Birch Rose

When she started unpacking the basket, his confidence visibly wavered in the best way, eyes tracking each item like she was unveiling a magic trick. ❝ …Alright, hold up. You made all this? ❞ he asked, already reaching for the sandwiches like restraint was optional. ❝ Because if this is what you call ‘bringing lunch,’ then I feel like I showed up to a picnic and accidentally wandered into a professional catering event. ❞ A beat, then a softer smile slipped in as he glanced up at her accepting the beer in his hand to crack it open.

Matt leaned back in the seat a little, one arm draped over the steering wheel like he was trying to look casual about the fact that he’d absolutely picked this spot on purpose. He followed her gaze out over Carroll, the way the lights were starting to blink awake like the whole town was stretching after a long day, and his grin softened at the edges.

He'd cut the engine to that they could get out and sit in the back of his ❝ Yeah? ❞ he said, like he hadn’t been watching her reaction more than the view. ❝ I mean, I was gonna say I’m basically a certified tour guide at this point, but I think I’m getting promoted to… scenic genius. ❞ His playful grin curling up at the corner of his lip to show off those teeth of his.

"You brought me to your spot?" Shared with her his secret place to get away from it all, his escape. It meant the world to her, and somehow the scenery got more beautiful, and the night more meaningful yet still. A weighty and meaningful thing it was that he let her into his sanctuary and she handled that in her heart with all due sentimentality.

Hugging Wilbur to her chest as she crawled out of the cab with a hand placed delicately in his own, her hand remained in his while he lead them around to the back of his truck, letting go only so he could hop on up. "Is it time for the lights?" Grinning she used his offered hand to help pull her up with him, setting the sleepy piglet down on one of the pillows before lowering down into the nest of blankets herself.

"Well, I hope you at least enjoyed the food, cobsiderin' I was caterin'" she said as a gentle, playful, reminder. "I'm sorry you didn't have the time's your life, Darcy, but you sure did look real nice."

Through every step of the way she listened thoroughly, making sure to retain the information and prepare for the job. Evie's eyes lit up immediately at the mention of a taste test, as she walked into the kitchen. A soft laugh escaped her as she looked over the four plates waiting for them. ❝ Now this is the kind of training I can do any day of the week. ❞ she lightly laughed.

"I was thinkin' that might be the best part'a all'a this." Birch joked as she set down the paperwork beside Evie along with a pen branded with the Birch's BBQ logo, email, and phone number. "Fill those out while you eat and I'll go dig out out an apron."

Every protective instinct, every ounce of anger he'd felt toward the man who had hurt her, faded beneath the simple fact that she was here. With him. Choosing him. Matt leaned into her gently, guiding her slowly to lay down like they had on his couch at his apartment, how there was the possibility of having sex with her in that moment before it was stopped. The heat that he felt in the kiss only encouraged Matt to hove his body over hers.

She let him guide them backward until much like they'd been on his couch weeks prior they now were on hers, only this time she wasn't aware of where his hands were going because of her scars but because of the rippling heat they radiated through her. From her wedding night onward intimacy had been a thing expected of her and for the benefit of her husband alone, her first truly her focus release achieved just months before this moment she knew she was going to have to with him. She was ready to have with him.

He knew every ugly part of her body now and still managed to make her feel utterly beautiful there, beneath the desire darkened look in his eye as he'd look at her between briefly captured breaths. She hadn't been fully with a man since before her husband had died, and already this felt nothing like that had because she wanted Matthew in a way Jerry had never even tried for.

Depite her nerves, despite her heart trying to beat the air from her lungs even as she so happily suffocated on his lips with the softest of noises into them that sounded much like his name stifled there into the non-existent space. Lifting a knee to cradle him there, hands taking up fistfuls of his shirt to keep him right where she'd happily have him stay, Birch was happily and all too willingly letting herself got lost to the moment.

#babes, that's a cello

Matt let out a low whistle, like his brain just short-circuited trying to picture it. ❝ Two hundred people? Okay, wow—so like… if you sneeze wrong, everybody knows about it? That’s not a town, that’s a group chat with buildings. ❞ He laughed, shaking his head as he kept walking, hands loose at his sides with the basket, but his energy a little lighter now, more animated.

"What'd they call it, The Stacks?" A decidedly charming small town name for such a modern apartment complex but that somehow only made it fit the vibe of the town that much better. "Tourists, goodness I ain't even thought'a them. Sounds like it's gunna get a might crowded round here, that's excitin'." Nodding her head in agreement, Birch opened the basket for the sheet folded on top, which she pulled out and spread for them so they could sit down. Birch unloading the basket as he spoke. Fresh orange juice in a glass bottle, containers of fruits, salad, and some nicely wrapped slow roast beef sandwiches on sourdough she'd made herself. The last items to come a couple bottles of beer, one which she handed him with a playfully conspiratorial shush.

Matt barely even registered the road for a second when she said she couldn’t help it. ❝ Oh, I look mighty good, huh? ❞ he echoed, grin tugging wider as he shook his head like she’d just handed him the world’s most unfair compliment. His thumb kept tracing slow, absent circles against her knee like it had decided that was its permanent job in life now.

Then she reached into her sweater pocket. And it cause him to shift in his seat. He actually let out a small, incredulous laugh when she pulled out the pin—half because it was cute, half because she’d clearly been thinking about this long enough to find it and decide it was him. And her. And Wilbur. All wrapped into something he could carry around. It was an insanely sweet thing to do that made him smile.

He took it carefully from her fingers at the next stoplight. His eyes dropped to it immediately. Piglet. Cowboy hat. He huffed a laugh, softer this time, a warm laugh of appreciation. ❝ This is absolutely going to remind me of you both. Little pig I can wear around. ❞ He glanced over at her then, something a little quieter slipping through the humour. ❝ Thank you baby, I love it. ❞ He assured her as he set it down currently in the cup holder so he couldn't lose it

He definitely made her feel like a girl again, blushing and giggly, like had she a notebook she'd be doodling his name on the front. It was sort of funny how both he and Joel had made her blush so often but in entirely different ways. Matthew's easy boyish charm less overwhelming, but no less captivating, no less skilled in keeping her stomach a constant fluttering of butterfly's wings. Even now, an entire month later, every time he looked at her it made her heart skip the smallest of beats.

Drinking in his reaction to the little gift, Birch couldn't help it. Giving gifts, feeding people, letting them know they were on her mind, these were the language of Birch's love and his glee at the little pin was gift enough in return for her. "I'm hopin' it acts like a good ol' good luck charm 'ta keep ya safe 'n sound out there while playin' hero. I almost went with a rabbits foot, but I always thought them was kinda morbid."

She folded her hands as she could see her feet running around serving people. There was a difference in how to greet people from here compared to Eden. ❝ I’m honestly excited. A little terrified, but in a good way. And I’m definitely not gonna say no to tasting the menu—that feels like the best kind of training, if you ask me. ❞ A soft laugh slipped out as she shifted her weight.

Seeing the girl relax was a relief, pleased that she could help her feel just as at home as she wanted everyone to do when they walked through the door. "See, now that's what I like to hear." She said with a grin. "Well then, let's get this show started." The tour didn't take long for besides the front of house, there was just the kitchen, dry storage and her office off the side. The ordering system taking a little longer, though Birch demonstrated how the tablets worked, smiling brightly as she sent off a demonstration order to the kitchen and the sound of the printer whirring was audible in the still quiet restaurant.

Location: Before the ribbon cutting at BBQ