Chapter Ten
Tilly rubbed her full belly. “I ate too much pie.”
Beside her, Chrissy laughed, as she snuggled into Ryder’s side. “That’s why I shared mine.”
“I think you ate more than me,” Ryder said and kissed her quickly on the lips. Their eyes remain locked on each other and they were so focused on each other, wrapped tightly up in a bubble of love, it was as though everyone else in the room had disappeared.
“We’ve got an announcement to make,” Ryder said.
Tilly sat up straighter. Was Chrissy going to say that she was pregnant? She knew her older sister wanted to be a mom.
“No, it’s not what you think.” Chrissy laughed. “Yet. But we are going to go to Vegas for the rodeo national finals, and while we’re there, we’re going to get married. And before you say anything, we know this is probably a surprise, but it feels right for us to do this.”
Tilly remembered Chrissy’s first wedding and how stressful it had been for Chrissy and Beau. Tilly had been a teenager at the time and had just been excited to be a bridesmaid.
“I’m okay without all the fuss,” Sunny said.
“Mom?” Chrissy looked at their mom.
“I think you do whatever makes you both happy. You have my blessing if that’s what you’re needing.”
Chrissy got up and hugged their mom. Tilly looked over at Sunny, and they shared a sisterly look.
Chrissy sat next to Ryder and he gently touched her cheek.
Tilly’s heart melted at the sweet gesture.
She was so happy her oldest sister had found someone new to love after her divorce and the subsequent death of her first husband.
Ryder had returned the sparkle to her sister’s eyes. And soon they’d be married.
Tilly wanted that. Wanted it for herself.
Her thoughts drifted to Zach and if he and his team were having a meal at the fire station.
Or had they been called out and their meal had gotten cold?
After their last conversation about his mom, she felt like there’d been a shift in their relationship.
For a moment it had looked like he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t, and she wished she’d been a little braver and had kissed him herself.
“You two are sickeningly sweet,” Sunny grumbled good-naturedly, as she looked up from the horticulture book she’d gone back to reading.
Ever since creating a new rose variety, one that had become very successful, she’d been looking at what she could combine next.
She didn’t like the limelight, but in the rose-growing world, her star was rising.
Tilly wanted Sunny to embrace this new success but also knew she couldn’t force her sister to step outside of her comfort zone.
Out of all the Bloom sisters, Sunny was the shiest. Chrissy was a rodeo star and she had a confident air about her.
Tilly herself was bubbly, but she also hid her insecurities from her family.
It was one of the reasons that she hadn’t returned to living at the family home when she’d come back from Houston.
This was what made them all so special. They were all different, but they all loved each other because of those differences.
“Sunflower, one day that’s going to be you,” Mom admonished. She was very happy that her eldest daughter had found love again. Mom and Dad had a strong and wonderful marriage, and she often said she wanted that for all her girls.
“Not in this lifetime,” mumbled Sunny, and Tilly bit back her laugh.
Mom always had a quick quip, and Tilly was glad that she hadn’t lost that spirit after Dad died. Perhaps it was the new lease on life Mom had. She didn’t have to worry about the flower farm or looking after them. She could do her own thing now, and she seemed to be loving it.
“Never say never. When you least expect it, love has a way of finding you. Trust me. I speak from experience.” A faraway look entered her mom’s eyes, and Tilly knew she was wishing that Dad was here for one more Thanksgiving.
One more Christmas. But he wasn’t, and they had a lot of other things to be thankful for.
On impulse, she pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Zach.
Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you’re having a good day.
It was a friendly text. There was nothing suggestive about it. Just one friend reaching out to another.
Her phone vibrated, and her heart did a little skip of excitement when she saw Zach’s response.
Just finished our meal. It was cold, but we’re used to it. Been called out to three fires, all of them people deep-frying turkeys. Never a good outcome. Have you had a good day?
A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, something that was happening on a regular basis when she thought about Zach.
My day has been good. We are now all lying about because we ate too much.
She was hoping for Zach to respond quickly, but her phone remained silent. Sighing, she popped it away. Perhaps they’d been called out again, and if so, she hoped it wasn’t a bad one.
*
Nothing was going the way Tilly hoped it would. It was the second of December, twenty-two days until Christmas Eve. Twenty-two days until the biggest moment of Tilly’s life. Twenty-two days, and still quite a few things left to check off her list.
She took a deep breath and begged Chrissy once more. “You said if I needed help with anything, you would be there for me. Well, I need it now. Will you and Ryder please play Mary and Joseph?”
Her sister’s reluctance to be involved had come as a surprise to Tilly, considering how Chrissy was always ready to help anyone out. Which was why her saying no befuddled her.
“Why not ask someone else?”
“Because I don’t want anyone else. I want you two.”
“Won’t everyone see this as favoritism? You know, putting family members into the main roles without auditioning others,” Chrissy countered.
“There’s no time to hold auditions, and I’ve asked other people around town to help out.
All the businesses are on board, ready to play their part in turning Mary and Joseph away.
My friend Jill, who lives in Bozeman, has agreed to let her three-month-old baby play Jesus.
Zach has managed to wrangle three of the firefighters on a different shift to play the three wise men.
But these are the most important roles, and I want you to be part of it. ”
Anxiety gnawed in her belly. Tilly didn’t have a backup plan if Chrissy kept saying no.
She’d truly believed that her sister would straight up say, Of course we’ll do it.
There had to be a reason that Chrissy was so reluctant.
It couldn’t be because they would be the center of attention.
They were both former rodeo competitors, successful ones too, and they were used to being in front of big crowds.
“Come on, Chrissy, what’s going on? Why don’t you want to do it?” A sinister thought entered Tilly’s mind, and as much as she wanted to ignore it, she couldn’t. “You’re not saying yes because you think it’s going to fail, are you? That you want me to fail.”
“What! Why do you think that? I would never do that to you.” Chrissy’s brown eyes glowed with hurt and Tilly felt bad that she’d upset her sister. Conflict was something she tried to avoid as much as possible, but for this, she wasn’t going to back down.
“I hope you wouldn’t, but I know you believe that I won’t follow through on this.
That I’ll give up when things get too hard.
I’m not going to, though. No matter how many roadblocks are put in front of me, this event is going to happen.
” Tilly pushed away from the table, went over to the sink, and took a couple of deep breaths before facing her sister again.
Chrissy’s expression was impassive. Tilly couldn’t tell if she felt bad or didn’t care, which didn’t seem like Chrissy at all.
Her oldest sister always did what she could for the family.
Annoyance flared inside of her at what Chrissy was doing.
“If you’re adamant that you don’t want to be involved, fine.
I’ll go find someone else to play Mary and Joseph. ”
Who, she had no idea, but she’d figure it out after she licked her wounds from Chrissy’s rejection. Tears welled in her eyes and she whirled around again, so Chrissy wouldn’t see them.
“Tilly-Pilly, I’m sorry.” She could feel her sister behind her, but Tilly kept her attention on the garden outside.
Snow had fallen overnight and her garden twinkled in the sunlight.
It would all be gone in a few hours, but for the moment, it was pretty and gave her solace.
“Please look at me. I don’t like talking to your back. ”
Too bad.
They were the words Tilly wanted to say, but she didn’t. “I can hear just as well without facing you.”
That was a little gentler, but the message was the same—she wasn’t just going to give in, like she normally did. The determination to prove that she could pull off the event was leeching into other aspects of her life—like now.
Maybe it was also a little of Zach’s belief in her.
She may not have seen much of him since before Thanksgiving because he worked the holidays and had some other things he’d had to do, but they’d talked on the phone and texted, and he’d been doing all he could to help her.
He’d submitted the permits and had reviewed the maximum number of patrons in the places they were going to stop at—businesses that were on her list to visit tomorrow, with Zach if he was free.
She was still waiting to hear back from him.
“You’re right, you can hear, but you can’t see me as I apologize,” Chrissy eventually said. “Please, Tilly.”
It was the please and apologize that finally wore her down, and Tilly acquiesced to her sister’s wishes. “Okay, I’m listening.” She crossed her arms and met her gaze. She wasn’t going to let her think it was going to be easy.