Page 75 of Hand Picked
What we’d done today was more than work to fix up a house. It was an outpouring of love, and I was grateful to live in a place that valued helping others.
The weather today had been perfect, and I’d seen the difference it had made to Luke’s mood. He’d bounced around from person to person, project to project, smiling and laughing, thanking everyone for their contributions.
He’d felt honored and grateful, too, and watching him happily thank everyone for their help, rather than nervously resist, was an indicator of how far he’d come in these three weeks. Not only had he relaxed about accepting help, but he’d also connected with several people outside of work. I could tell he almost felt like one of us now.
“We really only need one napkin per person, bro. What the heck are you doing?”
I glanced up at Em, whose smirk was focused on the mess I was making on the kitchen table. We were back home for dinner, and my only contribution had been setting the table.
So much for that. Apparently, I’d been giving each person their own stack of cloth napkins instead of one.
“Mm,” I grunted. “I’ve seen you eat Marco’s chicken before and decided an ounce of prevention would be worth a pound of dirty laundry later.”
Knox set a few glasses of ice water down. “Methinks he wants to make a good impression for his Lukey-love.”
I snapped my head around. “Zzzt. Ix-nay on the uhv-lay.”
“There are no little ears around to overhear.” Emma laughed. “Aiden’s spending the night out, remember?”
My stomach lurched. Of course I remembered. This would be the first time Amanda would have him overnight. Thankfully, it was a Nature Scout group campout, but still. It was hard to leave him in her care for so long when I knew she had a tendency to flake. At least there were several other parents there who knew to keep an eye on him.
Thinking of that reminded me of earlier today when Luke had pulled me inside his trailer to help me get my head on straight before I lost my cool. There was something about him that grounded me, that helped me put things in perspective and not take things so seriously.
I loved that about him.
“Anyway, it’s notlove,” I continued, ignoring my mental contradiction. “It’s just… the thing with Luke is…”
Uncle Drew snorted under his breath. “Then the dreamy look on your face is just a platonic kind of dreamy. Sure.”
“Temporary,” I said firmly. “It’s not… he’s not… we’re not…”
“Whynot?” Gage asked, elbowing me out of the way after yanking the rest of the cloth napkins from my hands.
I was going to tell him why not. It was obvious. “Because.”
Knox let out a booming laugh. “Because.”
My face burned. Luke was going to arrive any minute and find my family implying we were in a serious relationship. That was a complete falsehood. “We’re not in love. We’re just engaged,” I said stupidly.
Now it was Uncle Drew whose laugh drowned out everyone else’s. I sighed. “Please don’t embarrass me when he gets here. Okay? I don’t know what we are right now, but I like him. And I think he likes me. And I want to see where it goes. Clearly I’m not in a position to enter into anything serious, but…”
“But?” Emma asked before mimicking my voice. “Why aren’t you in a position for anything serious?”
I sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs. Marco bustled around the kitchen while Drew acted as his sous chef, and Knox and Gage finished preparing the table for dinner.
“Because things finally might be settling down with Amanda. Aiden is happy and secure. The orchard is in good shape. The last thing I need is something fucking it all up.”
Drew was the one who pinned me with a glare. “And that sweet man would fuck it up?”
“What? Of course not! He’s the kindest human being alive. He could never fuck anything up.”
My family stared at me until I realized I’d stood up and poked my index finger on the table to emphasize my point. I sat back down and cleared my throat. “He’s awesome. There’s no denying that. I just… I can’t jump back into the kind of legal mess I had with Amanda. Marriage isn’t for me. Not again.”
Knox slid into the chair next to mine and straightened the napkin. “How are you doing with the whole… he’s a guy thing? Do you have anything you want to talk about there or… I dunno… questions?”
Gage muttered, “Oh God, here we go,” under his breath. Knox shot him a look.
“I’m good, thanks,” I said, keeping my eyes on my own place mat.
