Chapter 23
23
Today was a day of many things. For one thing, it was her sister’s thirtieth birthday. Thirty. Aubrey was so old now—Ayla had been teasing her all morning. Aubrey had been captured by the Gorgeous Guthrie the instant they had parked the car. Ayla had to admit the man was getting extra hot where her sister was concerned.
She hoped he was serious and Aubrey was serious—she knew Aubrey was seriously confused by him right now. There was that.
Now that Aubrey had been dragged off to do wicked, wicked things with Greer’s beautiful big brother, that meant… Ayla was being Ayla-sat—she wasn’t naive here—by Gunn. Well, he had been waiting for her, just like she had suspected he would.
He seemed to have assigned himself to her. Which, she was totally okay with that. He made her laugh, he made her feel safe, and the man gave her those tingly butterflies from her head to her toes.
But what to do about it next… no clue.
“You are being quiet,” a voice said beside her. She turned. He was there. Looking beautiful and perfect in a soft flannel shirt that made her want to touch. “You okay?”
“Just contemplating… things. There are a lot of people here.” And she didn’t see Aubrey or Greer anywhere. She’d admit it, that made her nervous. Maybe she was being a big wheenie here. But… Ayla had never liked big crowds. She just hadn’t.
“I know. Mom loves doing this. Thankfully, she just does it once a year. It started off as my great-grandparents’ anniversary. Now that they are gone… it’s tradition.”
“That’s beautiful, you know. You are very lucky.”
“Blessed, I know.” His hand brushed against her spine while they walked across the yard. He was walking close—not too close, he gave her plenty of room to maneuver with her crutches, but close enough she could smell the clean woodsy scent of him. “You look very pretty today.”
Her cheeks flamed immediately. “Thank you. So do you, you know.”
What was she supposed to say here? Carry me off, please? Somewhere where we could be alone, away from this crowd, and I can see if you can make me tingly everywhere ?
That would probably shock him to his toes. “So… what exactly do people do at this thing?”
“Usually just wander around and chat with people. I’ll probably have to do that. A great deal of my congregation is here today. I want to say hello to as many of them as possible.”
“I have heard you are very good at being Reverend Hiller, you know.” His sisters had talked about all of their brothers in great detail the night they’d all slept over at the ranch. Ayla had been very curious about Greer’s brothers—she hadn’t met them before that day—but she hadn’t been super curious about any particular Hiller brother.
Not until the night he’d first picked her up at the library.
“I hope so. That is really one of the few things I want most in the world. I want to serve God, I want to help people, and I want to be there for my family and friends.”
“What about something for yourself? Do you plan to get a Mrs. Reverend Hiller someday? What Guthrie said?” Guthrie had teased him about the ladies vying to catch Gunn’s attention earlier.
“Probably. I want a family of my own. I do feel that’s my next step. I’m established in my calling, I am financially stable. If I get involved with a woman, it’s going to be because I really care about her and am serious. I don’t do casual dating. I haven’t in a long, long time. I’m not very good at it.” And he was looking right at her.
Yikes. Getting serious. Which… exciting… but beyond terrifying here.
“See, I haven’t done any casual dating at all. I don’t know if I am very good at it at all.” Somehow, she found herself under a big, shady tree. There were really comfy looking yard chairs there, almost as if they had been waiting, just for the two of them. There was a small cooler there.
When he helped her get her crutches arranged next to one chair, and then handed her a bottled water, she suspected she had found Reverend Hiller’s little nest. Which was just fine with her—she was quite content to just sit there next to him and people watch. But… he had said… “You don’t have to Ayla-sit, you know. I can usually handle myself just fine. I get a little wobbly sometimes, no denying it, but I’m good, if you need to go talk to people.”
“I will in a little bit. I have all day. I want to spend today with you. I’ve been waiting for you to get here. I saved you these.” He pulled something from his cooler and handed it to her. While she was sitting there processing the idea that he wanted to spend the day at his family’s big party with her. They’d seen each other every day since the attack at the hospital. Sometimes, twice a day. “I grabbed them before the girls could gobble them up.”
Ayla unwrapped the little bundle. Cookies. He’d saved her cookies. “Oh, they look just like Wonkus and Rufus. So cute.”
“Dr. Alvaro’s wife made them and dropped them off with Ronnie.”
“Wonkus even has the right color curly hair.” Ayla licked the frosting off her finger. “Chocolaty. I wonder if we can get her to make some of these for the kids at the library. The new Wonkus book comes out next week; Jake already preordered five copies. We are going to have a real release party. Jake emailed the publisher for Wonkus books and they are sending a video with a special interview with Wonkus himself for the kids, too. It’s a free program the guy who plays Wonkus is trying to get started. Quade Davis is really big into children’s literacy. I think that’s why I like his work so much. He comes across as… genuine, you know?”
“I like Wonkus McBubbles. I love how he learns to work with the other characters. For a children’s villain, he’s very relatable.”
They just sat and talked. People came by, to talk to him. And she knew several of them too. But… it took a moment, then she realized: People were curious about her. And being next to him, maybe?
Her sister and Guthrie joined them, along with Ronnie’s brother Murdoch and his family. They weren’t much of a buffer from the rest of the crowd though.
It felt like everyone was watching them now.