Page 195 of The Reason I Married Him
“Not worried in the slightest. Can’t possibly think of anything that would make you say anything bad about me. I’m the picture-perfect man.”
“Dear God,” I mutter, causing him to laugh just as we pull up to the guest house. He turns the engine off and hops out. I do the same, and he meets me by the house and takes my hand again. “Can I ask what this is all about?”
“Be patient,” he says as he opens the door to the guest house. I half expect him to show off some sort of redecorating, but when nothing is changed, I wonder what the hell he’s really doing. “Sit here,” he says.
I sit on the bed, then watch him grab his laptop and bring it to me. He takes a seat so our shoulders bump against each other.
“Now, you might hate this, and I’ll take no offense, but I was bored today. You won’t let me work on the farm, and Maggie and Ethel won’t let me near the wedding planning, so I did something.”
“What did you do?” I ask.
“I made a website.”
I groan. “Wyatt, did you make us a wedding website? Seriously, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
He chuckles and shakes his head as he opens his laptop. “No, I made a website for you.”
“What?” I ask as he plugs his password into his computer. When the screen lights up, a website for The Almond Store and the farm come into view. A beautiful, professional picture spans the banner across the top of The Almond Store website. Tabs along the top look like divider tabs from a notebook. One for the shop, the farm, the store, and our story. My throat grows tight again as I stare down at the beautifully constructed, professional-looking website.
He clicks on the tab that says Our Story and up pops a picture of Clarke and Cassidy when she was pregnant.
“Here,” he says. “If you want to read it. I hung out with Hattie today, and she helped me with some details and I pulled from what Clarke had told me.”
I shakily take the picture, and I read through the beautiful write-up about Cassidy and Clarke. Where they met, the love they shared—even though I know they weren’t in love—and the legacy they built together. I try not to cry at the pictures framed in white, like Polaroids. Or the beautiful picture of Cassidy at the bottom with Hattie in front of the store.
Or the picture of Cassidy and me in front of the potato fields.
But when I read the paragraph at the end, the one that talks about me and the farm and the changes I’ve made to carry on Cassidy’s dreams, I let the tears fall.
I let them cascade down my cheeks, not feeling the need to wipe them away, to hide and make sure no one sees me.
Instead, I openly turn toward Wyatt, my tears staining my cheeks. “This is . . . this is so incredible, Wyatt.”
He smiles softly. “So those are happy tears?”
“Grateful tears,” I say, and then I cup his cheek and lean into him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before pulling away. “This is more than I could have ever asked for. Why did you do it?”
“Wanted to do something nice for you. Something helpful. You’re setting aside your life for a year to help me, and I want to do as much as I can for you.”
“It’s not necessary,” I say but look him in the eyes. “But this is . . . this means a lot to me.”
“I’m not stepping on toes?”
No, you’re making it that much harder for me not to fall for you.
You’re making it so freaking easy to say I do on Saturday.
You’re proving to me that my brother isn’t the only decent man on this planet, that there are men out there willing and wanting to be kind and thoughtful. That they don’t live with a bottle in their hand, ready to verbally attack you.
“No.” I shake my head. “You’re not. This was incredibly thoughtful, and I’m grateful, Wyatt.” And because I can’t help it, I kiss him one more time, but this one lasts two seconds longer. When I pull away, his eyes slowly open, and a lazy smile spreads across his face.
“Well, I’m not done yet. I still have to figure out the shop for you, but I figured this was a good start and something that will keep me busy and out of your hair.”
“Which is the most important thing of all,” I tease.
“I’m just here to please.”
Yet it feels like he’s here for so much more than that.
