Call sat back, grinning. “That’s how it’s done, boys.” Enjoying himself, he took a big bite of biscuit and almost choked on it when Laurel kicked him under the table. “What was that for?”
“Because you really are an undeserving sinner,” she said. “Pass the basket.”
***
The next time Laurel saw Call, he was rounding the house to the porch carrying a fistful of wildflowers. She smiled, genuinely delighted with his offering as he held it out to her. Laurel didn’t immediately accept the bouquet. She bent her head toward it and breathed in the fragrance of his Rocky Mountain tribute. Call had found blue columbine and mixed it with the tiny white petals of bittercress and the lavender, bell-shaped flowers of the harebell. She knew where all these flowers grew, but she imagined it had taken some effort on his part to come upon them.
She took the bouquet from him before he squeezed the stems beyond recovery. “They’re lovely. Thank you.” Standing, she said, “I’m going in to put them in water.”
“You don’t need to fuss with them,” he said a shade diffidently. “They’re only wildflowers.”
Laurel realized he hadn’t been at all confident as to how she would receive his gift. “Of course I need to fuss,” she said quietly. “I’ve never had flowers I didn’t pick for myself.” Standing on tiptoes, she kissed him on the cheek.
Call watched her disappear into the house and waited for her to return before he sat beside her on the swing. He gave the swing a gentle push. “I saw a patch of the blue ones when I found Penelope. I had to search some to find the others.”
“I wondered about that. The blue ones are columbine.” She moved closer and leaned her shoulder against his. He lifted his arm and put it around her. The fit was even better now. She told him the names of the other two flowers in the bunch. “What made you think of it?”
“Besides shirking barn work?”
Laurel’s chuckle stayed deep in her throat. “Besides that.”
“I suppose it was what Mrs. Lancaster said about not making pretty compliments. That stung some. Jelly does it better than I do.”
“I hurt you terribly,” she said. “I didn’t deserve pretty words. The way I’m remembering it, you didn’t think I deserved any words at all. I didn’t like that.”
“I didn’t either, but it was safer than what I wanted to do.”
“Oh?”
“Shake the living daylights out of you.”
“Have you ever done anything like that?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. You have a cold temper, I think. Not a hot one.”
“I’m not sure one’s better than the other.”
“I was contemplating a slow death for you earlier today,” she said. “In case you didn’t notice, I blow hot, not cold.”
“I noticed,” he said dryly. “What did I do that left you considering murder?”
“Left a sock in my bedroom.”
“I told you I did.”
“I thought you were trying to get a rise out of me.”
“Nope. That was a side benefit, not the purpose.”
She gave him a little poke with her elbow. “Well, Mrs. Lancaster finally got around to telling me she found it.”
“I wondered about that. She passed it right back to me with my clean laundry. Never said a word, though.”
“I’m only fooling myself thinking I could have secrets.”
“What did she say?
