“Do you need a push?” the man finally asked.
Did she need a push? She most certainly did. Apparently. She needed someone to push her to realize that she was going to have to be the one to reach out to Mitch. Even if he loved her—the thought made her heart flip—he wouldn’t say it first. He wouldn’t even come home with her to spend time with her family. He wouldn’t do anything that might spook her.
“I definitely need a push,” she told the man. Fuck, she was tired of being spooked. Of thinking that everyone had ulterior motives. Of worrying that someone was going to take something she said or did the wrong way.
The man in the truck sighed and pulled on gloves. Then he rolled up his window and opened his door.
“Okay, let’s get you unstuck.”
Unstuck. That was what she needed. She needed to be unstuck from all the fears about disappointing people and worrying about their expectations. She needed to get out of the rut of assuming people wanted more than she could give. Maybe she could give more. Or maybe not, and they’d just have to be okay with that. But she needed to not be afraid of it. She needed to be upfront and honest and trust that the people who loved her, would love her no matter what.
And if people asked her to marry them, and she didn’t want to, she’d just keep saying no. Even if it happened twenty more times.
Of course, if Mitch wanted to ask, then she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else asking because she’d say yes.
That made her heart stop for a second.
She’d say yes if Mitch proposed?
But she realized instantly that yes, she absolutely would.
“Miss?” the man in the truck asked. “Do you have a shovel or sand in your car?”
She shook her head. “No.”
The man frowned at her license plate. “You’re from Iowa.”
“Yes. But I’ve been staying in Louisiana.”
“You should still know better than to drive in this weather without a shovel or sand.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “I’ve been in Louisiana. I had no idea that I was going to hit this weather.”
“You got a weather app on your phone?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Does that really matter right now? I need a push. You able to do that or not?”
The man sighed. “Well—” He looked around. “Is there anyone else who can push you?”
Not really. Her mother had been pushing her for years, and it had just made Paige dig her heels in. Her sisters too. She was more stuck because of the pushing rather than less. The guys she dated pushed for more than she wanted to give, and it made her turn and run in the opposite direction.
But there was one person who pushed her. In a really good way.
By not pushing at all.
She nodded. “Mitch.”
She knew he didn’t mean to push her. In fact, she’d bet he felt strongly that he shouldn’t push her. But that was what she needed most. He made her want him, showed her everything she could have with him, and then sat back and let her come to her own realizations and decisions about what she wanted.
“Who’s Mitch?”
“The man that I’m madly in love with. But I need to tell him that. He won’t say it first. He never asks people for things. He never reaches out for help or even favors. He’s always the one helping and doing favors.”
Damn, she was so in love with him.
And he needed to know that he could ask for things. Ask her for things.
“So, he is going to be pushing your car out of the snow or not?” the man asked.
“Oh, no. He pushes me by not pushing me.”
“Did you hit your head when your car slid?”
She frowned at the man. “No.”
“And Mitch is not showing up right now to help?”
She sighed. “No.”
“Then let’s get this over with.”
Ten minutes later, the man in the truck had applied sand to the ice under her tires and had pushed her car off of the slick spot. He’d also given her his card. His name was Timothy Rogers, and he and his wife ran a bed and breakfast about three miles up the road. Where he was headed as well.
An hour after that, Paige was checked into the most adorable bedroom she’d ever seen. She was wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, propped up on eight—yes, eight—of the fluffiest pillows she’d ever felt at the head of a four-poster king-size bed. The mattress felt like it was a cloud from heaven. The towels had smelled like lavender and vanilla. And she was now eating a bowl of the best broccoli cheddar soup and a salad with a homemade dressing that made her willing to bring the Rogers family a cat when she came back through on her return to Louisiana.
Or maybe a beautiful photograph of one of her cats that they could hang on the wall.
Actually, she wasn’t so sure she was even going to be able to take any of her cats back to Autre with her. The cats were all living at Didi Lancaster’s mansion, where they’d been spoiled daily by Whitney’s grandmother for the past two and a half months.
The news was on TV as Paige ate, and she groaned as the weatherman pointed to the screen behind him. It was clear that she wasn’t going to be to Appleby in time to help set up for the wedding. Or maybe for the wedding at all. The snow was going to stop, but it would be blowing all night, and the roads would be a mess in the morning. It looked like they’d gotten snow in southern Iowa too, but the map didn’t extend all the way to Appleby. She wondered if she’d drive out of it if she started in that direction tomorrow.
“Dammit.” She set her dishes back on the wooden tray Mrs. Rogers had brought to her room and reached for her phone.
A minute later, her sister answered.
“Paige!”
“Hey, Josie.”
“Uh, oh, what’s wrong?”
“You can tell something’s wrong from two words?” Paige asked.
“Yeah.”
Paige smiled but sighed. “Well, I’m stuck in Peoria, Illinois. Huge snowstorm.”
“What? No way. It’s April!”
Paige laughed. “I take it that means things are okay there?”
She heard a clattering and shuffling on Josie’s end of the line. “Yeah. Things are okay here,” her sister said. There was a pause, and then she said, “Oh dammit.”
“What?”
“I just pulled up the radar. Yeah, looks like it’s all south of us. Davenport is getting hit too.”
“I don’t know if I’m going to make it on time,” Paige said, feeling the disappointment settle into her chest.
“Well, you shouldn’t try tonight for sure,” Josie said. “I do not want you on the road alone in this. Especially, as it’s getting dark.”
“I’m at a B and B in Peoria. I’m okay right now.”
“Good. Just stay there.”
“But the wedding…” At one point in her life, she would have tried to drive through the snow to be there, but she did know better now.
“The wedding will go on,” Josie said. “It would be awesome if you could be there, but they’ll understand.”
“Yeah.” Paige bit her bottom lip. “It’s not them. It’s me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to see Piper and Ollie say their vows. I want to be there for the celebration. I’ve realized that weddings aren’t really about tying two people together in a way they can’t get out of.” She gave a little self-deprecating laugh. “That’s how it used to feel to me.”