10. Normal Dating Life

10

NORMAL DATING LIFE

" H eard you've had a few busy weekends."

Aster turned his head to see Ivy standing in the doorway to the barn where he and Zane were getting supplies to bring to the plant.

He was actually surprised it'd taken this long for anyone to say anything to him about dating Raine.

At this point, it'd been two weekends he'd spent doing...activities.

There was one activity he'd like to do, but he wouldn't push either. That wasn't his way.

"I have," he said.

Zane grinned at him. "Anything you want to share that I seem to be missing that Ivy knows? Ivy only knows things from other women when it comes to dating. Like a mini Poppy."

He'd heard all about the one sister who could sniff out a romance a mile away.

But again, it's not like he was hiding anything.

"I've been seeing someone," he said.

"Good for you," Zane said, lifting a few two by fours. Aster got some more and followed Zane to the back of his truck.

"Don't you want to know who it is and how I know?" Ivy asked. She was all but doing a little dance around the doorway but staying out of their way.

"I know you're going to tell me," Zane said, smiling. He didn't remember Zane being that happy of a guy before. Not the commander who led them into battle. The one who told Aster he was the man that was needed on his team.

It'd been hard to have that much responsibility on his shoulders, but it felt rewarding at the same time.

He never wanted to let Zane or his team down and worked twice as hard.

Guess things came full circle like he'd always believed. You got out what you put into this world.

Not that he wanted to be shot for that to happen, but hey, you couldn't control it all.

"Aster has been dating my future sister-in-law, Raine."

He turned to look at Zane and saw the eyebrows lifted. "Really? That's interesting."

"How?" he asked, frowning.

"Because Raine is a ray of sunshine despite her name and you're not so much," Ivy said.

"Kind of like you and Brooks," he said.

Ivy frowned when Zane laughed. "I wouldn't say you're as grouchy as Brooks," Zane said. "Sorry, Ivy. No offense."

"None taken," Ivy said. "But Raine has had practice dealing with her brother her whole life. He's going to want to meet you. Don't worry, I've had nothing but good things to say about you."

"You don't know enough about me to say anything bad," Aster said, smirking.

"You're right, I don't. But we also know Lily is selective about who she hires and you're friends with Zane so you're a stand-up guy. Plus I know Brooks trusts Raine."

"Just not all the guys she dates," Aster said. He and Raine had talked about it. She filled him in a bit on her dating history and what she was looking for and not finding.

He didn't know much about this guy she dated all through college that she'd thought she'd be married to with a bunch of kids by now and he hadn't asked.

"Guess you two talk more than do activities. And now I need to go meet with my boss. Bye," Ivy said, waving her hand and speed walking to the house where Lily was still working from home part time.

"Activities, huh?" Zane asked. "Like a first grader?"

Zane was laughing and he knew that would happen. "A bit more than her class."

"Want to share?" Zane asked. "Or tell me to shut the hell up?"

"Not much to share," he said. "We've gone to dinner, apple picking and the tasting room, cooked a few meals, the movies."

Last Friday night was the movies. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to the movies. Before the service for sure. After sitting in the theater with a bunch of teens on a Friday he remembered why.

Raine had laughed and said it was part of the experience. Guess she was right. And the movie was interesting.

Saturday, he'd had her over to his place and they cooked together. He'd felt bad she'd done so much baking the weekend before and wanted to show he wasn't all thumbs and could only cut and clean up things.

She seemed to appreciate the basic meal he'd made, but it gave them time to talk and get to know each other more.

And for him to get his mouth on hers again, but that was all they'd done.

They hadn't seen each other on Sunday. He didn't expect that they'd spend every single moment together on the weekends. She had things to do and so did he, but they talked that night.

"Just like a normal dating life," Zane said.

"Like you know what that is," he said. "You're an old married man now with kids."

"And loving every minute of it," Zane said.

"Do you want to keep standing around here gabbing like a bunch of chicks or get to work?"

"Remember what I said about calling them chicks," Zane said. "They don't like that."

He let out a rare laugh. "I think I can figure that out enough."

He got in his truck and followed Zane to the plant where a lot of men were working.

He was barely parked when his phone went off and he looked down to see a text from one of the floor supervisors that a machine was acting up.

He replied he was outside with Zane and would be right in.

"What's going on?" Zane asked.

"The bottle machine is starting and stopping," he said. "I'm going to see if I can figure it out before I call the company."

"I'm sure you've spent a lot of time researching everything to see how they work."

Zane was smirking at him again. It was something he'd done before. If Aster could find plans or videos or manuals, he read them or watched them to get an idea of the working parts.

"Of course," he said and made his way into the building.

It amazed him when he heard the story behind this plant and how it all came about. Most came from Zane saying how proud he was of his wife and her sisters and their growth over the years.

Now it was so big they had to all but double the size of the plant with product expansions and increased sales.

The new side would have all the accessories and jewelry, as most of it wasn't completely machine operated but more manual labor putting the finishing touches on or lots of sewing machines and stations there.

But the main plant was going to get more machines delivered to help with increased soaps, lotions, and candles. Bigger machines for the herbal products that Luke's wife oversaw.

Heather had asked him over to dinner along with Lily too. They wanted to make him feel part of the family, not just on a work level.

He always found an excuse to say no. He didn't like being a third wheel.

Maybe he also didn't want to see the things he never had growing up and always wished he did.

Jealousy was a nasty emotion he tried to kick. He'd seen it with his parents enough.

More recently when he'd been given that money. If he hadn't gotten out of his hometown he knew he'd say things he'd regret. No reason to cut ties with his parents even if he was getting to the point he didn't like them much anymore.

"Thank God you're here," Gabby said. "The bottling machine for the lotions stopped and I reset it this morning and then it stopped again."

"I'll take a look," he said, going to the floor.

Thirty minutes later he saw it was a part that had broken off, and for safety reasons, the machine shut down.

Back at Zane's barn, he was looking for any part that would work now before the one he ordered could arrive tomorrow. He hated having the machine down until then.

"Trying to glue things together with frosting?"

He turned his head and saw Lily standing there. She had Ryder with her and he was itching to take off in a run. The baby wasn't around so he was going to assume her daughter was sleeping.

"Not quite frosting," he said. "I've got the part coming in the morning, but if I can get it working now without it, then production won't be slowed as much."

"I appreciate that," Lily said. "Maybe if you think we need to have a few parts on hand, I can order them. Not sure if it's possible to predict. I always feel like the same things break, but the people who came out to repair them wouldn't tell me that."

He snorted. "Not surprising. It's the same reason they were trying to talk me into having someone come out rather than send the part."

Sending people from hours away cost a shit ton when he could easily install it. It was stupid and he wanted Lily and her sisters to know they made the right decision hiring him. All he'd done was text Lily an update and she didn't have to do anything else.

Zane had told him in the past Lily would be on the phone for hours dealing with this and getting the runaround. He imagined some of it had to do with being a woman. He'd put his foot down on the second attempt to send a repairman and the guy on the other end shut up and placed the order after that.

"They always do," Lily said. "I've got all the repair bills in my office if you'd like to see them. I hate to say I can't make heads or tails of them, but I'm sure you could in terms of what was fixed. It's a big file on everything in the plant."

"That would be great," he said. "And it will give me a good idea of the timelines of what things break so I can check it out myself. Maybe I can prepare prior."

"That's what I like to hear," Lily said. "I'll either have Ivy give the folder to Jasmine to bring here tomorrow and then Zane can get it to you if you don't come over, or one of my sisters can deliver it if they are going to the plant."

He almost always saw either Poppy or Rose at the plant a few times a week, but they didn't come talk to him much since there hadn't been a need after he was hired.

Even the machine having an issue today didn't concern production for either of those sisters.

"Whatever works for you," he said.

"If I haven't said it before, I will now," Lily said. "I can't thank you enough for taking this job."

"Thank you," he said. "It came at a time in my life I needed to refocus."

"Sounds like you're getting there now," Lily said, grinning.

"Obviously Ivy filled you in on some dating information?" he asked.

"Ivy is harmless," Lily said. "She's more excited than anything. She has in her mind that everyone should be a couple and hang out together. She does it with her sisters and is excited to maybe be able to do it with her future sister-in-law."

"I know Brooks is going to want to meet me. River too," he said. "Raine already told me."

"Having a younger sister, I'm going to imagine you know what it's like being a protective brother," Lily said.

"I do," he said. "I'm not too concerned about anything. It's early yet anyway."

"It is," Lily said. "I'm not just thankful you're here for me, but for Zane too. He's working too hard and then trying to make sure I don't do it either. Finding a good balance for the family isn't easy. Sometimes we have to let things go out of our control."

"Which is never easy to do," he said.

"No," Lily said. "But when you've got people in your corner you can trust it makes it much easier."

With that, Lily turned away and he realized how lucky his buddy was to have a woman who not only understood that but also helped make it come true.

Zane's wife just made him feel the same way Zane had years ago—that he was part of a team and valued.