A Date with the Other Side (Cuttersville #1)(28)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Want anything to drink?”

“Just some water.” Shelby peeked out the back door window and saw that the garden was full of weeds and hadn’t been planted that year. She’d spent many pleasant days fending off dandelions and slugs in that plot of land. “No garden?”

“No time to keep up with it. My mom still has hers and I snag some fresh stuff from her.”

Shelby opened the back door and stepped out onto the deck. Danny already had the grill fired up, smoke pouring out from under the lid. She smiled at him, taking in the view of the endless acres of fields, alternating between fallow and thriving with soybeans. “So, what’s on the menu?”

Plopping herself down on a plastic lawn chair, she listened to the steady mechanical spray of the irrigation system watering the crops, and the underlying hum of insects.

“Steak and potatoes. And a salad, but I mangled the tomatoes trying to cut them, so it doesn’t look pretty.”

Shelby laughed. “If it’s edible, what do I care what it looks like? Let me help you, though.”

When she went to stand back up, his hand fell on her shoulder. “No, you sit. I’ve got it.”

Something about the tone of his voice made her look closer at him. Danny had actually never invited her to dinner before. He wasn’t much of a cook. Plus he was wearing a green polo shirt stretched a little tight across his broad chest, with nice khaki shorts. Danny almost never wore anything above the waist but a T-shirt or his bare skin.

The picnic table was set too, with a cheerful yellow plastic tablecloth, held down by plates and a pitcher of lemonade. The paper napkins sported little red cherries on them. Alarm rushed through her. Either Danny had been watching Martha Stewart Living during his free time, or he wanted to tell her something.

Like maybe he was getting remarried.

Alarm kicked up a notch to extreme agitation, which didn’t make sense, but she didn’t stop to dissect her reaction. Who would Danny marry? As far as she knew, he hadn’t dated anyone in six months or so, and he didn’t really have the opportunity to meet women outside of Cuttersville.

Was he dying? No, he looked just as healthy as always. She sipped the water he gave her and pondered the possibility of him selling his house and clearing out, heading off to Vegas to be a blackjack dealer or something.

That was probably what Brady would be doing in a couple years, but it wasn’t Danny. He loved the farm, and wouldn’t leave it.

They talked about the weather and the crops and Shelby’s tour while Danny cooked the steaks, and the whole while she was thinking, worrying, wondering.

Finally he sat down across from her, a full plate of food in front of each of them. Shelby took a bite of her juicy steak and started to chew.

“Shel, what would you think about getting back together? I really want you to come home.”

The meat stuck in her cheek, and Shelby stared at Danny. That was absolutely the one possibility she hadn’t considered. “I’m so glad you’re not dying!” she blurted out. Not to mention she was secretly a little bit thrilled he didn’t want to marry someone else, which was just tacky of her.

His brow wrinkled. “Dying? Why would you think I’m dying? Shoot, I haven’t even had a cold in over two years.”

Looking at his brawny, sunburned body, she thought death did seem a little far-fetched. “Well, you invited me over for dinner, and here you are, wearing a nice shirt that looks like you even ironed it. There’s cute little napkins and steak. I figured you had to tell me something.”

Danny’s face turned pink like the inside of her filet. “Damn, I’m that obvious, huh?”

“Not totally, since I thought you wanted me to help you plan your funeral, and it doesn’t seem that’s what you had in mind.” The whole impact of what he’d said finally hit her. Get back together with Danny.

Oh God. She didn’t want that.

Her cheerful gingham curtains fluttered at the window behind Danny’s head. Or did she?

Shelby tried to evict the obnoxious little doubts. Of course she didn’t. Nothing had changed in three years. She loved Danny like a brother, and coveting comfort and drapery was not a reason to remarry him. There still wouldn’t be any passion between them.

“No.” Danny reached over the table and lifted her hand into his. “I want you to come back, Shel.”

“It’s been three years,” she said weakly, her thoughts as mucked up as her old garden.

“So? It’s no secret between us I never wanted you to leave in the first place. I was hoping that now that you’ve been on your own, you’ll see that there wasn’t anything wrong with what we had.”

She started to open her mouth, to what purpose she didn’t know, since she couldn’t think of a thing to say, but Danny stopped her by holding up his hand.

“Hear me out, honey. Look, we dated in high school, got married right after, and I can understand that maybe you never had a chance to be on your own, look after yourself, and I respected your wanting to do that. But sometimes being on your own is just lonely.”

Shelby tried to remove her hand from his. She wasn’t lonely. She was perfectly fine living with Gran and running a two-bit tour.

“I’m lonely, and I think you are too. You loved being here on the farm, I know that, and I think you still care about me.”

She stopped tugging and said softly, “I do, Danny. You know that.”

He nodded. “I know. And I also know you’ve got the hots for that city boy.”

Pinned in his grip, she sank into her chair and glanced back down at her plate. This was surely embarrassing. If Danny was on to her feelings about Boston, who else knew? “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on, I see him sniffing around you, and the way you look at him. You get all nervous and giggly.”

What? “I do not giggle!”

“Yes, you do. And it doesn’t matter. Because you know and I know and he knows that anything between the two of you is just about sex. He’s leaving in just a couple months and men like him don’t marry girls like you.”

That sounded insulting.

“With you and me, it’s never been about sex.”

Hah. That was the whole damn problem. She wanted it to be about sex.

“We’re about building a home together, a life, a family. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have as the mother of my children.”

Dang it. Just when she was all set to be mad at him and tell him to shove it, he had to go and be sweet. “Oh, Danny.”