Page 67 of Taming I Do
“Are you sure you’re up for it?” I winced as my gaze drifted over her.
“Of course. I don’t have anything going on today. What else am I going to do?”
With a sinking feeling in my gut, I wrapped a hand around my coffee and lifted it to my lips. “All right then. Let’s go hunt some butterflies.”
Three hours later I slipped another huge monarch butterfly into the netted hamper my mother had given me. We’d been hunting butterflies all morning and had collected only a fraction of the number Lacey started with.
“How many does that make?” I asked Delilah. She was in charge of keeping the hamper closed so we didn’t lose any.
“Around thirty maybe?” Delilah guessed. “I lost count when Buster knocked the hamper over and we had to recapture some of the ones that got away.”
“That’s it?”
Delilah had on a bright yellow sweater. She looked like a sunflower standing against the backdrop of some fields that had been left to compost. The butterflies seemed to flock to her, probably drawn in by the color of her sweater.
“Hold still.” I gently plucked a few more butterflies from her sleeve and slipped them into the hamper. “At this rate we won’t have enough to make much of an impact.”
“What are butterflies attracted to?” Delilah asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never tried to find them on purpose before.”
She pulled out her phone and typed on the screen. “Looks like they love milkweed. Is there any of that growing around here?”
“Hey, Aunt Suzy,” I called to my aunt, who’d joined us with a few of her biker friends. “Isn’t there some nursery around here that specializes in local plants?”
“There sure is.” Suzy nodded. “That place out east of town. I think it’s called Milkweed Gardens, or something like that.”
“Perfect. Delilah, why don’t you and I head over and see if it’s worth pursuing. Suzy and Helmut, you stay here and if we think you need to come over, I’ll give you call.” Delilah had already started to move toward my truck when I caught up. “Thanks for pitching in with this.”
“Of course. What else was I going to do today? Sit around while the rest of you went on a mad dash to try to collect butterflies? Besides, this is fun. It’s not every day I get to learn how to track down monarchs.”
“But your eye.” Finally, far enough away for the others to notice, I cupped her cheek with my palm.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about me. Right now I’m only thinking about butterflies.”
I nodded. “Hopefully we’ll find enough to make it work. I hate to think about that poor bride.”
“You put on quite a front, don’t you?”
I turned to find her studying me. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing, really. I’m just surprised that a guy like you cares so much about how a stranger might feel.” She tucked a leg underneath her while a teasing smile played across her lips.
I shifted my gaze to the road ahead. “I don’t want Lacey to have to deal with the fallout.”
“Right.”
“What? Is it that strange that a guy would be concerned about a friend?”
“Nope. Not strange at all.”
I glanced over and caught her biting back a grin. “Are you saying men shouldn’t think about other people’s feelings?”
“Not at all.” She faced me, her green eyes shining. “I’m saying it’s refreshing to see someone who’s not afraid to show he cares.”
I blew out a breath. “Great. Now you’re making me out to sound like a softhearted wuss.”
Her fingers brushed my arm. “That’s not what I meant at all. I think it’s nice that you care so much. Not everyone has the ability to put themselves in someone else’s place and consider how they feel. That’s all.”
