Midlife Valentine: A Later in Life Single Mom Romance

Chapter 11

Valona

It was just a little bitty ol’ kiss. It didn’t mean a thing.

That’s what I told myself as I stared at my reflection in the mirror in preparation for a beautiful afternoon wedding at The Old Country House. It was just a friendly gesture, I told myself, but the truth was that even now, two days later, my lips tingled at the memory of Trey’s lips on mine. My heart raced at the look I could still see in his eyes, a mixture of pride and lust. And it was for me.

Me. Middle-aged, fifteen pounds overweight, exhausted and widowed Valona Berryman. It was unimaginable.

Which begged the question of why. Why had Trey kissed me? Did it mean something, or did he just randomly go around kissing women? I had no idea, and I couldn’t stop my brain from guessing and second-guessing. Theorizing. Overanalyzing.

“Stop it.” This circular thinking was getting me nowhere, and I still didn’t have an outfit picked out for the wedding. Not that anyone cared what the wedding photographer wore, but Trey’s kiss had me off kilter and now I was obsessing over what to wear. “Oh, whatever.” I grabbed a green dress with spaghetti straps, flat gladiator sandals and a shawl to ward off the evening chill. A swipe of mascara and lipstick later and I was as ready as I would ever be.

I made my way over to Trey’s place where my girls and Keri would stay with the babysitter while we worked. “You girls be good okay?”

“We will,” all three responded in unison, and I headed outside where Trey waited by my car loaded with equipment. “Ready?”

Trey shrugged his broad shoulders, looking so darn handsome it almost hurt to look at him in his dark gray jeans and crisp white shirt. Casual black dress shoes completed the look, and oh what a look it was, like he’d jumped off the pages of a fashion magazine. “As ready as I’m ever going to be, I suppose.”

I laughed and put a hand on his shoulder, enjoying the hard feel of his body under my hand. “Nervous?”

“Maybe a little. I’ve never had a real job before.”

Why was he so open and honest all the time? It was disconcerting after all of Rodney’s lies. “Just be yourself, Trey. You’re likable and competent, and that’s all that’s required of us for the day.”

His expression brightened for a flash of a moment and then darkened with heat as his gaze raked over me. My nipples tightened to hard nubs and I felt like I should take a step back. “You look beautiful Valona.”

Damn this man and his sweet words. “Thank you, Trey. You look great too, but you probably know that.”

“It’s nice to hear,” he called over the roof of my car and slid into the passenger seat easily, no complaints about letting me drive. “Are you bummed about doing wedding photos again?”

“Yes and no,” I told him honestly. “I love weddings. The pomp and circumstance of it all, the love swirling in the air around the happy couple and their loved ones. It’s not incredibly creative work, but weddings pay above market so it’s good for business.” Above all else, I had to think of my bottom line because I didn’t want to sink money into a business destined to fail, not when I could take photos without a studio and the overhead.

“Always the businesswoman,” he joked. “Wow, this is the wedding venue?”

I smiled and nodded. “You haven’t been out here yet?”

“This may surprise you, but I haven’t gotten a lot of wedding invitations since Keri and I moved to town.”

“The Old Country House doesn’t just put on weddings. It’s a whole venue space owned by Margot Blanchard-Devereaux, you’ll meet her tonight I’m sure. Pippa manages Dark Horse which sits on the property. It’s open to the public, but a lot of events take place there, just depends on what Carlotta has planned, she’s the event planner for OCH.”

Trey shook his head and stepped out of the car. “That’s too much information to take in at once.”

“It’s just a crash course,” I assure him. “People will introduce themselves anyway.”

“I trust you.” His words came out easily and they touched me in a way they shouldn’t have, that I shouldn’t have let them.

Instead of dwelling on Trey’s words and how he made me feel, I grabbed some equipment and crossed the grass to set up for the wedding photos. “This is where we’ll start. Carlotta said the bride wanted to use this field for some of the photos.”

“Great. I’ll set up if you want to go scout some additional locations.”

“Oh. Um, thanks. That would be great.” I shook my head and walked away, telling myself that I really needed to get used to having an assistant. I probably would have gotten used to it earlier if it wasn’t Trey.