Page 60 of A Dream for Daphne

“I know. I appreciate it too,” she said. “And you’ll want to meet him. Maybe we can go to dinner at some point. I’ve met Laurel, but she wants to have me over too.”

“If you’re happy,” Aster said. “That is all I care about.”

“I am,” she said. “I was happy to move here and start this dream job and live in that beautiful little cabin on those gorgeous grounds. Now I’m lucky enough to find a guy that I enjoy spending time with. I won’t be so bored on the weekends trying to learn to make a quilt or watching videos on how to decorate cookies.”

“What’s wrong with decorating cookies?” Aster asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Now you sound just like Abe.”

“I hope in a good way,” Aster said. “Not that long ago you had your hands on your hips ready to read me the riot act.”

“In the best way possible.”

21

WANTED SOME REASSURANCE

“Are you working late to close up for the weekend or hoping to catch sight of your woman?” Poppy asked Abe on Friday afternoon.

The crew had cleaned up and taken off, but he was walking around to make sure there wasn’t anything dangerous lying on the ground.

He wasn’t in a rush to go home because he was just driving down the road to shower and have dinner with Daphne.

Since she was working tomorrow while Poppy and Reese were at a wedding, he knew they wouldn’t see each other.

“Checking out the grounds,” he said, grinning. “Then going to see Daphne. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is,” Poppy said. “I’ve known you most of my life. I even put a good word in for you.”

“Well, putting in a good word for me and having me spend time on your property outside of work are two different things.”

Not that he thought it was an issue, but for his own peace of mind he wanted it cleared up.

He knew Daphne had brought it up and was nervous, but he wanted it known that he cleared it too.

It was still Reese’s property and he’d honor what they’d say.

“It’s not like you are billing me for time with her,” Poppy said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Don’t listen to my wife,” Reese said. “She’s jerking you around like she is known to do. Besides, our contract isn’t by hours; it’s by completed work. If it takes you ten hours or ten thousand hours, it’s the same price.”

He laughed. “Yes, it is,” he said. “But no way it’s taking ten thousand hours regardless of how much I’d like to stay around to see Daphne.”

“Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever?” Poppy asked, elbowing her husband. “How come you never say things like that to me?”

“Because I’m too busy cooking dinner for you,” Reese said. “But I can say nice things and you can cook if you want.”

“Dinner is always better over words,” he said.

Poppy rolled her eyes. “For a man. A woman likes the words.”

“We are going,” Reese said, playfully pulling his wife’s arm back into the house. “Abe can figure out his dating life on his own.”

“Flowers are nice too,” Poppy shouted before Reese shut the door.

He’d never been a romantic guy. Maybe he should do those things.

It’d been something women he’d dated in the past used to complain about.

---