Page 98 of You Found Me
No, his first impulse had been to get her a fresh shirt.
“So I guess we’re not getting Mexican food out here.” She licked her lips. “Shame. I could go for some tacos.”
“Not a lot of that in this part of the country.”
“Amish?” She looked around. “Pennsylvania is Amish country. They have the best potpies. You can’t get stuff like that in the city.”
“True. But no. Not Amish.”
“Bummer.” She sighed like a melodramatic soap star. “You’re a giant tease, you know that?”
“Sometimes.” He tried not to smile as he turned onto the narrow lane that led to the farms. The drive pushed through fields of corn and opened onto a clearing that contained a two-story, all-white farmhouse, a giant red barn, and several other outbuildings.
It was a real working farm, but it was also basically a country theme park, complete with a play area filled with swings and slides, a corn maze, you-pick-them sunflower fields, and some of the best food trucks in the state. Families came from as far away as New York and Philadelphia to experience the latest maze since the layout changed every year.
She gave him a quizzical look. “Are we harvesting our own meal? We did one of those places once with Daddy. It was interesting. Mattie loved it. She spent all her time chasing butterflies. Piper and I ate more than we picked, and Lizzie spent most of her time trying to keep track of us.”
He pulled into an empty patch near the fence and parked. “It’s something like that. Come on.”
They got out and headed for the booth where tickets were sold.
Della slipped her hand in his, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
The tall, dark-haired girl at the booth winked at them. “Hey, Storm. I wondered if we’d see you two out here.”
“Molly?” He dragged up what he knew about the youngest Hellerick. She had four older siblings, but there was a significant gap in their ages. If he remembered right, Molly had beena later-in-life whoops. She was the smartest of the bunch, graduated top of her class. “Damn. I’ve been gone too long. You out of school?”
“Not yet. I took a year off to help out around here. I finish up my business degree next May. I’ll be running things here when Mom and Pop decide to kick off retirement.”
He nodded his approval. “Can’t think of anybody better.”
“Thanks.” She smiled at Della. “Hey, Lucy. I’m glad you’re finally getting to explore the town. You two want the whole deal, or just the sunflowers?”
“Sunflowers?” Della’s eyes widened with delight. “You brought me to see the sunflowers?”
“Give us the whole deal,” Ward interjected as he pulled out his wallet.
“Gotcha.” Molly took his money and handed him a flyer. “Entrance is through the breezeway. Have fun.”
They stepped away from the booth.
“This is so cool!” Della beamed at him. “Who needs dinner when you have sunflowers?”
“There’s food out here, too.” He tried and failed to get the defensiveness out of his tone.
It was wrong. He knew it was wrong. This wasn’t secure at all. It was too exposed. As a bodyguard, this was the last place he should have taken her.
But he was starting to realize he’d bend a lot of rules to see that look of joy on her face.
“You know, underneath that GI Joe Rambo shell, you really are a sweet man.” Della gave his arm a squeeze.
“Don’t tell anybody.”
Her eyes twinkled as she crossed her heart. “It’ll be our secret.”
He led her through the breezeway to where a dirt path split off in three directions and scanned the area by force of habit.It was a fairly small crowd, considering how popular this place was.
The entrance to the maze was surrounded by parents waiting for their giggling kids to find their way back out.