Hearts Like Ours | Red View Romance #1

🍏 Six

The room the McAden's set Layla up in was gorgeous, filled with the same country charm as the rest of the house with pale blue walls and delicate furniture. She didn't realize how much the trip had taken out of her until she settled into bed after a hot shower in the adjacent bathroom. She wasn't sure she'd ever been somewhere so peaceful, with the crickets chirping away outside and the sliver of moonlight shining in from the frilly curtains, as opposed to the stale lights of the city she was so used to.

Still, sleep didn't come easy for her. She was up for an hour just tossing and turning, wishing she could turn off her brain and get it to stop asking why. Why did he notice, why did he care enough to ask?

The more she thought about it—against her will—she had to admit it wasn't the first time she'd let the mask slip. It wasn't the first time she'd forgotten to play the part of the happy bride-to-be. But it was either the first time someone had picked up on it, or the first time someone had bothered to inquire what it meant.

It all left her feeling tired as she hauled the bag of yoga mats and resistance bands from her trunk at dawn the next morning.

During her long chat with Kenzie after dinner, she'd learned that the McAden's basically had a gym on the grounds already. In the eighties, when Lillie Mae had been in the midst of an aerobics obsession, they converted the large shed next to their house into a home-gym. The equipment had been sold years ago, save for a few weights, but the empty space was still pristine and perfect for everything Layla had in mind.

Her expertise was in Pilates, and she planned to utilize it on top of basic cardio. They had plenty of land to take runs, and she was looking forward to it—it'd sure be nicer than running on a treadmill like usual.

A month wasn't going to give anyone a brand-new appearance, but that wasn't the idea. Brides and grooms weren't often looking for a total makeover, they were just looking to slim down and firm up a little bit before the big day. And that, as Layla had already proven with the past two weeks of their success, was definitely doable.

She headed to the shed to wait for the couple, dropping off the supplies inside, and came out just as they were exiting the house. They looked nice together, which was something she hadn't really noticed over the video calls. Kenzie was on the shorter side, while Marshall towered over her. They both had brown hair, hers a little lighter than his, somewhat curly and up in a high, swaying ponytail with her curtain bangs pinned back. Neither had on the fancy workout clothes Layla was used to seeing—and wearing—back in New York, but instead wore faded t-shirts and loose basketball shorts. Their matching smiles beamed as they headed up the path towards her, chatting away.

Layla had to wonder, even if it was only a short drive away, if Kenzie would miss waking up on the orchard every day. Probably not, she realized quickly. From what she heard at dinner she learned that Lillie Mae and Roman still spent half their time at the orchard, and figured it was safe to assume Kenzie would do the same, coming over for breakfasts and dinners throughout the week or stopping by to help her brothers with this or that. Despite what Dawson had said about him and Jack, anyone could see that the family was closer than most. Closer than hers, that was for sure.

It wasn't that she didn't love her parents, or that they didn't love her. But where the McAden kids seemed to enjoy spending their adulthood with the couple who raised them, Layla had moved out as soon as she'd graduated high school. She knew she had a lot of things in life easier than others, thanks to the wealth of her parents and her built-in career path, and she was grateful for it all. But she also couldn't help wondering what it would be like to sit down with her parents and talk about anything other than business.

"Layla!" Marshall greeted as he and Kenzie reached her. "It's good to finally meet you. Sorry I couldn't make dinner last night."

She tried to fight a grimace at the mention of the night before. With any luck, she'd go the next two weeks without ever running into Dawson again, lest she risk a repeat of that awful conversation. "Don't worry about it—as long as you don't miss a workout, we're cool."