Page 32 of The Cowboy Who Came Home
“Let’s go,” he said, though it was barely eight o’clock, and they still had plenty of daylight left.
“Go where?”
He stood up and started cleaning up the dinner his grandma had made for them. Sloppy Joes with cole slaw, potato chips, and fruit salad. A lot of his favorites, which he hadn’t requested but had hoped for.
“I’ll take you home,” he said as he stacked their paper plates and put them in a garbage bag his grandma had left on the table.
“I don’t want to go home,” Edith said.
Finn paused in his work and looked over to Edith. She blinked at him, and Finn hadn’t planned anything but this romantic outdoor meal. He figured they’d eat and talk and laugh and talk, and it would be amazing.
He had not anticipated a fiancé, and least of all, one who’d passed away.
“Let’s go walk Main Street,” he said. “We can get dessert.”
Edith brightened. “Yeah, dessert. I like dessert.”
Finn put a smile on his face too. “I’ll find you the richest brownie I can, I promise.”
“Someone’s been paying attention to my texts.”
He wasn’t going to deny that. “Trying to impress you, remember?”
“I think you’re miles ahead of me,” she said. “You haven’t sobbed and ruined our first date.”
Finn took her trash and put it in the bag. “You haven’t ruined anything. We can go up to the house, and you can…freshen up, and then we’ll go.”
“I want to tell your grandmother thank you, too.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said, though he hadn’t planned on introducing her to his grandparents that evening. Of course they’d know her, as the Baxter’s had lived in Three Rivers for years before they’d moved.
With the table cleaned up, Finn went over to her and took both of her hands in his. “Thank you, Edith. For telling me.” His pulse rioted in the vein in his neck, but he couldn’t just move on with the night, move on to some other conversation, and get brownies.
“I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through. I…don’t know what else to say.” Something popped into his head, and he let it flow right out of his mouth. “I don’t need to go fast. If you’re not ready to go out with me, it’s fine. Or, if you want to, we can just take things day by day, thing by thing.”
She nodded and relaxed visibly in front of him. “Day by day sounds good.”
“Would this be a bad time to ask you on a second date?” Finn grinned at her, glad when she smiled too.
She giggled, and it was such a cute sound. “You’ve survived me sobbing my eyes out, so I think you’ve earned a second date.”
“Great,” he said easily. “But maybe you’ll want to wait to make sure I can get you the perfect brownie.”
“I believe in your abilities, Finn,” she teased. “Now, take me inside so I can fix my face and tell your grandmother thank you for dinner.”
“Sure thing, sweetheart,” he said, and while she did that, he’d call Fresh Baked and make sure they had the double chocolate dark brownies Edith had referenced in a text last week. Then, maybe this date would be salvageable. Then, maybe he wouldn’t feel like he’d never be able to measure up to the man Edith had once loved.
And probably still loved.
As he led her inside, he told himself he could only be himself. Only Finn Ackerman. And that had to be enough. And if it wasn’t…well, they’d take things day by day, like she’d said.
And to give himself something extra, Finn prayed while Edith exclaimed over dinner, then went to fix her makeup.
Just tell me what to do, he begged the Lord. And I’ll do it.
He didn’t get an answer right that moment, but Finn never had. He could be patient, and as he stood in his grandparent’s kitchen, he remembered that within a few hours of returning to Three Rivers, he’d seen Edith from a window, a hundred yards away.
His heart took courage, and when Edith came out of the bathroom and asked, “Ready, Finn?” he smiled at her and felt stronger than ever.
