“Let’s hope she just scares them off,” I reply. “I’m going to take a quick walk before I go back to work. I need some air.”
“It’s damn hot out,” Ry reminds me and reaches out to drag his fingertip down my bare arm. “Don’t get sunburned.”
“I won’t go far.” I boost up on my toes, and he leans down to kiss me.
“Here, take this sandwich with you.” Ryker passes me a turkey sandwich.
“Were you making that for me?”
“No, I was making it for me, but I can make another. Eat while you walk, Trouble.”
“Why do you call her Trouble?” Aiden wants to know.
“Because from the moment I met her, I knew that she’d get us all in a whole lot of it,” Ryker answers him with a smirk. His dark eyes find mine, and they’re full of humor and memories. “And I was right.”
“Hey, most of the trouble we got in wasnotmy fault.” I take a bite of my sandwich and saunter out of the kitchen. “See you later!”
“Wait,” Aiden calls out, and I poke my head back into the kitchen. “I’m not coming for dinner tonight. Mac and I are gonna kill some zombies, so I’ll eat at the bunkhouse.”
“Does Dusty know?”
“Yeah, he’s cool with it,” Aiden says.
“Okay then. Have fun. Call me if you need me.”
“She’s such a mother hen,” I hear Aiden say as I walk through to the front door.
Of course I’m a mother hen.
He’s my boy.
Ryker and I have just settled back on the sofa, ready to watch a movie, when my phone rings with an incoming video call from Gideon.
He hasn’t called every day like he promised last week, but it’s been close.
“Hey, handsome,” I say as I answer and smile at him. Then I notice that he’s not sitting on a hospital bed. I recognize that couch. “Wow, are you home?”
“Yeah, I’m home. I’m doing outpatient PT now.”
“How are you feeling?” Ryker asks him, and I point the phone so we’re both in the picture.
“Like I got shot,” Gid replies. “I don’t want to talk about that. What’s happening there?”
So, for half an hour, we fill him in on Molly the donkey, Andy losing his ever-loving mind, and the fact that Aiden and I are moving here permanently.
“It’s never boring with you two,” Gid says with a sigh.
“You’d hate it if we were boring,” I tell him. “Will you ever tell us what happened?”
“When you get the security clearance you’d need to know the details, I’ll tell you.”
I roll my eyes. “Lame.”
“I think you just like to say ‘security clearance,’” Ryker says, pulling a laugh out of Gideon. “You like to sound cool.”
“Iamcool,” Gid replies. “And I have the highest security clearance you can get, which makes meextracool.”
I snort out a laugh.
