Meant for Me | ✔️

20) cards on the table

"Brought you dinner. I'll wait over here," he passed the register and headed for a bench seat beside the store windows.

"That's so nice," I said, glad that the girl was happier now. She nodded and bit down on her lip as she stared at the screen and tapped in the total.

"He's the best. Uh, that's one hundred and eighteen dollars and nineteen cents. Cash or card?"

"Card."

I swiped through the company card. After all, this was all for a job. Raine told me to give her the receipts for these purchases so that she could compensate it. I made sure that I kept them all. That was all the financial contribution she was making in regards to my planning her wedding. She insisted that I give her some sort of fee. But I refused.

When I got back to the farm, I had an overwhelming urge to send her a text message so that I could let her know what I'd bought. She'd want to come over and look through it all. She was that excited, impatient sort of bride to be.

I had a feeling that she'd be hitched far sooner if it weren't for finances and planning that required them to go slow. But I still hadn't heard from her since I told her that I gave birth to Willa and I knew that it was probably out of respect for Milo, he obviously wasn't ready to talk and I doubt she'd have been able to resist telling me what he was thinking.

So she'd been keeping her distance. Well, that was what I'd told myself. I was worried that I'd upset her, somehow, even if she'd seemed excited about it all last weekend.

With the wedding bits and pieces stored in the closet, I wandered downstairs to look for Zac. The kitchen smelled wonderful, dinner must have been and gone, I felt rude for not being here but I peeped in the oven to see if there was a plate leftover. Nope. Oh well. That's on me.

The back deck was hot when I stepped out and hit the afternoon sun. Midge and Toto were darting around the garden, panting, tongues out and a little blow up pool for them to cool down in. Zac was nowhere to be found so I wandered off toward the back gate.

There he was, in a tank top, jeans, sweat gleaming on his golden skin and hair a damp mess. He was hauling big bales of hay from the back of a truck and into one of the many small tin sheds. Gloves protected his hands.

Sometimes I just watched him for a little while and imagined a song, as if we were in a movie. Sometimes I heard it loud and clear and I didn't often decide the song but it always suited the situation. That was probably information that I shouldn't share because it made me feel a little bit unstable but it made me smile too and right now, that was what counted.

"Hey," I walked forward and Zac made a subtle sweep of my outfit. A fitted pair of short overalls and a tank top. He smiled and wiped his arm across his brow.

"Had a good afternoon?"

"Yep. Just did a little shopping for Raine's wedding." His expression softened into a sad smile. "I'm fine. How's your afternoon been? Hot?"

"Not as hot as it is now," he winked, hauling another bale of hay, his biceps flexed as he threw it into the shed. I blushed. Of course I did.

"Can I help?"

He stopped between the shed and the truck and his firm chest rose and fell with ragged breaths as he looked me over. "Those are heavy and the hay itches."

They did look like they weren't light. I mean, he was throwing them around with ease but he was feeling it, that was for sure. However, now that he'd told me they would be too heavy for me, I was determined to do it. I walked over, grabbed the thin rope around the square bale and dragged it off the truck. It fell straight onto the ground.