Follow Your Heart (Catalina Cove #4) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,27
sure you can appreciate such loyalty.”
“I do.”
They finished off their meal of fried fish, rice pilaf and sautéed spinach. For dessert she had prepared baked cinnamon apples garnished with pecans, which she served with ice cream. She told him she had picked the apples from the grove out back.
He helped her clear off the table and volunteered to help with the dishes. “You don’t have to do that, Roman. I’ll load them in the dishwasher.”
“And I’ll help you do that.”
He did, and she appreciated his help. He also disassembled and helped clean the huge fryer she had set up outside, where she’d cooked the fish. Once that was finished, he glanced over at her. “Do you want to take a walk?”
“A walk?”
“Yes. I think I might have overdone things at dinner and need to walk it off. In DC I have a membership at a gym, so while I’m here I try to walk every morning to stay fit. I didn’t do so today because I felt lazy and decided to sleep in.”
She smiled at him. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling lazy and sleeping in every once in a while.”
He chuckled. “I’m taking your word for it.”
As she watched him store the fryer in a closet off her back porch, she said, “What about taking a walk around the apple grove so you can see how pretty it is?”
He looked down at her and smiled. “I’d love that, Victoria.”
* * *
ROMAN KNEW THE moment he stepped on her back porch that he could see why she liked it so much. The apple grove was beautiful and the scent of fresh apples filled the air. The porch was screened in and when he saw the daybed, he wondered if she ever slept out here at night.
They left the porch and walked side by side toward the apple grove. Roman had suggested a walk because he’d wanted more time with her. He shouldn’t want that, but he did. He didn’t fully understand it, either, but at the moment that didn’t matter. He had a little over three weeks to sort out what in the hell was happening to him where she was concerned.
He had enjoyed the food and he had enjoyed sitting across from her while sharing the meal. When he ate at home it was usually alone, except for those times Mint would drop by on the pretense of talking business to get a free meal. He didn’t mind because he liked the company...not enjoyed the company. This evening he discovered there was a difference.
He had gotten little sleep last night, but had made up for it when he’d slept late. But even then, Victoria had been on his mind. Not only had he thought about her, but he’d also thought about that Tanner guy, the man she said she was promised to. He should be the one here, walking beside her in the apple grove, instead of Roman. But he wasn’t. As far as Roman was concerned, the man had missed an opportunity that he should not have. Same thing about dinner.
She had gone fishing with him yesterday as a friend, but it should have been someone special who’d shared that meal with her today, and shared in her success yesterday. He wasn’t complaining that he’d been her companion both times, he just found it odd that the man she was waiting to make his move...hadn’t.
“What do you think, Roman? Isn’t this beautiful?”
He slid his gaze first to her and then to where they were. They had walked a good hundred feet and she was right—the place was beautiful, but then so was she. He’d known he was in trouble the moment she’d opened the door wearing a pair of leggings and an oversize top that looked cute on her. She had pinned her hair up and back from her face. “Yes, it’s beautiful.”
She seemed pleased with his answer. “I thought so, too. It’s one of the things that sold me on this place. It’s different.”
He nodded. “How often do you come out here?”
“Because of work, I don’t come here during the week. However, I try coming on the weekends, mostly Saturday mornings. It’s quiet, peaceful and I love the smell of apples. If I wasn’t such a scaredy-cat, I would camp out here one night, but I haven’t found the nerve to do so.”
He knew she was probably familiar with camping out under the stars because of her uncle Jake’s ranch, but the thought of her being by herself