I’m pacing around the barn as if I’m trying to get this baby out—which I’m not. We’ve still got about four months to go, this baby and me.
I run my hands over my belly that has grown pretty well. Strings of pastel-colored balloons hang along the rafters, and the table where cupcakes are lined is half blue, half pink. Everywhere I look, our family’s laughter bursts around the room. But we’re missing one important person.
My stomach is tight, and my palms are damp, and it has nothing to do with the baby. It’s the anticipation because Zander should have already been here.
He’s been gone for the last week, back in his studio. He was able to come home for a little while after the video editing but has had to leave for shorter trips. This has been our life—him coming and going and me staying behind.
But the interviews are next, and in two weeks, we’re gonna leave this ranch together. I’ll hide out as much as I possibly can, which I realized would be even more important when I woke up one day, and my stomach had popped.
We’re still keeping our secret from the world.
The public knows that we’re dating, and there have been stories in the press every time Zander even seems to run into a woman. Even if he’s just getting coffee and opening the door for a woman, it turns into they went there together, it was the morning after. They accuse him of stepping out on me—his sweet little small-town girl, as they like to refer to me.
“Oh my god, stop pacing, Romy.” Sadie picks up a blue-frosted cupcake. “You’re making me dizzy.”
“I’m not pacing.” My hands automatically rest on my belly. It’s become their favorite resting place.
“You’re nesting. Like, in motion.” She grins, blue frosting smeared along her upper lip. “His plane landed, didn’t it?”
I swallow hard. Because yes, it did. And obviously, we’ll wait. But I still wish he was already here—because I miss him. This whole week, as with every time he has to go away, it’s felt like torture being away from him.
Clearly, we are not meant to be in a long-distance relationship. The ranch has felt so empty since he left. And not only him—I mean, the whole crew left with him. Turns out I wasn’t ready for my reality to go back to normal.
The barn doors open.
I hear murmuring, the buzz of voices, and someone says, “Zander.” My heart launches into my throat.
There he is.
He and Beau walk in, while DeSoto stands at the edge of the barn. Zander strides in wearing a black button-down and black jeans. He takes off his ball cap that had been pulled low and searches the large room. He says hi to everybody, shaking hands, slapping backs. But his gaze keeps moving over everyone.
I watch for a second, so happy he’s actually here.
Then I walk toward him.
Our eyes catch, and he says a halfhearted goodbye to whoever he’s talking to. He crosses the room, ignoring the other handshakes, and catches me in his arms. He spins me once, my burgundy dress trailing around after me. I hug him as tears streak down my face.
“Jesus, I missed you,” he murmurs into my neck, his breath hot and ragged. “I feel like your belly has grown so much in a week.”
I swat him, tears still running down my face. “I know. I told you I felt like I was getting bigger.”
“Yeah. But seeing it…” He places one hand on my stomach and the other on my cheek. “I’m so happy to be home. So happy to be with you. And I’m so fucking happy you’re coming with me the next time I leave this ranch.”
Brooks claps him on the back, and Beau makes some smart-ass comment about what a grumpy ass Zander has been all week. My mom hands Zander a drink, and suddenly everyone’s around us. They all want to ask how it’s going, and he gets swallowed up by my family.
He’s smiling and laughing, but he keeps his hand tucked in mine and squeezes it every once in a while, as if he’s saying, I’m yours. Always remember, I’m yours.
He’s done a great job of squashing all those fears inside me, and I can’t wait until I can go away with him—to see what it would be like if I dared to change my life. If I dared to leave The Knotted Barn and stayed with him on the road.
Because that’s what has to happen if we’re ever going to make this work. I know that now.
I lean up to his ear and say, “You’re mine tonight.”
He turns to me and locks me in his arms, moving us away from the others. “I’m always yours.”
A grin tugs at his mouth, but there’s a promise in his eyes of the sinful things he’s going to do to me tonight. And I cannot wait. The hormones that come with being five months pregnant are hard. I’ve heard other women talk about it, but I can’t believe how horny I am all the time.
We’re interrupted by someone clapping.
