“Don’t worry, buddy. This is just a little learning moment for your old man. You can still taste it, though.”
Charlie raises an eyebrow. “Taste it now?”
Clint laughs. “Sure! Why not? If you can handle the smoky flavor of the professional grillmaster’s early attempts.”
With that, Clint takes a piece of charred meat from the grill and offers it to Charlie, who gives it a tentative bite. His face scrunches up, but he tries to hide it, nodding seriously.
“I think it’s really smoky,” he says, clearly trying his best not to hurt Clint’s feelings.
I burst out laughing, and Clint looks at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Alright, alright. Guess I need to step back.”
Reid steps forward, but not without a wink. “If you’re done playing with fire, Clint, I’ll step in before this whole batch turns into charcoal.”
Clint grins and hands him the spatula, shrugging. “Hey, I didn’t want to show off too much. Let’s leave some opportunities for the rest of you.”
Sawyer chuckles, tossing some corn on the grill. “You mean the opportunities you haven’t burned to a crisp?”
Charlie is having a blast, and his excitement is contagious.
I find myself drawn to them, all of them. This moment, this simple, messy family moment, it’s the beginning of something new.
As the guys take over the grilling duties, I step back, watching them all interact. Reid and Sawyer tease Clint about his cooking while Charlie jumps in with his opinions about each burger’s level of “perfect smokiness.”
It’s a beautiful chaos, but it’s ours.
Charlie looks up at Clint. “You know, Daddy,” he says, “I think next time we should cook it at the right temperature. That way, it tastes better.”
Clint chuckles, kneeling down again. “Good idea, buddy. You and me? We’ll be the grillmasters next time, alright?”
Charlie nods, as serious as a five-year-old can be, and then runs off to play with the dog, leaving Clint and me standing there watching him.
“Thanks, Clint,” I say quietly, the words heavier than I expect. “For this. For everything.”
Clint turns, his deep blue eyes softening as he looks at me. “You don’t have to thank me. This is just the beginning, Dakota.”
And in that moment, with Charlie’s laughter ringing in the background and the grill hissing behind us, I realize that he’s right.
Thisisjust the beginning.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Reid
Things are going well.No doubt about it. The last couple of months have been the best of my whole life.
Dating Dakota, becoming a family with Charlie too, it’s perfect. Better than I ever thought it would be.
I smile to myself over the oven as I finish up the dinner.
I can’t even remember what it felt like before they came into my world. Everything I was waiting for just clicked into place the moment they stepped into the ranch.
Dakota’s different now. More at ease, more here. She’s finally let herself believe that she doesn’t have to keep running from the past.
She’s made a real home for herself in this town, and Charlie? Well, Charlie’s as much a part of this place as the cows and the horses.
The kid’s practically the mascot of the ranch. If he’s not running around with Rover, he’s by the barn asking me a thousand questions a minute about horses and how to fix fences.
I’m all in. Not just on the ranch. Not just on the work. On them.
