Love At First Sight (Southern Bride 1)

“How about if I sit here and watch. I’ve been cleaning Walter’s shoes out and brushing him down. I’m a mess.”

Melanie smiled and gave me a wink. “Of course.”

I sat down next to Mike. When I glanced over to Alyssa, she was lifting her brows and motioning toward Chloe. Narrowing my eyes, I mouthed, What?

She sighed then rolled her eyes. I looked at Mike for help, and he simply smiled.

“Mike, Alyssa, how is the wedding planning going?” Melanie asked.

“Good! We pretty much have everything taken care of. Except for the cake.”

Mike tensed next to me, and I looked at him. Were they still fighting over the damn cake?

“Y’all haven’t agreed on the cake yet?” I asked.

“Well, some people can’t make decisions like the rest of us can. They’re too afraid to commit,” Chloe snapped.

All eyes went to Chloe. Mike cleared his throat while Steed walked by and bumped me.

“Been there, done that,” Steed stated, grabbing one of the just-baked cookies before he walked out of the kitchen.

Chloe watched her father and then looked at Melanie. “What does he mean by that?”

Melanie shrugged, but it was clear she knew exactly what Steed was talking about.

“I’m sure you will both work it out. Love is about seeing both sides of the story and listening to each other. Once you do that, you’ll come up with the perfect cake,” Melanie said.

I stared at Chloe. She was looking at the batter she was mixing. I wasn’t sure if she had heard her grandmother’s words or not.

“Alyssa, have you looked at cakes anywhere?”

“Yes, Mike and I agreed to go with Lucky’s Cake Design. Her cakes are delicious.”

“Mmm, yes, they are. Do you remember, Chloe, they made the cake for your high school graduation party?”

Chloe didn’t answer Melanie. She was now staring out the back window, and I knew she was thinking of Patches.

“Do y’all remember when Patches came running full speed from the barn with his kids in tow? He was heading straight to that cake,” I said with a chuckle.

Everyone laughed, and Chloe cracked a smile.

“I remember it!” Waylynn said, walking into the kitchen.

“Aunt Waylynn,” Chloe said, making her way over and hugging her.

“I’m so sorry, Chloe Cat. I know how much you loved him.”

Chloe wiped a tear away and stood next to her grandmother. She started to scoop the dough out of the bowl and place it on the cookie sheet. Each time she put one down, John would pick it up and eat it.

“John Parker! Stop eating that dough!”

“What? I like it.”

“You’re gonna get sick, Granddaddy,” Chloe stated.

“Fine, I won’t eat it. I will take this plate of already baked cookies and take it to the study, instead. I believe there is a baseball game on.”

Melanie rolled her eyes, then looked back at me. “Keep going, Rip. It seems like that was just yesterday.”

“He jumped that fence and cleared it like no other animal I had ever seen before,” I went on.

“Yeah, and the little bastard distracted me while his spawn tried to take out the spread,” Waylynn added.

“He wasn’t stupid, that’s for sure,” Chloe said. There was so much sadness in her voice, it nearly brought me to my knees. I wanted to take her pain away.

“No, he wasn’t,” Melanie, Scarlett, and Waylynn said at the same time.

“How do you think he always knew there was a party going on?” Gage asked.

Melanie laughed. “Oh, that is simple. Any function we had, Chloe would make plans for Patches to be some part of it. I’ll never forget the look on your father’s face when Patches started walking down the aisle of his and Paxton’s wedding.”

Chloe grinned. “He loved being in weddings. I was hoping he would be in…”

Her voice trailed off.

Waylynn cleared her throat. “There will never be another goat like Patches. I don’t know if that should make me happy or incredibly sad.”

Chloe giggled. “He most certainly lived for tormenting you, Aunt Waylynn.”

Trevor clapped his hands. “I came in here to tell you the games have started. We’re playing Twister.”

Mike and Gage jumped up.

Glancing back at me, Mike said, “I love this family!”

Alyssa laughed as she untied her apron and looked back at Melanie and Chloe. “I’m going to go join them, do you mind?”

“No! Go, and I think I’ll join you. Chloe and Rip can finish the cookies.”

Chloe went to argue, but Melanie wasn’t having any of it. “Thank you for giving your grandmother a break for once, sweetheart.”

Letting out a sigh, Chloe cracked a slight smile. “Of course. Go have fun.”

When they all walked out of the kitchen, I looked at Chloe. She was back to focusing on placing the dough on the cookie sheet.

I attempted to steady myself before I spoke to her. When she looked up at me, I lost my breath. Her bloodshot eyes made me want to pull her to me and tell her it was okay to cry. That she could be both angry at me and sad about Patches at the same time. I wanted to hold her more than anything. When she looked away, I remembered Steed’s words.