She gave me another one of those up-and-down looks that made me feel like she was thinking about buying me at auction.
“He deserves someone like you,” she continued. “I only saw Brady once, but I knew he wasn’tforXander. And everything I heard about him after… let’s just say I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m… glad I’m here, too,” I said honestly, fingering the camera still slung around my neck. “Take your picture? You really went all out with the theme.”
Muriel broke into the kind of smile that couldn’t be faked. “You’re sweet,” she said, brushing imaginary dust off her floral dress and adjusting her perfectly matched hat. “But you don’t want to spend your afternoon with me.”
“I’d like to spend a few minutes,” I said sincerely, holding the camera up. “Always wanted to get into portraiture. I’ll let you pick which one to keep?”
“Okay, okay.” She held her hands up in surrender. “You’ve twisted my arm.”
When Seth finally found me I was going through a dozen shots of Muriel while she cooed over what she called my talent but what I thought was probably the joy of being paid attention to for a few minutes. I got her, kind of. No one ever paid a lot of attention to me, either.
Not until Xander, anyway.
“I like that one,” Seth said as I came to the one that was my favorite, too, when the breeze had caught Muriel’s hair and the hem of her skirt. “You have to tell me where you got that dress, by the way,” he added. “And whether or not they have it in something warmer. I’m such a summer y’know?”
“Only if you tell me your secret to walking around these paddocks in those heels,” Muriel said. “And I agree, I love that one. You can tell Milo’s a real professional. Such a creative family.”
“I’m, uh. I’m not, actually,” I said. “A professional, I mean. Photography is just a hobby.”
“Well, if you’re this good at your hobbies, you must be incredible at your work,” Muriel said.
I snorted. No, I was terrible at my job. Dad kept telling me so. But Ilikedtaking pictures. That was the difference.
“You’re not taking Xander away from us, are you? You’re not tied up all the way in Seattle?”
“I...”
Well, I wasn’t taking Xander away, was I? There was no way he’d drop his whole life to run away to my crappy apartment where he couldn’t even keep a cat. He’d built a life here from the ground up. There was nothing I could offer to compete with that.
“I’m sure Milo would love to talk about Xander all day,” Seth said, taking hold of my arm. “But I need him for the pig races. I’ll email you that picture. Have a great picnic!”
25
XANDER
Andre had donean incredible job with the lighting in the barn. The whole place was twinkling and sparkling and magical, the music pitched at just the right volume to be heard without being overwhelming, and everyone was dressed up and mingling happily.
Milo—who’d changed into a different suit and sweater—was hovering by the bar, peering at the world through the camera Seth had loaned him, which I could tell he loved playing with. The smile on his face would’ve been enough to make anyone’s insides melt for him, and my defenses weren’t exactly the best.
Not that I wanted to defend against feeling that way for Milo. When I’d first met him he looked so tired, worn to the bone, but now…
Now he looked happy. Genuinely, uncomplicatedly happy.
He jumped when I touched his shoulder, and the way his smile turned into something that was just for me, the way his cheeks turned pink even after all the time we’d spent together, I couldn’t imagine giving that up.
“How is Otter Bay’s first ever official photographer tonight?” I asked, grinning at him and reaching out to wipe a streak of mud away from his cheek.
The heat under his skin ramped up a notch, but I could’ve spent my whole life making Milo blush and never gotten tired of it.
“I fell into the pig pen,” he said.
I laughed, feeling another wave of tenderness at the way he said it. That explained the change of clothes.
“Poor Milo,” I said.
The way he bit his lip made me want to take over for him.
