The Cowgirl's Chosen Love - Vivian Arend Page 0,108
more than enough time. Zach scrambled up the tree and onto the roof, sliding into the dusty attic space with zero hesitation.
Dusty, hot, and dark enough that he fished out his phone and turned on the flashlight. That let him pace the narrow wooden slats covering the length of the roof to where, as promised, the hatch to the second-floor ceiling waited.
He paused and listened. Feminine voices and laughter carried up to his ears, but they were far enough away he figured he was safe.
Zach was just about to lift the hatch when his phone vibrated in his fingers. Julia was calling him.
He sat back and answered. “Hey, love. What’s up?”
“Why are you whispering?” she asked.
“I’m afraid somebody will take my phone away because I’m not allowed to talk to you until the wedding, or some such superstitious nonsense.”
She snickered. “You need to get your phone checked. There’s some sort of weird echo going on. And I’m sorry about the no seeing each other business. That’s all Petra’s fault, by the way. Your little sister is a bossy fart.”
“This we knew. Have she and Lisa decided to take over the world yet?”
“Never mind that. Where are you?”
He glanced around at the darkness. “A little out of reach at the moment.”
“I need to know,” she insisted. “Or I will in about ten minutes. Keep your phone on.”
And then she hung up.
Well. That was weird. Zach pushed away the questions he had and focused on the task at hand. He listened again then carefully lifted the board out of the way, revealing the bathroom at the end of the second-floor hall.
A moment later he had manoeuvred his way to the ground and closed the attic access.
He cracked open the bathroom door the slightest bit, peeking into the hallway.
Motion zipped back and forth between bedroom two and three at the top of the stairs, his mom and Karen traipsing back and forth with armfuls of flowers.
The room he wanted was situated three paces to the left…
He waited until the hall was clear then made his move. Rapidly darting to door number one, he slipped inside and turned—
The room was empty. Julia’s wedding dress lay on the bed, all shiny white with tons of buttons. He’d seen a picture of it earlier and was already dreaming about undoing said buttons later that evening.
Which reminded him of the picture she’d given him last New Year’s Eve. The one from her boudoir shoot—although the only similarity was she’d been wearing a nearly see-through white tank top…
Bad memory to think about if he didn’t want to get all heated up with no time to do anything about it.
There were flowers, and a veil, and her shoes, but definitely no Julia.
He pulled out his phone, dialing her up and hoping his whisper wouldn’t be overheard. “Where are you?”
This time she laughed. “I was looking for this sexy guy I met in Vegas, hoping I could get him to show me a good time. Only he seems to have vanished.”
What the hell?
Before he could demand an answer to what was going on, Josiah’s deep rumble took over Julia’s phone. “I’d suggest you get down to the cottage ASAP. Take the direct route, though. Finn and the other guys can only distract the ladies for so long.”
He hung up.
Zach shook his head. Sneaking out to give Julia a final I love you message had become far more complicated than expected.
A cheer went up from outside, and he glanced out the window to discover Cody had brought up a horse-drawn carriage. All the ladies had rushed out and were doing something with flowers—
He moved. Peeking into the hallway once before sprinting for freedom. Down the hall, leaping stairs. Dashing through the kitchen and out the sliding doors so he could race to the cottage next door.
He didn’t stop until he was in the living room, where a pair of arms wrapped around him, Julia’s laughter filling the space.
He caught her by the waist and lifted her, squeezing tight as her eyes sparkled at him. “You sneaky woman. What are you doing out of lockdown?”
“Look, baby. I’m not the one acting like a stealth agent. I sashayed down the stairs like a lady. When no one was looking,” she admitted.
They grinned at each other, and then her hands were cupping his face. Sweet emotion was written all over her. The sweetest of emotions—because what they felt for each other had grown stronger over the past months.