Amusement rumbled up. “How about you? Something you’ve been successful with?”
She looked thoughtful for a moment. “It’s still too early to plant anything, although I did put in the order for all the herbs and jars that I’ll need. Beyond that, I’ve been pretty laid-back. Poking a little bit into that strange mystery present my mom and dad left me. No success on that quarter, sad to report.”
“Bring it to one of our meetings, and we can check it out together,” he promised.
“That would be nice.” Ginny shrugged. “I’ve been hanging out with my nieces and visiting with my girls. Spending time getting to know Tamara better. Nothing important, really.”
She simply didn’t see it, and he was getting damn tired of listening to her downplay her own worth. Tucker folded his arms over his chest. “You know my parents?”
Ginny stalled. “Not really. Never met them, although I’ve heard a little about them over the years. Never from you, though. It wasn’t really something we discussed when we got together the past few years. Ahem.”
He focused on the point he wanted to make.
“You wouldn’t like them,” he said confidently. “Within half an hour of meeting them, you’d call my dad a stick in the mud and ask my mother if she ever smiled. You’d be right on the first one, and the answer to the second would be no.”
“Well, that’s terrible.” Ginny offered him a sympathetic pout. “I’m sorry. I knew you came to spend summers with us, but I thought it was because Ashton wanted you around—rightly so. Because you are awesome.”
“My parents are not kid people, and I was an inconvenience.”
She swore softly. “Jackasses.”
He snorted. “Just not good parental material.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I told you this because you need to understand something. All the time you spend with your nieces? The moments you share with Tamara? Those are important things, so you need to stop putting yourself down and realize your value.”
Ginny stared at him.
Anger and frustration rose hard, and he dragged a hand through his hair. “Well, fuck. That’s not the conversation I wanted to have, but since we’re here, I may as well muddle forward. Yes. What you do isn’t always big and shiny, but it’s appreciated. Obviously, more than you know. You’ve got a very giving heart, and I think you’re wonderful, Ginny. It’s about time you started thinking that you are wonderful as well.”
Her lips twitched, and for a moment he thought she might cry.
Then the most beautiful smile spread across her face. She crawled across the hay bales, closing the distance between them so she could straddle his legs and curl her arms around his neck, squeezing him tight.
“I like you, Tucker Stewart,” she whispered.
To hell with it. “I know.”
She laughed out loud, leaning back and pressing both hands to his face. “You’re right. I did a lot of important things this week, mainly spending time with my family. The thing that I disliked the most was not getting to spend time with you.”
“We’re about to change that,” he said, “because that’s the thing I disliked the most, as well.”
Suspicion slipped in. “Tucker.”
He held her hips tight. “Ginny.”
“You’re still in the beginning stage of the biggest career change of your life.”
“And it’s not something I want to do unless I get to do it with you.” The confession was wildly ahead of time, but it was true. “If there’re complications, I’ll face them. But so far, there’s been nothing other than the typical small bits of grumbling from a few of the men about having another supervisor in their lives. Ashton is still here, Caleb’s rock solid. I don’t think the worry is as big as we considered it.”
“What are you saying?” She ran her fingers distractedly around his ear, tucking his hair back.
“I’m saying we’re dating, Ginny Stone. Officially.” He caught her fingers, because they were driving him crazy, and lifted them to his mouth so he could press a kiss to her knuckles. “What I’d like to do is jump about five steps forward and move into the cottage with you, but I think that might cause a few shovels to swing in my direction.”
She snickered. “If we’re dating, you will visit my house.”
“Yes.”
“And stay the night, sometimes.”
“Yes.”
She lowered her lashes and blinked them provocatively. “Take me dancing on Friday?”
He brushed his nose alongside of hers. “Absolutely. You okay if we make that our first official date?”
“Of course. When do you plan to tell Luke that while we’re starting to date, this isn’t the beginning?” She made a bit of a face. “Because it’s not something I will lie about. And while it’s still not really any of their business, it’s part of our relationship.”
“You’re right. I will most definitely talk to Luke. Soon.”
She eased in closer. “Good. I’ll let you take care of that. And trust me. It’s not that I plan to stand up and announce to all and sundry that we’ve been fooling around for the past nine years.”
“Jesus, has it been that long?”
She smirked. “But knowing this town, at some point, the information will come out.”
“I’m okay with that,” he said, still reeling a little at how long it had been. “Does it still count as nine years if you were gone for three of them?”
“It’s a little easier to say nine years than to say, ‘nine years less the three that Ginny was out of the country,’ don’t you agree?” She smirked at him.
“We don’t always have to take the easy route,” he reminded her.
She turned serious for a moment. “I hope this works. I want this to work,” she admitted, “but if you need us to take a break. If you need us to do something different, let me know.”
He caught her chin, and his fingers shook her gently. “Stop trying to fix things for everyone. It’ll be okay. You and I will figure things out going forward. Together.”
She took a deep breath and nodded decisively. “Together.”
16
The warm glow inside wasn’t getting any fainter. Ginny felt like a teenager getting ready for a date. It was pathetic, really.
Before she could stop herself, she sent a text to her sister.
Ginny: Please laugh at me and tell me to calm down.
Dare: LOL. What are you all kerfuffled about? Wait— It’s tonight, isn’t it?
Ginny: I have changed clothes four times. Which you will know is truly ridiculous considering my wardrobe consists of jeans, jeans, and more jeans.
Dare: Oh, sweetie. We both know there are umpteen different kinds of jeans. I hope you picked the sexy pair that makes your ass look great.
Ginny: My ass looks great in all my jeans.
Dare: There’s my Ginny! Of course it does. You’ll have fun tonight, and you don’t have anything to worry about. This is Tucker we’re talking about. He’s an amazing guy. I’m so glad you’re coming out of the shadows, so to speak.