On instinct, she looked down at herself, although she didn’t really need to do so. She had been thinking about the sweater all day and had caught herself stroking its soft weave more than once. It really was the most pleasant fabric. It was too generous of a gift too, but now that she’d worn it, she knew she would never have given it back, not in a million years.
“I seriously, seriously love it,” she said. “I know I said thank you, but imagine that I said it about four hundred more times and you’ll get halfway to how much I love it.”
He grinned. “Well, it looks seriously, seriously great on you,” he said, mimicking her wording. “I was wondering… do you have a minute to talk?”
Winnie absolutely wanted to talk to Shane… but she cast a rueful glance behind her at the massive piles of stuff.
“I’m kind of in the midst of something at the moment,” she said with regret.
He followed her glance, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead.
“Oh. Yeah. Wow, that’s a lot of stuff.” He paused, frowning. “There was notnearlythis much stuff when I was here last.”
She chuckled. “It’s notmine,” she said. “It’s for the carnival event. I’m getting ready to move stuff over there. I have to organize all this into loads for cars and Tyler Meadows’ truck.”
“I can help,” he offered.
She hadn’t wanted toask, since he’d helped her in so many ways and with so many things already. But if he wasoffering.
“If you can help, I can talk while we organize,” she suggested.
“Perfect. Put me to work.”
They started with the big stuff, all the things that wouldn’t fit in any vehicle besides Tyler’s pickup truck. Once all the tables were out on Winnie’s porch, the hallway was a great deal clearer and her front closet was accessible again. This was important, as it wasalsofull of stuff for the event.
“So,” Shane said when they had a break in between maneuvering the big things and could just shift the stacks of boxes outside. “I wanted to ask you… well, the other night, I had a really great time.”
“Me too,” she said. She found even his stammering to be adorable. She really was a disaster when it came to anyinterpersonal relationships, let alone the ones with someone she had recently kissed.
“And, um.” He gave her a shy smile. “Well, I was hoping that we could date. You know, for real. Like a date where we both know it’s a date before we leave our houses.”
Winnie hesitated, biting her lip.
“I do want that,” she assured him, lest he mistake her silence. “I’m just a little worried about getting more emotionally involved, if you’re heading back to California soon.”
Shane nodded like he had anticipated this.
“I know that my immediate future is really up in the air,” he acknowledged. “But I just really want to get to know you better, Win. I want to get to know you more. Because everything I’ve seen so far… I like all of it.”
Winnie felt certain that she had to be even brighter pink than her sweater at this point. It wasn’t just the flattery that made her flush either. It was that he said it like he really meant it.
“It’s not just that,” she confessed. “That might not even be my most pressing concern. I just…” He waited while she fiddled with the pendant she wore. “I guess I’m worried that some people in town might be, uh, skeptical. Given my overall reputation. About being not so friendly and everything.”
Shane gave her an indulgent look. “And by ‘some people in town,’ I assume you mean my sister.”
“Yeah, I definitely mean your sist—oh my gosh,your sister!”
Shane looked baffled at Winnie’s sudden yelp, but he looked over his shoulder to where Eleanor’s car was pulling into the driveway. Eleanor hadn’t seen her brother yet, but she was about to.
“Well,” he said reasonably, “she was going to find out eventually, and it’s not like we’re doing something—Winnie! What are you doing?”
It was his turn to suddenly yelp as Winnie grabbed him by the arms and tried to shove him into her hall closet.
“Just hide,” she said, knowing that she was being ridiculous and yet apparently unable to stop herself. “I—sorry. I’m sorry. Just. Please just hide.”
“Winnie, this closet is full of—are these blow-up soldiers?”
She was too busy shoving him inside to confirm that, yes, they were. She hadn’t been able to get volunteers for the Civil War display, so there were inflatable mannequins wearing the uniforms. Blowing them up in advance had probably been a mistake, but also probably a smaller mistake than shoving Shane into a closet, but here she was.
