Page 54 of Leave It to Us
The offer of some quiet stood out way more than the offer to fix food, which Yvonne knew Tami would disagree with if she were here. “Thank you,” Yvonne said. “Thanks so much for your kindness. Everyone here has always been so kind to us.” And that was true: everyone on the island—with the exception of Sallie and Cora, whose attitudes Yvonne still didn’t get—had been more than sweet and generous with them since their arrival. She liked how that felt, this sense of community coming together to take care of their own ... or the descendants of one of their own.
“That’s what we do here,” Mama Jo said. “We take care of our own. Now, Deacon, you get her on home. She’s looking a little tired now.”
She was feeling tired; traveling back and forth on the ferry had been a lot, and then she’d just had a very heavy meal. A hot shower and her bed were definitely calling to her.
“We didn’t get a chance to take our walk,” Deacon said when they once again stood on the front porch at the summerhouse.
“No,” she said with a sigh. “We didn’t. But I’ll walk in the morning after breakfast.”
He grasped both her hands and leaned his butt against the railing of the porch, pulling her closer to him. She didn’t know what it was about this man and her hands, but she could never seem to pull awayfrom him. Even now, when she knew she was standing way too close to him, she made no move to get away.
“Is that an invitation for me to join you?” he asked, his voice going lower.
She narrowed her eyes, not nearly as averse to the suggestion as she probably should be. “I don’t think that’s what I said.”
He grinned. “You’re making this really hard.”
“Making what hard? This wasn’t a date, remember?” It seemed as if she was much better at reminding him of this than keeping herself convinced of the fact. Tonight had definitely felt like a date, one of the most enjoyable ones she could recall, and part of her desperately wanted a repeat. That part needed to meet the more realistic part of her that said getting romantically involved with this guy was a mistake. She wasn’t interested in a long-distance romance; they both deserved better than that.
“You’re right: this wasn’t a real date,” he conceded. “But I’m trying to work up to one, if you’d stop blocking me every time I try to shoot my shot.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “That’s not what I’m doing.”
“It is, and you’re damn good at it,” he told her. “Good thing my ego can take it.”
“I like you, Deacon,” she said, opting for honesty because she was too tired for anything else. “But there’s no need in us working up to a date when I’m gonna be heading back to the city soon.”
“In eight weeks,” he said with a nod. “The plumbers may’ve hit a snag earlier today, but they’re supposed to get back to me with a definite solution on Monday.”
Her brow furrowed. “A snag? What? Nobody told me that. Why didn’t you call me?”
“Tami was here, and we talked about solutions and the timeline.” He brought her hands up to kiss the backs of them. “Don’t worry until we know if there’s something to worry about.”
“Tami handled it?”
He nodded. “Yeah. She’s really good at this, you know.”
“I do know. I told her that earlier today.”
“Good,” he said. “From what I’ve learned about her in the month since y’all have been here, she likes to act like she doesn’t need anybody’s approval, but she appreciates the validation. Just like everybody else, I guess.”
“She does,” Yvonne said. “And unfortunately, she didn’t get enough of it during her childhood. So thank you for seeing her and appreciating her.”
“That’s absolutely no problem at all. If she wasn’t anxiously waiting to hear back from that job she interviewed for before coming down here, I’d offer her a job at my company. It’d be great to have an in-house designer.”
“Wow, you think she’s that good? I mean, I just mentioned being a designer to her this afternoon, but you really believe she could do it?”
“Definitely,” he said. “And if she takes your suggestion, I’m gonna need you to make sure she comes to see me first before taking a job anywhere else.”
Yvonne smiled. “Will do, sir.”
“But back to what I was saying about shooting my shot with you.”
She eased a hand from his and touched her fingers to his lips. “Don’t,” she said. “Really, Deacon, as much I wish this were a different time and place so I could finally let myself explore a real relationship, this is not the best time.”
He kissed her fingers, and Yvonne hurriedly pulled them back. Once again, the smirk that covered his face told her he knew why she’d pulled away so quickly: because she was feeling exactly what he was.
“Besides our location, tell me your other reasons for turning me down,” he said. His tone was so gentle, not at all hurt or defensive—just curious, she guessed.
