26. Callum #2
Elodie scoffed, pressed a hand to her heart, and looked at her niece. “Rude, isn’t he?”
Winnie giggled, twirling a curl around her finger. “Darling is also Mama’s last name. She let me pick and I wanted it to be mine, too. She even let me get a brand new middle name!”
I watched the tiny tornado as we followed the dancing trail of her thoughts. “Is that so?”
Winnie straightened her shoulders and put out her hand. “Winifred Elizabeth Amaryllis Darling. Amaryllis means sparkle.”
My eyes popped to Selene who was smiling at her precocious daughter. “That’s right.”
I shrugged. “Maybe Elodie needs a cool new name, too.” Personally I’d thought of several choice names any time Elodie had popped into my head: Trouble. Pain in the Ass. Irresistible.
Elodie waggled her eyebrows at Winnie, then tilted her head at me. “I guess I’ll have to think about that. ”
I gave her a slow, deliberate once-over, fighting a smile as my gaze landed on the streak of soil across her cheek. “You do that.”
She rolled her eyes at my intensity, but I didn’t miss the way her lips curled at the corners, the warmth in her gaze.
Winnie, satisfied with our attention on her, beamed up at me. “You’re staying to help us.”
Selene snorted. “It’s polite to ask first, Win.”
I winked at Winnie. “If the boss says to stay, I’ll stay.”
I huffed a quiet laugh, shaking my head at the easy, lighthearted exchange. As Elodie met my gaze, something shifted in my chest. I got to my knees and started filling holes with the flowers from the crate.
We fell into a rhythm, our hands moving in tandem. Our shoulders brushed too many times for it to be accidental. She smelled like lavender and earth and summer heat, and I tried not to think about it.
Winnie had gotten bored, so Selene took her for a walk around the farm. Mr. Darling was working with a crew to create new walking paths, and Mrs. Darling had taken the role of foreman, gently giving directions and suggestions on how to make the walking paths more inviting for guests.
We finished the last of the planting, and a smudge of dirt remained streaked across Elodie’s cheek. Without thinking, I reached out, swiping my thumb over the smear.
Her breath hitched.
I froze.
Her skin was warm beneath my touch, the faintest flush dusting her cheekbones.
I couldn’t hold back and let the moment pass.
My thumb lingered, just a second too long, my pulse a steady drumbeat against my ribs.
Her lips parted, her breath catching, and for one reckless moment, I wanted to feel her soft mouth against mine again .
Bad idea. Very, very bad idea.
The air between us shifted, thickening, stretching tight.
Her gaze flicked to mine, wide, startled, like she hadn’t expected me to touch her. Like she wasn’t sure what to do with the way it made her feel.
Like she wasn’t sure what to do with the way it made me feel.
I swallowed hard, dropping my hand. “You had something on your face.”
The back of her hand slid over her cheek, wiping where my thumb had been.
I pointed with my trowel. “Stack those empty plastic containers and I can take them to be recycled.”
She blinked, recovering, then rolled her eyes. “You’re bossy.”
I reached for the empty crate. “You love it.”
Her lips parted, like she was about to argue, but then she just shook her head, going back to work, stacking the black plastic containers.
And somehow we just ... kept going and working side by side. The sun warmed our backs, the scent of fresh soil and blooming flowers thick in the air. I worked with the sound of Selene teasing Elodie, of Levi’s quiet laughter blending in, of Elodie’s mom humming some song I only half recognized.
There was an ease there that shouldn’t have existed between us, but it did.
When Elodie finally sat back on her heels, hands on her hips, surveying the work we had done, she smiled.
Really smiled.
Fuck me, that smile settled into my chest. It felt like getting hit with a two-by-four, and something cracked open inside me .
I should have walked away and let this be enough.
The afternoon, the way her family had accepted Levi, the way Elodie had looked at me—this should have been the line.
Trouble was, standing there with the smell of fresh dirt and summer clinging to my skin, with Elodie looking up at me like she was waiting for something . .. I stepped right over that line.
I turned to her, brushing the dirt from my palms. “I’m picking you up at six,” I said, voice rougher and more demanding than I meant it to be.
Elodie blinked. “What?”
I met her gaze, unwavering. “Tonight. Six o’clock. Wear something you don’t mind getting dirty.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it, tilting her head. “Is this a date or more of that apology?”
I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I let my gaze drop, slow and deliberate, dragging over the curve of her mouth, the slope of her throat, the way her pulse fluttered there like a secret. When I met her eyes again, I saw exactly when she stopped breathing.
I finally said, my voice rough, “It’s both. Be ready at six.”
Her eyes narrowed, like she was looking for some kind of loophole. “I don’t remember agreeing to a date.”
I smirked, liking this new shift between us. “You will.”
Her mouth parted, probably to tell me off, but then Selene let out a low snicker. “Ohhh, I like him.”
Elodie groaned, dropping her head into her hands, but I caught a glimpse of her smile.
Levi shook his head, looking thoroughly embarrassed of his dad.
Elodie’s mom just beamed and kept on working .
I stood, dusting my hands off on my jeans, and turned toward my truck, leaving her sitting there in the dirt.
Sure, Elodie could think about it, and she could argue all she wanted, but that date was happening.