“Sorry about that,” the hostess said, scowling at the waiter as he hurried to his table. “Sometimes the waitstaff are so tunnel visioned when they come out of the kitchen.”
“Can’t keep the customers waiting,” Katie said, cringing at her own forced cheerfulness. Without looking at him, she murmured, “Thanks for...intervening, Will.”
“What else am I good for if not hauling tons of canned food and saving damsels in distress from runaway tacos?”
Katie chuckled, wondering if he could hear her heartbeat, which was pounding in her own ears. The hostess motioned them forward with a flick of her fingers, and Will placed his hand on Katie’s lower back, gently guiding her to their booth. Spotting Hope, an old high school friend from the cheerleading squad, Katie waved, trying to appear as natural as possible to anyone who might be watching. As she sat down, she took the menu from the hostess and resisted the urge to fan her burning cheeks.
“Well, I already know what I want,” Will said, putting his menu down. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I could eat an entire plate of tacos.”
“You definitely worked up an appetite,” Katie said, looking over her menu. “I think I’ll have—”
Right over Will’s shoulder, she caught sight of someone she could have happily gone the rest of her life without seeing again. Of all the things she loved about living in a small town where so many people knew each other, the one downside was that there was no escaping the ones she’d rather avoid.
“You alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Will said, his brow furrowing and his eyes focused on her with great concern.
With a shaky hand, Katie took a sip of her ice water. Ducking down behind her hand, she answered, “Not a ghost. A former date.”
One side of Will’s mouth hitched up in a lopsided grin that made all of Katie’s insides flip. Putting his arm on the back of the booth, Will casually looked behind him to see who was haunting Katie.
“The guy with the green baseball cap on?” he asked.
“Don’t look!” Katie hissed. “If we’re lucky, he’ll leave, and I can live one more day without talking to him.”
Scooting further down into her seat, she held her menu in front of her face, looking at the words but not comprehending them. Holding her breath, she could feel the tension building up in her neck, forming into a tight knot that was going to require a serious massage to get rid of.
“Is that my Katie?” she heard over her menu.
Blowing out the stale air she’d been holding in her lungs, Katie gave herself a mental pep talk. Laying the menu on the table, Katie forced a cheery smile onto her face. “Rex? Hi! How are you?”
“Fantastic,” he said as a toothpick balanced precariously between his lips. She didn’t miss that his murky brown eyes took in more than just her face. “It’s nice to see you here.”
She suppressed a shudder that threatened to rack her insides and lied, “Good to see you, too.”
“Hi,” Will interrupted, his hand extended. “I’m afraid we haven’t met. I’m Will Ryan.”
It was only when Will spoke that Rex seemed to realize Katie was sitting with anyone. Sizing him up, Rex clapped his hand into Will’s and clenched. Not wanting to be outdone, Will squeezed back.
When Rex couldn’t take it any longer, he yanked his hand away. “Easy, buddy. That’s quite a grip you got there.”
Hiding her smile behind her water as she took another sip, she mentioned, “Those are farmer’s hands for you.”
“I’m not a farmer,” Will countered, winking playfully at Katie. It was enough to make her guffaw dumbly while her heart skipped a beat.
Rex snapped. “Ryan? As in Ryan Family Farms?”
“Yeah,” Will confirmed, draping his long arms across the back of the booth.
Rex’s eyes darkened, and a vulpine smile crossed his face. “Heard your folks are having a hard time getting their corn brought in this season. That’s a real shame.”
Will shrugged off Rex’s jab. “Happens to the best of ‘em.”
Katie added, “That’s why he’s in town.”
“Ah,” Rex said. “You don’t live here?”
“Not at the moment. I’m based up in Des Moines,” Will said as he reached for a chip and scooped up a healthy serving of salsa, fitting the entire thing in his mouth.
“That explains it,” Rex said.
Katie was quickly growing tired of his games—the same ones he played during their very brief dating stint. Cocking her head to the side, Katie narrowed her eyes at Rex. “Explains what?”
“Explains why the rumor is running around town that you’re going to the Harvest Festival Ball all by your lonesome self,” Rex answered.
A dull throb started at Katie’s temples, and she massaged at it with her fingers, audibly sighing. She mumbled through clenched teeth, “Word sure gets around fast.”
“That’s a small town for you,” Rex said with a shrug. “Don’t worry, though. I’ve got a solution for you.”
Dropping her hands, Katie incredulously asked, “And what is that?”
Holding his hands out, Rex proudly proclaimed, “I’m your knight in shining armor, baby.”
Katie heard what he’d said, but it took a moment for her brain to catch up. Her jaw unhinged and she stuttered, “Excuse me?”
Rex repeated, “I’m going to take you. I promise, I’ll show you a real good time.”
Before Katie could figure out how to dig herself out of the mortifying situation she found herself in, Will answered, “Sorry to disappoint, but you’ve heard wrong. Katie isn’t going by herself.”
“Oh?” Rex said as he took off his ball cap and scratched at his thinning buzzcut. “And who exactly is going with her?”
Will looked over at Katie, and he placed his warm hand over hers.
“Me.”
CHAPTER SIX
Will couldn’t believe his dumb luck. He’d been trying to find a way to bring up the Harvest Festival Ball in a way that would open up a conversation about the possibility of them going together when Katie’s ex sashayed in and made it all too easy. In fact, it had gone better than he could’ve imagined.
While Rex stuttered, trying to figure out how to weasel his way into being Katie’s date instead, Katie secured Will’s plan by tightening her grip on his hand.
Katie smiled kindly but confidently at her ex. “Sorry, Rex, but I’m afraid you heard wrong. As you can see, I do have a date for the ball.”
If the night could have gone any more perfectly, Will didn’t know how. He’d all but forgotten about the tractor getting stuck in the mud and that the setbacks on his parents’ farm meant he would have to stay longer than anticipated in Blessings, a thought that no longer irked him like it had when he’d first come back.
Riding home in the truck, he purposefully took a few wrong turns so he could spend a few more moments with Katie, however he could get them. She sat close enough that it made his heart hammer against his ribs, and his leg bounce up and down excitedly. The source energizing him was that when she scooted into the truck, she’d picked up his hand and hadn’t let go. Will couldn’t get enough of how her fingers felt so right, intertwined with his own, like there’d never been a time they weren’t together.
“Here we are again,” Will said, putting the truck in park. “Hope I’m not getting you home too late.”
Katie shrugged as she ran her thumb across his knuckles. “My shift at the café isn’t until six.”
“A.M.? Because that’s in about seven hours,” Will pointed out.
“I know. I think I’m floating on cloud nine right now. It’s not every day I find out I have a handsome date to the Harvest Festival Ball.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Will dropped his gaze before looking back up to Katie. “About that. I hope I wasn’t being too pushy. I’ve been meaning to ask you about the ball for a while, but I thought maybe you really did want to go by yourself.”
Katie shook her head and scoffed. “By mysel
f? Please. I was mostly telling Charlotte that so she’d get off my back. I honestly figured I’d go, make sure she saw me once, then slip out the back door and go home. I don’t think with Harvey at her side, she’ll see much of anything anyway.”
“That’s probably true,” Will said, chuckling at his sister, who never did anything half-heartedly.
“Plus, the timing was perfect. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out of it with Rex. He thinks very highly of himself, and it would’ve taken some convincing to get him to understand why I didn’t want to go with him.”
Will’s mouth twitched as he tried to keep a straight face. “I’m having a hard time understanding how you and Rex ended up as a couple in the first place.”
Katie’s face turned pink, making the small, pinprick freckles on her face more conspicuous. With a heaving sigh, she rolled her eyes. “It’s a long story. Basically, it was a blind date—a favor I was doing for a friend—and he sort of tricked me into a second date. As far as Rex was concerned, two dates meant we were a couple, and when I stopped answering his calls. . . I’ve been having to dodge him whenever I see him around Blessings. It’s a bit of a headache, really.”
“I don’t want to drive a wedge between you and your friend, but I think she might’ve been trying to dump Rex on you to get away from him,” Will quipped.
Laughing, Katie agreed. “I’m positive that’s what happened, which would explain why she always looks so guilty when she sees me. I can’t blame her, though. The dating pool gets smaller and smaller every year. I’m barely into my twenties, and feel like I’m going to die a spinster.”
Will took both of Katie’s hands and edged his way closer to her until they were thigh to thigh. “Maybe the right guy hasn’t come along yet.”
Katie smiled bashfully. “Maybe I was needing to wait for the right guy to come back.”
Katie’s words were direct and poignant. In her dark eyes, he could see a glimmer of hope, suggesting that if they were lucky, things might work between them. Drawing Katie in, he slowly closed the gap until his lips met hers. The kiss was slow and sweet but brimful of passion and pent-up longing. Like holding her hand, it felt so natural to be kissing Katie Holloway.
After what felt like an eternity that was somehow mystically wrapped up in an instant, Katie pulled back, while he kissed along her jawline. She sighed happily, a faint chuckle coming up her throat, and she touched her forehead to his. Will’s resolve to stay away from Blessings came crumbling down, and he was already figuring out the logistics of moving his life back to his hometown. First, he’d have to break the news to his boss, and terminate his lease on his apartment. He’d be his parents’ hired farmhand and live in their spare bedroom if it meant he had more chances to kiss Katie like that.
“I should go,” Katie murmured, “or I’m going to be so tired in the morning that I’ll fall asleep on my feet.”
“When will I see you again?”
Katie leaned over for one more soulful kiss that sent another shock of adrenaline coursing through every last inch of Will. Pulling away, she touched his cheek.
“Soon.”
Bringing her hand to his mouth, he kissed her knuckles. “Not soon enough.”
She bit her lip adorably and leaned back so Will could help open her door. Trotting up to the front porch, she twiddled her fingers and blew a kiss as she disappeared inside her house.
Will inhaled deeply, grinning stupidly to himself as he pulled out of the driveway and headed back to his parents’ house. His heart thudded in his chest, reliving over and over the entire evening, especially how it had ended.
The porch light was still on when he pulled into his parents’ driveway, and he bounded up the steps. Quietly opening the back door, he tiptoed so he wouldn’t wake his parents. He filled a glass of water before he headed up to bed to try and sleep. The morning was going to come sooner than he’d want it to, and if he didn’t get some decent sleep, he’d be paying for it later. With a pleasant buzz of happiness still running through his veins, he started whistling a sporadic, happy tune.
“Have a good evening?”
The question startled Will, and he spun around, clutching his hand to his heart and barely keeping the glass he was holding from slipping out of his fingers.
“Dad? What are you doing up? You about gave me a heart attack.”
Roger looked over the silver rims of his bifocals and smirked. Grabbing a cookie from the Oreo bag, he dunked it into his milk. “I’ve been sitting at the table the whole time. If I wanted to sneak up on you, I guarantee you would’ve had that heart attack.”
Will chuckled and wiped up the water he’d sloshed onto the floor, then pulled out the chair next to his father and took a cookie. Copying his father, he held down the Oreo under the milk until the bubbles stopped, then popped it in his mouth.
“What are you doing up so late?” Will asked, taking another cookie.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Roger said, leaning back in his chair and locking his fingers behind his head. “Hot date?”
“How did you...?” Will trailed off as he tried to solve his own question. It came to him as he replayed the evening. “Charlotte.”
Roger belly laughed. “You know she can’t sit on a good bit of gossip when she has it.”
“She’s become the stereotypical hairdresser,” Will said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I imagine running into me tonight will be the highlight of the hair salon.”
“For a month. At least,” Roger said with a teasing wink.
“Dad,” Will said with a groan, “don’t say it like that.”
His dad belted out a laugh but smothered it into his hand. Raising his eyebrows, Will pointed out, “You’re going to wake up Mom, and I guarantee she’s not going to be happy knowing you’re eating Oreos in the dark at midnight.”
Roger batted his hand at his son’s comment. “What makes you think she doesn’t know I do this? I couldn’t keep a secret from your mother if I tried.”
“Then...why?”
Will’s dad shrugged. “You having a date with Katie Holloway of all people is a pretty big deal. So? How was it?”
“It was...good.”
“Good?” Roger asked incredulously. “Just good?”
“Dad,” Will said flatly, “it’s weird that you’re so invested in my dating life.”
Roger laughed softly as he took out one last cookie, then closed the package. “Actually, your mother and I are more concerned about Katie.”
A wry smile crossed Will’s lips at his father’s confession. “You’re worried about Katie?”
“Son, I don’t know what your plans are for the future, and of course, we wish you the best in all your endeavors, but to say we’d love to have you back in Blessings is an understatement. Part of us feels incomplete that you flew the coop and made your home so far away. When it comes to Katie, though, we don’t want to see her with a broken heart. She’s already had enough of that in her short life. Plus, she’s out of your league.”
Roger nudged Will playfully, and both of them laughed. “No arguments there,” Will agreed.
“Seriously, Katie is someone special. Don’t go and mess that up.”
Staring out the large kitchen window above the sink, Will could see the clear night sky and pinpricks of stars hanging in the dark expanse. There was no mistaking Katie was one of a kind. Excusing himself to go to bed, he went up the creaky wooden stairs as quietly as possible so he wouldn’t wake his mother. That was, if she wasn’t already wide awake from his dad and him conversing and laughing in the kitchen.
He didn’t know how long he laid awake in bed, but sleep had been elusive as he tried to unsnarl his thoughts. The next morning, Will woke with the sunrise, the beams of sunlight streaming in through the gossamer curtains. Putting his arms behind his head, he pulled a deep breath into his lungs and exhaled. He barely felt like he’d gotten in twenty minutes of rest, but as he relived the night before—holding Katie’s hand and that fanta
stic kiss they’d shared, he didn’t care.
Hearing a firm knock on the door, his father’s voice drifted through the solid oak. “Ready, Will?”
Will sat up and twisted his spine and reluctantly let go of his reverie. “I’m awake.”
“Daylight’s burning, and someone got my tractor stuck in the mud, and we have to get it out before we can finish up the corn.”
Slipping a tattered old t-shirt over his head, Will laughed. “Be down in a minute.”
His stomach rumbled, ready for the full breakfast his mother was cooking downstairs. As he inhaled the heavenly, savory aroma of bacon and eggs that floated up the stairs, Will’s phone rang in his pocket.
Checking the caller I.D., he hesitated answering. He’d been putting off calling his boss, Dale, to let him know he was staying a while longer. It wasn’t because he didn’t like his boss or his job but because things had been changing so fast. Blessings was no longer a bane to him, and Katie had muddled his resolve to leave as quickly as possible.
Figuring then was as good a time as any to pull off the Band-Aid, he answered. “Hey, Dale. What’s up?”
“Hi, Will. Just calling to check in. How are things going there?”
Will rubbed the back of his neck and was glad that his boss wasn’t there to see the guilty look he could see reflected in his dresser mirror. “It’s going...alright. We’ve had a bit more rain than expected, and one of the tractors got stuck in the mud. We’re pulling it out this morning and hoping to get the rest of the crop brought in within the next couple of days.”
Dale grunted. “Sounds like things are slow going.”
“You never know how long it’s going to take with harvesting.”
During a brief pause while Dale answered a question from someone in the office, Will calmed himself, preparing himself to share his intentions of moving back to Blessings.
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