“I vote yes.”
He held out his hand to her and she grabbed on to it, just as she had the other night when they’d tested Chef Arnett’s cooking.
The same jarring electricity traveled through him as he brought her to her feet. When he let go, they started to walk on the graveled path to his cabin, and he could’ve sworn that she was just as puzzled about what to say now as he was.
On the way, Chet saw Danny Hogan and that sous chef he’d been chatting up at the softball game in the near distance, walking over a hill.
“The spirit path,” Mina said. “I’ll bet he’s taking her there.”
“For some kind of deep religious experience?”
Mina gave him a little punch to the arm. “Nice.”
“What?” It was easy to be in a good mood, knowing that Danny Hogan had decided to pursue a girl who wasn’t named Mina. “The kid’s known around the office for loving his entertainment.”
“Kid? Listen to you, like you’re such an ancient creature.”
Who knew that thirty would feel so old? It was as if Chet had lived a lot of lifetime from birth to the present. But with the moon and stars shining down like they were, and with Mina walking right next to him, things seemed new right now.
He wished it would stay that way—that they could be locked in this moment under the stars, where he didn’t ever have to go back to what he’d been running from.
“Are you looking forward to Jeremiah’s wedding?” she asked, changing the subject.
He took a breath, let it out. “Yeah, for my brother’s sake. Jeremiah’s crazy about Ally, and I’m happy for him. It’s just that Eli might be there, if he’s earned any time out of rehab.”
“Maybe you can avoid him.”
Chet recalled how shamed he’d felt just yesterday, when he’d realized that it was high time that he faced his demons.
“No,” he said. “There’s no more avoiding what I need to confront.”
Saying it felt right, as if he’d relieved himself of a burden he hadn’t known how to release.
Mina paused, the moonlight brushing over her. She looked at him, the corners of her mouth turned up, her eyes shining.
“I’m glad to hear that, Chet.”
“I’m glad I finally feel that way.” Then he shrugged. “In any case, I’ve got two brothers waiting for me in Texas. And they’ve been waiting for a while. After Eli screwed up for the last time, we knew we’d have to figure out how to handle him beyond rehab.”
“Just let me know what I can do. Promise you’ll do that and not take all of this on yourself. You’re not alone, Chet.”
“I know.”
He would never be alone—not with Mina around.
How could he have forgotten that she was the first one he’d turned to in his crisis? That she had never let him down, even when he’d done it to her?
He was talking before he knew it. “Did you get the wedding invitation for Jeremiah and Ally?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t add more. She didn’t have to because, even though she’d attended Tyler’s wedding as a business acquaintance, it’d been awkward. Maybe she’d been thinking about staying away from this Barron event, intent on avoiding more emotional clumsiness with Chet.
He talked before he even realized something had come out of his mouth. “Maybe we can go together.”
“To…the wedding?”
Had he just asked her out?
He tried to recover. “It was just an idea. I figure we’ll both be traveling at the same time, from San Antonio to the ranch, and it made sense for us to just do it together.”
“Oh.” Her voice was so soft, so vulnerable, that it nearly killed him.
Now look what he’d done—caused another weird situation.
He tried again. “Besides traveling together, I’d actually like to be around you there.”
“You…would?”
“Yes.” And he meant it.
With that one word—yes—he’d jumped off a mountain without anything to catch him below. Nothing but Mina.
They’d both slowed to a stand on the path.
“Weddings,” she said. “They can be so boring unless you’ve got someone to talk to the whole time.”
“Or to watch all the rituals with—like the bride and groom eating the first slice of cake.”
“Or seeing everyone dancing to all the bad music.”
Was she waiting for him to claim a spot on her dance card now?
Hell, he would love a dance with her—a slow one, where he could just hold her and sway to the music.
A worm of reality wiggled into his thoughts. Was she what he really needed, or was he going to end up sucking her all the way into his problems, taking her down with him?