Wooing In Wyoming (At The Altar #11)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  He nodded. “Sorry about that. There was an emergency order…a regular retailer ran out, and he needs an express shipment. I’ll have to go in for a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon to deal with it.”

  “We were going to move all my stuff tomorrow.” She had most of it boxed and ready to go. Before the wedding, she’d had no idea if he wanted her to move in with him, but she’d known two people couldn’t fit comfortably in her tiny apartment, so she’d been ready to move before the wedding. It all would have gone into storage if he’d been planning to move in with her. Thankfully, he hadn’t been.

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “We can still do that. You start back to school on Thursday, right?” His mind was spinning trying to make everything work. He needed to hire another manager…badly.

  She nodded. “I made sure all prep work was done before the wedding, so there’s no worry there.”

  “Okay, I need to go in to work from two to four. We’ll rent a truck in the morning and head over there, get as much done as we can, and get it over here and unloaded. You can put stuff away while I work, and then we’ll go out for dinner. If we don’t get it all done tomorrow, I’ll call in some favors for Saturday.” He stepped close to her, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry I have to work, but there’s really no choice.”

  She nodded. “I do understand.” She did her best to hide her disappointment. “Do you want me to cook tonight?”

  He shook his head. “We’ll go out and then do the grocery shopping. I’ll shut my phone off and work can do without me for one more day.”

  Erin smiled. “I’d actually really appreciate that, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. We’re still on our honeymoon until we start moving you tomorrow morning. I’d call that honeymoon too, but that’s too much work to be honeymoon!”

  She nodded. “You’re right. Way too much work.” She sighed, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “I’m not ready for the real world yet.”

  His phone rang, and she sighed, taking a step back, but he put his hand on her arm and shut his phone off without even looking to see who it was. “They’ll survive without me for a few more hours. I promise.” He caught her hand in his. “Let’s go eat. Steak?”

  “It’s Tuesday!” she answered, shocked he’d even suggest steak.

  “Tacos it is.”

  As they walked toward the front door, Erin sighed. “At one point, I thought I’d never be able to eat another taco, but…they’re too delicious to resist.”

  “What do you mean? Why would any red-blooded American ever stop eating tacos?”

  She shook her head. “Didn’t I tell you how Randall died?”

  “I assumed in a car crash. You said he was on his way to the wedding.”

  She nodded, pulling her coat on. As much as she’d enjoyed Switzerland, a break from frigid weather would have been nice. “He stopped at a Chinese place. He had this thing about fortune cookies. He always claimed that fortune cookies weren’t really Chinese, but he ate them like a crazy person. They were his favorite thing. So he ate his fortune cookie as he walked back to his car…and he choked on it.”

  Al blinked at her, trying hard to understand. “He died choking on a fortune cookie? So why did you think about not eating tacos? Did it put you off all ethnic food?”

  “Oh, that’s not it at all. After he started choking, he lost his balance and fell into the street. A Tim’s Taco Truck ended him.” Erin wasn’t sure why she was telling him all this. She never told the full story. “If you knew Randall, you’d understand why that would bother him so much. He’d call it an ignominious way to die.”

  Al shook his head. “I sure wouldn’t want to go that way!”

  Erin nodded. “I usually just tell people what I told you. That he died on his way to the wedding. I don’t go into all the details, because I know it would embarrass him.”

  “So if I die in a stupid way, you’ll cover for me too, right? Because I’m your husband, and he was just your fiancé?”

  She shook her head at him. “Are you making light of the death of the man I loved?”

  He noted she’d make that statement past tense, and he felt relief flood him. He couldn’t compete with a dead memory. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more respectful in future.”

  “See that you are!”

  *****

  When Erin returned to school on Thursday, all of her students had already heard she’d married. They’d all been assigned to perform a poem for class, and they were only three poems into the first class when she realized they’d coordinated with each other. Every single poem was about love or marriage.

  After the class, she went to the copy room to make copies for her advanced students. They would all be performing the same poem the following week, but it would be done with as little accent as possible. Part of teaching them to speak, was teaching them to speak with a standard American accent. There was one student in particular who sounded as if she’d just fallen off the turnip truck.

  “So what’s the new married name?” her friend Angela asked from behind her. “I didn’t catch it at the wedding.”

  “It’s Frank.”

  “Wait…I thought his first name was Frank. Frank’s Fudge.”

  “Nope. He’s Al Frank. I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to take his last name. Krol is my professional name after all.”

  Angela shrugged. “What’s he like? Are you falling madly in love?”

  Erin smiled. “I’m falling slowly in love, if that makes sense. He’s a good man, and he’s kind and loving to me. There wasn’t a lightning bolt or anything, but I’m definitely falling for the man. He smells like milk chocolate ninety percent of the time. How could I not fall for him? More like a slow fall down a hill than a rapid fall off a cliff. I’m rolling instead of leaping.”

  Angela shook her head. “Only you, Erin…” She seemed thoughtful for a moment. “So do you get a discount on fudge?”

  Erin laughed. “I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of new friends in the future.”

  “Just so you remember who your friends were before you married your chocolate man…”

  “I call him my candy man. I’m not sure if he likes it, but I do, and that’s what really matters.” Erin picked up the copies she’d made and stacked them neatly. “Time for the annual reading of the same poem by everyone.”

  Angela groaned. “My honors kids all complain about that assignment. They hate it.”

  “I know. It’s boring for me too, but I can zero in on their deficits so much easier this way.”

  Angela sighed. “Whatever. Okay, off period is almost over. Lunch?”

  Erin nodded. “Come to my classroom today. We can really talk there.”

  “Oh! Am I getting good details?”

  Erin knew her friend was asking about the sexual aspect of the honeymoon, and that was no one’s business. “Absolutely not. I just don’t want to feel like a bug in a glass. So many people are watching me to see if I can make this work, because they think I’m an idiot for marrying a stranger.”

  “I can see that,” Angela said with a shrug. “Okay, I’ll meet you in your classroom.”

  Erin watched her go, glad she had someone to talk to in person. Jean was great, but even with Skype, it just wasn’t the same. She needed to schedule a visit to see Megan. Some sister time was definitely in order—and one of Bob’s burgers.

  *****

  On her way home from school that evening, Jean called. Erin answered using the Bluetooth on her car. “Hello!”

  “You’re alive! How was the honeymoon?” Jean asked.

  “It was good. Switzerland is beautiful. We toured a bunch of chocolate factories, and I sampled all kinds of Swiss chocolates.”

  “Sounds like your dream trip. What do we think of Al?”

  Erin smiled at Jean’s wording. It was good to know your friends would take your side in anything. “We think he’s a great guy and a genuinely good person. I think Dr. Lachele did good.
”

  “Yay. Because she’s working on my match now.”

  “So you went ahead and did it? Are you nervous?”

  Jean sighed audibly. “You know, I’m not. Yet. Tax season is so hectic that I don’t feel like I have time to be nervous.”

  Erin laughed. “You’ll find time. You always do.”

  “This is true. I hope she finds someone good for me. As I was going through her forever-long interview process, I was sure I was going to be the first person she ever found unmatchable. There’s just something fundamentally unlovable about me, right?”

  “You know better! People meet you and instantly love you. You’re just being paranoid, because it’s so freaky to ask someone to find you a man to spend the rest of your life with. In other cultures, it’s the norm, but in ours…people have been marrying for love for a couple of hundred years. Marrying for any other reason feels foreign.”

  “Because it is! I hope I can go through with it after she matches me! You’re going to be here for the wedding, right? You did promise!”

  “And I always keep my promises. You let me know when, and I’ll catch a plane to Atlanta. I might even bring Al. If he’s not working that is.” Erin tried to keep the frustration from her voice.

  “Trouble in paradise already?” Jean asked. “What happened?”

  Erin sighed. “Well the honeymoon was a tax write-off, because of all the chocolate factories we toured. We got home, and he immediately closeted himself in his office for a couple of hours, because of a business matter. Yesterday he went into work while we were supposed to be moving. He said two hours, but it was more like four…I love what he does for a living. His fudge is absolutely amazing. But will I always come in second place?”

  “I hope not. You deserve to be first.”

  Erin frowned. She wanted to be first…at least sometimes…

  When she walked in the door, it was to a silent house. She started dinner. He’d made breakfast, because she had to be at work thirty minutes earlier than he did. It wouldn’t kill her to fix supper. She hoped.

  Chapter Eight

  Al was exhausted as he drove home from work. He had already decided to try to hire another manager. It wasn’t fair to his new wife to always come after work in his life. If he had two managers, as well as working there himself, he would be able to spend more time with Erin and less time worrying about his fudge.

  When he walked in the door, he was surprised to find her in the kitchen, supper almost ready. After spending a minute greeting his overly enthusiastic dog, he walked to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Thank you for cooking.”

  Erin felt all her frustration with him melt away. He wasn’t deliberately avoiding her so he could work. He has a business to run, and it was important to him, and to their financial future. “I get home before you. It makes sense that I cook supper.”

  “Hopefully not every night, because you work too, but I’m happy to always fix breakfast. I can even put leftovers in a bowl for you to take for work on schooldays.”

  She stopped stirring the pot of soup she’d made, and turned to him, wrapping her arms around him. “How was your day? Did you bring me chocolate?” She proceeded to pat him down, but found nothing. “No chocolate?”

  He leaned down and kissed her softly. “I didn’t forget your sweet tooth. I left the chocolate on the front seat of my car. How could I forget my little chocolate empress?”

  “Oh good! While I put supper on the table, you go and fetch that for me. Do you want water or something else to drink?”

  “Water’s fine,” he said, already halfway to the door. “I usually like ice tea with supper.”

  “I will remember that.” And figure out how to make it. Her family had usually had water or milk with meals, so she had never learned.

  She had everything on the table when he got back in. He put the package he’d brought on the counter, and she walked over to get it.

  “Stop! You need to eat supper first.” Al swatted her hand away playfully.

  “The best part about being a grown up is eating dessert first!” He couldn’t seriously mean to keep her from her chocolate, could he?

  “Eat!”

  Erin frowned, moving to the table. She’d made a beef soup with vegetables and barley. She didn’t know why she loved soup so much, but it just felt like the perfect food to her. “We need to get some frozen bread dough,” she said as soon as she was seated. “I would have loved to have made bread with the soup. Or Pillsbury Crescents. I could have made those!”

  He shook his head at her. “My wife, the gourmet cook!”

  “I’m better than my sister. She thinks putting together a tuna salad is the ultimate in culinary feats!”

  “I guess it’s a good thing she married a chef then.”

  “And I married a famous fudge-maker. Maybe we should hire a cook.”

  He laughed. “I’m not exactly famous. Maybe in Laramie, but not outside it.” He tried a bite of her soup. “Pretty good soup.”

  “I am a soup lover. I could eat it every night. Well, other than Tuesdays, of course.” Erin took a big bite of her soup and smiled. “If you like stuff other than soup, you might need to mention that now.” She felt Beau nudge her under the table with his nose, and she reached down to pat him.

  Al shrugged. “When I need something other than soup, I’ll make sure to cook myself. I have the ability to do so.”

  “That’s a good thing, given who you married.”

  After they’d eaten, Erin went straight to her chocolate he’d brought her. “I thought my mint fudge might be a nice treat.” Al had never seen anyone who ate chocolate quite the way Erin did. She had gone through all the chocolate she’d bought when they first arrived in Switzerland and all the chocolate the different factories had offered.

  Erin unwrapped it, bringing it to her nose and inhaling deeply. “I love the smell of chocolate, which is probably why I love how you smell so much. It’s like you bathe in it while you’re gone all day. Do you sit in huge vats of chocolate at work? And if so, may I join you?”

  Al leaned onto the counter to watch her eat. “I don’t. The chocolate would scald my skin. Maybe I should find a way to make it liquid at a lower temperature so you could bathe in it.”

  “It would ensure my never-ending love.” Erin bit into the fudge, moaning softly. “This is heavenly.”

  “You are very easy to please, my dear wife.”

  She shook her head at him, raising a finger to her lips. “I’m eating chocolate here! It’s almost a religious experience when it’s your chocolate.”

  He shook his head at her, not able to help the grin that played at his lips. There was something awfully special about having your life’s work so blatantly appreciated. He picked up his bowl and spoon, clearing the table. The faster the work was out of the way, the faster they could get to the good part of their evening.

  *****

  Friday evening Erin got a call from Megan, inviting her and Al to come to Culpepper on Sunday. “I want to get to know your husband better, and he’s got to taste one of Bob’s burgers. The two of them have to be able to find a way to help each other in their business.”

  “Hang on and let me ask him.” Al was closeted away in his office, doing some paperwork, so Erin went to his office and knocked softly on the door.

  “Yeah!” Al looked up, his mind still on the numbers from the previous month. Christmas sales had not only exceeded his expectations, they’d exceeded them by fifty percent. He was going to have to figure out how to expand quickly if he was going to be able to keep up with demand.

  “Megan wants us to come to Culpepper and spend Sunday with her and Bob. You’re going to be off Sunday, right?”

  Al looked at her blankly for a moment. “Yeah, sure. We can do that. What time do you want to leave?” He knew it was the small town where her sister lived, but he had no idea where it was, other than it was somewhere in Wyoming.

  “If we leave at ten we’ll be there in ple
nty of time for lunch. Bob’s burgers are absolutely amazing.”

  “Then we’ll need to leave by ten, won’t we?”

  Erin smiled at him, before closing the door and putting the phone back to her ear. “We’ll be there before lunch. We do expect to have some of Bob’s burgers.”

  “Of course you will. It’s not like I’m going to cook for you.”

  “I would never ask you to!” Beau deposited a toy at Erin’s feet, and she held it for a moment, waiting until he was sitting.

  “Okay, I’ll see you Sunday. Bring some fudge, would you?”

  Erin laughed. “Now I know the real reason my sister wants to see me. She wants chocolate.” She threw the toy across the room, and Beau happily loped after it.

  “Bring a lot. I can freeze some and never run out.”

  Erin shook her head. “Any particular flavors in mind? Or should I just have an assortment?” She picked up the slobbery toy and threw it again, smiling when the dog brought it right back.

  “Flavor doesn’t matter nearly as much as volume at the moment…”

  “Sometimes I think you’re worse than I am about chocolate, Megan. I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “Well, I am pregnant, so I have an excuse.”

  “Are you still going to be using that excuse well after the baby is born? You’ll then be nursing…and then you’ll be trying to recover from nursing…”

  Megan laughed. “You’ve figured me out. Lots of chocolate?”

  Erin grinned. “I’ll tell Al. He brings me a new flavor of fudge every day now.”

  “Stop bragging. I love my burger man, but sometimes…I envy you for having a candy man.”

  “You should. He’s pretty darn awesome.” After she’d hung up the phone, Erin wandered back into the spare bedroom of the three-bedroom house, Beau trailing behind her. She was keeping her books in there…well, the ones she hadn’t gotten on her Kindle. She’d done a major purge just the month before, trying to make it easier to consolidate households. It was hard parting with some of her favorite books, but there were just too many.