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While Lucy gathers up her stuff, I walk to the counter and pull out my company card, handing it to Raelynn and telling her to please put this on file for all expenses pertaining to the wedding.

“Yes, sir.” She smiles.

Lucy gathers her tote bag and comes to stand next to me. She looks at the card and then at me, about to say something, but I shake my head at her, reminding her we have an audience.

“Thanks again for everything, Raelynn. I can’t wait to see what you come up with,” Lucy says, her tone genuinely appreciative.

“Yes, thank you so much.”

“Well, the inspiration boards you put together for the centerpieces and the bouquets—oh, and the altar drape—were fabulous, so you made my job very easy,” Raelynn replies warmly, clearly pleased with the praise.

“Oh, speaking of altar drape, I need to have Dean stop by—”

“Dean? Why?” Raelynn suddenly looks flustered at the mention.

“With the measurements for the arch he’s building.”

“Oh—yeah, right.”

“She really is the best, isn’t she?” I say, putting my arm around Lucy’s shoulders and leaning down to kiss the top of her head affectionately, interrupting the awkward silence.

“She is,” Raelynn agrees. “I tell you, you are a lucky man, Beau, but something tells me you already know that.”

“That I do,” I chuckle. Raelynn hands me back my card, and I put it in my wallet. “How about some lunch? Are you hungry?” I ask Lucy.

“Sure thing. Let’s eat.” She waves. “We’ll see you later, Raelynn,” Lucy says, and the door jingles as we leave.

“I think that went really well,” I tell her, “but what was all that about Dean?”

“You caught that?” She bites back a smile. “So, Emma’s Spidey senses have been tingling that there is something going on between her brother Dean and Raelynn.”

“Spidey senses?” I laugh.

“Yeah, you know, like—”

“I know what it means. I’m just not sure I’ve ever heard an adult use it in a sentence,” I tease.

“Well, now you have. But my question for you is why did you give her your card?”

We stop walking, turning to face each other as we stand on the sidewalk between Twisted Tulip and her building.

“Back in there…” He thumbs over his shoulder to Twisted Tulip. “You seemed surprised that I offered to foot the bill. Why?”

She looks down. “I can pay for it.”

I’m sure she has a way all planned out, but since she’s going along with this plan, I’m guessing it’s not much if anything at all. Wanting to pay for it and be able to pay for it are two different things.

“I have a small wedding fund that my parents started when I was little,” she explains.

“But you said before about having a little in savings, and then your dad—” I interject.

“I know what I said, but there is a small wedding fund, and I was going to use that to help pay for the feature.” she confesses her body deflating as she continues. “Gah!” I hate this. I hate that I have to admit this, I hate that I had to rely on him so much.”

“Hey now.” I reach out and rub her shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“Henry was supposed to pay for most of it.” She blurts out continuing to ramble, “I’ve been trying to do what I can using local vendors because that’s who I am, and that’s how I want to feature this wedding. It doesn’t only help me by getting a discount, but it helps them too. It was a mutual understanding.

“Okay?”