Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
T he next morning, Scott watched as Amy parked her car in front of the Brantley’s house. She stepped out and called, “Aren’t you coming?”
He held up his key ring. “I’d like to drive today.”
She walked up the driveway toward him. When she reached him, she said in a low voice, “After yesterday, you want some control?”
He grinned. “I’m glad you understand.”
As Amy went toward the passenger door, she said, “Look! It’s a rabbit.”
He glanced in the direction she pointed but didn’t see the animal. “We are in the country. I’m sure there are lots of squirrels and rabbits.”
“This one didn’t look like the wild rabbits I’ve seen here.”
“Was it wearing a vest and carrying a pocket watch?”
“Ha!” She smacked his arm. “I still think it looked different from normal.” She continued toward the truck door. “I guess we’d better get going. Head north out of town.”
He backed down the driveway and drove toward Main Street. “What’s our destination?”
“The flower farm where the last wedding took place.”
Flowers sounded fine, so they were on a good path. Better than the one he’d been on yesterday with Greg’s mother. Even proposal photos were an improvement over full wedding immersion. They were soon in the country and passing by farms and farmhouses.
Amy kept shifting in her seat and fidgeting nervously. He was unnerved about the whole proposal thing, but he was surprised to find that she appeared to be, as well.
Distracting both of them would probably be good. “Why don’t you list places where we can take photos? Even if we add more later, at least we’ll have a starting point.”
Amy reached for her phone. “Great idea.” She started typing. “There’s the two city parks, the one downtown and the one at the lake.”
“Those sound good. Are there any other property owners you can think of who would welcome us?”
“The McDonalds let us have a festival on their property last fall, so I know they’d be willing.”
“A farm?”
Amy nodded. “There are lots of animals.”
They drove past rows and rows of pine trees. “A Christmas tree farm?”
“The man who owns this one is an old friend of Dinah’s. Over Christmas, they started dating. I’m sure he would let us go there, but I don’t know how to make Christmas work in May.”
“Good point.”
Amy pointed to their right. “The turn is just up ahead. It’s always pretty out here. Well, in the middle of the winter the fields aren’t particularly attractive, but Cassie puts up other decorations. This farm is often chosen by couples because of the option of using the barn or the large area with a tent. Cassie can make any setting beautiful.”
More weddings. This town truly was wedding crazy. He’d already heard enough from his wedding crazy former girlfriend Elaine to last years. Maybe longer.
When they approached a gravel driveway on the right, Amy pointed, and he pulled in. He saw a house off to the side, the fields of spring flowers she’d mentioned, and a red barn.
“Is that barn also used for animals, or is it only for weddings?”
Amy laughed. “It was a barn with animals. Cherry is very entrepreneurial, so they moved them out, cleaned it up, and now rent the building as a wedding venue.” She pointed to the other side of the house where a brand new metal barn stood, but in the same color as the house to make it less obvious. “That’s where their livestock lives now.”
Scott pulled up to the side of the barn and stopped.
“I just realized I should have called first. This is incredibly rude of me. I got so caught up in the plan that I forgot.” She grabbed her phone and quickly brought up Cherry’s phone number. “I’m so sorry. We were already on your property when I realized I hadn’t asked you first if we could come out here. We’re looking for places to take wedding proposal photos to use in the newspaper.”
Scott heard the reply through the speaker. “Of course! Do you need anything from me? I just put the baby down for a nap.”
“No. I’m sure you want to enjoy your quiet time. That’s what my older sister always says.”
Laughter came through the phone. “Thank you. I think I’m going to relax. Now that she’s mobile, there’s hardly a moment when I’m not on the go. Anyway, you let me know if you change your mind about needing me for anything.” The call ended.
Amy chuckled. “There’s a fun story about the baby. When Cassie and Greg first met, he got a call from Cherry saying she was in labor and couldn’t get a hold of her husband, Levi. So the two of them raced out here to the farm and helped until the paramedics arrived.”
Amazing. Scott was sure there were stories like this in Chicago, but they seemed harder to find when you were in a big city. They stood out less because you often didn’t know your neighbors.
They got out and walked over to the edge of the fields. His mother’s love of gardening had given him an education about flowers. Peonies and other late spring and early summer flowers decorated the fields before them.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“It’s beautiful. I wonder, though, if it would be so decorative that it’d compete with the two of us and the ring in the photo.”
“Good point. I could blur the background to help with that, but I just put a photo taken here in the newspaper. Maybe we need other locations for the photos.” She turned back toward the truck.
Scott put his hand on her arm to stop her. “What about the barn?”
Amy frowned. “Without the lights Cassie brings in for an actual event, we’d just have a dark hole.”
When they went around to the front, Scott pointed to the traditional barn door. The large rectangle with a crisscross of wood had country charm. “This could work.”
When Amy stood and stared at the side of the barn for a bit too long, he added, “But remember, I’m a computer geek and don’t spend much time with actual humans. I could be wrong.”
“I was trying to picture us standing there, and you . . .”
He swallowed hard. His trip to Two Hearts had been full of unexpected surprises. This one would have to go down as the largest of those.
“You had a good idea. I like this for the first . . . event.” She clearly struggled to say the word proposal . “But let’s go check out some other places too. Maybe the town park? There’s a bandstand there that was refurbished last year.”
He walked toward the driver’s side of the truck. “Then let’s head on back to town.”
As they pulled out onto the highway, he said, “I’m glad we found a place for at least one of the proposals.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized how ridiculous this situation truly was. He was driving around with a woman he’d met just days ago and trying to find a location where he could propose to her. Not a real one because that would scare him instead of baffle him. But the situation felt a little too real all the same.
She intrigued him, but her roots were firmly planted in Two Hearts, and his were in Chicago. He’d stay friendly but not cross a line beyond that.
To keep conversation going, he asked, “Should we go through some ideas for proposals? Or are they tied to the location, so we must wait until we’ve chosen a place?”
The calm feeling that had filled the vehicle flew out the window. Now, they were focused on proposals again, and Amy tensed up every time they talked about them. He wondered what she had in her past that made that happen. There must be something.
She swallowed before replying. “Well, we talked about the pattern of the guy kneeling and handing the girl a ring. There’s always that.”
“He looks nervous, and she appears surprised, as if she never saw this coming in a million years.”
Amy chuckled. “Because they’ve probably been dating for a long time, and she should have been expecting it.”
“Right? If you date someone for a while, the intention of the relationship should be serious. And nothing is more serious than a proposal.”
“That’s the truth,” she muttered.
He sensed a story there, but he didn’t dare ask. He was surprised when Amy added, “I dated a guy for almost two years.”
He waited for her to explain the proposal she must have turned down. Amy was cute and kind. Overall, she seemed like a great person. He couldn’t imagine someone not wanting her.
Whoa! Where had that thought come from?
“He never proposed.” She punctuated the sentence with so much venom on the word never that he didn’t dare ask for more details. But she’d opened up the door on an interesting subject.
Time to lighten things up, or they would never get anywhere on this, at least never in a pleasant way. “Tell me what you think should be in the photos. What would make them something you think would get you the business you want?”
She scrunched up her face as she thought. “I just don’t know. This whole proposal thing is so weird to be participating in. Do you know what I mean?” She turned to him with an earnest expression.
“I do. I really do. I’ve never proposed to anyone. I have zero experience. This is why I spent the night studying online. If I’m going to do this, I want to do it right.”
At this, she smiled. “So we focus on the newspaper, and we’re just acting?”
“Of course.”
“A proposal seems so important, more than we should play around with. But maybe readers will enjoy the photos.”
He knew just enough about social media to know readers would more than enjoy them. “They’re going to have fun waiting to see the next proposal.”
“And don’t worry. You aren’t actually going to have to propose to me today.”
Elaine had tried to lure him into a proposal for weeks. Suddenly focused on that nightmare, Scott jerked the wheel. When the vehicle started to cross the line, he realized what he’d done and corrected it.
“What’s going on?” Amy asked, holding onto the side of the truck.
How could he explain this? “Let’s just say I’ve never proposed to anyone, but someone wanted me to propose.”
He could feel her eyes on him, and the mood in the vehicle was decidedly icy. “So you dated someone for a long time, and you didn’t propose?”
Ah. Now he understood. She thought he was like her ex. “We went out about five times.”
Silence greeted him, and he figured she must be waiting for the rest of the story. But that was all there was to it.
“And?”
He shrugged. “She started planning the wedding.”
Amy settled back down into her seat and seemed to calm down. That guy had really done a number on her.
After a stop at Fred’s Christmas tree farm—where they decided it definitely was not going to work for their purposes—they went to the city park. To his eye, there wasn’t anywhere special to propose here. He didn’t think there was a man alive who’d want to propose in front of a pink picnic table. The bandstand without a band seemed incomplete. But maybe Amy would see something in it that he didn’t.
“I don’t know if this is going to work, either.” He heard the frustration in her voice.
“What if we focus on the first photo and try not to think about the others? Maybe something will come to mind, or someone will suggest a place you haven’t thought of.”
She looked up at him with a beaming smile.
Scott took a step back. A smiling Amy startled him. She was always pretty, but that smile changed her. Made her more.
“Then we’ll do as you suggest and talk to Paige about shooting a proposal in front of the barn.”
He stared at her, and he felt as if her emotions were mirroring his own. Pure panic as the whole thing became real. “When?”
Her obvious distress increased when she said, “Tomorrow? We probably should do this sooner rather than later.”
As much as he hated to admit it, he agreed. “Then I guess you can pick me up tomorrow morning. I didn’t bring a suit or anything like that. I feel like I should dress up for a proposal.”
“I disagree. I think a proposal should happen while wearing whatever is comfortable and happy for you.”
She just kept surprising him. He had a feeling no one he’d ever dated would agree with her sentiments. They would have wanted him in a tuxedo with champagne and roses and a violin playing in the background.