hands on my shoulders. “Well, you don’t have toright now. You can put them wherever you want.”
She smiles and leans into me. “Thank you for telling me,” she says.
I kiss her long and hard, and perhaps a little too passionately.
Her eyes are glazed as she looks up at me.
“Thank you for understanding.”
She dips her chin and stares at me.
“We should probably get back out there,” I whisper.
Mae nods again, and I laugh this time. “Have I rendered you speechless? I don’t think this bodes well for us.”
Her hands tug on the back of my neck, pulling me down to her short height. “You scare me,” she whispers.
I frown and start to ask why, then I hear Naomi call for me.
I groan and kiss Mae on the forehead before handing her water back.
With one hand she smooths out her dress and hair, and I open the door for her to go first.
When I round the corner, Naomi calls for me, and I fully focus on the drawing she made and the math worksheet she decided to do all on her own.
But the whole time I sit in the little chair next to Naomi, I can’t help but sneak peeks at Mae.
Aunt Dixie says dinner is ready, and we all pile into the dining room, big enough to hold twenty people at the giant farmhouse table.
I get Naomi set up in her place, and her plate filled before I get my own.
June and Gracie frame in Mae, while Sterling sits next to June. Fletcher, Tatum, and Ledger sit on our side. Aunt Dixie and Uncle Mason sit at eitherend of the long table. Gracie is directly in front of me, and Mae is across from Naomi.
While we eat, I keep trying to be subtle about it, but I doubt I am, as I admire her from across the table. She and Gracie are talking, and I’m staring like a total creep.
“Who is that?” Naomi asks, pointing at Mae.
I push her hand down. “We don’t point at people, Naomi.”
She shrugs.
“This is my friend, Mae,” Gracie says and glances at me.
I dip my chin once.
“I’m pretty sure you met her at the flower shop,” Gracie says.
Naomi’s eyes light up with recognition. “You gave me the rose.”
