Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
They eventually reached the top of the trail, and munched apples he’d brought along.
When they got back, she took him to the farmers’ market, and they both ordered three kinds of juice and then headed to the taco stand. “Everything tastes so much better when you’ve worked up an appetite,” he said.
They found a grassy area and sat in the shade. He leaned against a tree trunk and tucked her under his arm so her head was on his chest. As she drank fresh juice and snacked on enchiladas, she wondered if she’d ever been this happy.
Hersch said, “I don’t want this day to end. Do you have plans tonight?”
Mila toyed with a taco chip, buying herself a little time to think about what she was going to say next. Then, with both Erin’s and Tessa’s words about trust ringing in her memory, she said, “Arch and Tessa’s real wedding is Saturday, two days from now. So far, it doesn’t seem like any paps have gotten wind of it, but we have to be so careful. We’re planning a family barbecue tonight to have some family time before the big day. Dad loves to get behind a grill and throw together hot dogs and hamburgers, and Mom makes her famous potato salad. It’s traditional, but it means a lot to us.”
“That sounds nice,” he said, just a tad wistfully.
She turned to him. If she was honest with herself, she’d been thinking about this moment all day. She wanted to invite him to the Davenport home tonight and let him be part of their family tradition. But it was a big step. A huge step. She flashed back to him on the boogie board this morning. He and the water were a maybe, but she could see that maybe was making its way to yes. In the same way, her maybe about him was slowly but surely turning into a yes.
Finally, she said, “Would you like to come?”
He looked delighted with the invitation. “I’d love to. What can I bring?”
“Nothing. Dad will already have the beer and soft drinks on ice, and he’ll have already bought the food.”
He looked very serious. “Does your dad barbecue over real coals?”
“Yeah. I told you, it’s not fancy.”
He shook his head slowly at her. “We need to stop at the store, stat.”
She merely raised her brows at him, and he said, “Where I come from, when you finish a meal like that, you have to have s’mores.”
She had to hold back her laugh. “Now you’re getting fancy.”
“I want to make a good impression on your family.”
When they’d cleaned up and dressed for the family barbecue, they stopped at the corner store on their way to the Davenport home. She’d taken time to message the family group and let them know she was bringing Hersch, just to avoid any awkward exclamations. The replies were all positive—lots of thumbs-up, and of course Arch sent the heart symbol. She was hoping that the sibs might be a little more cool about things when she and Hersch arrived and act like she brought men to their family barbecues all the time, when in fact the only man she’d ever brought here was Travis, and that hadn’t exactly turned out well.
But she was a different Mila now, and Hersch was nothing like her ex.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mila felt slightly nervous when they arrived at her parents’ house to join the family for dinner. Before she opened the door, she turned to Hersch.
“Do we need a signal? If you’re really not having a good time, maybe we should have a word you can say so I’ll know to get you out of there.”
His eyebrows rose. “You mean like a safe word?”
Immediately, she thought of all the kinky sexual positions they could be in that would involve a safe word and shook her head. “No. Well, not exactly. But my family can be a little much en masse.”
He put an arm around her shoulders. “I think I’ll be okay.”
She realized that he wasn’t as nervous as she was. In fact, he didn’t seem nervous at all. He’d dressed in casual jeans and a relaxed white shirt, and he looked gorgeous. Moustache and all. She’d thrown on a black cotton dress and hoop earrings and let her hair hang loose down her back.
As she opened the door, she turned to look over her shoulder. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Tessa and Erin were in the main room with Crystal, unpacking wedding decorations. Hersch immediately went up to Tessa and said, “You need no introduction. Your painting of the Carmel cypresses is one of the things I love most about my new home.”
Tessa turned pink with pleasure.
As Crystal shook his hand, she shot a puzzled look at Mila. Then she said, quite seriously, “You know this wedding’s top secret, right? If word gets out—”