Willow, in typical Willow fashion, hadn’t let Zee’s hesitation stop her. She’d lured her outside to inspect the pumpkins and decorate the mile-long strip of field the hayride would navigate.
Church hoped Zee found some escape from the knowledge weighing on them both.
“Hey, Church!”
He glanced up to see Pope sauntering by. He lifted a hand in greeting and Pope kept on walking. He turned his attention to the sky. Though there was a small break in the clouds, they loomed deep gray on the horizon, threatening more rain.
He dragged a hand over his jaw and leaned back against the bench. When he’d agreed to take the position in the training facility, he thought the work would keep him scrambling as much as any bootcamp. He’d expected to throw himself into schedules and plans and getting the program off the ground.
He hadn’t expected the small break before the trainees arrived to provide him time to get to know the ranch and the people on it.
Or to find that he fit here too.
In a short time, the ranch felt more like home than any place he’d stayed since joining the military. He never had that homebetween deployments the way Matt did with Zee. He’d always been an outsider.
Except on the Black Heart.
Movement caught his eye, and he turned his head to see Pope walking past again with another veteran, their arms filled with pumpkins.
Church pushed off the bench and jogged over to them.
“You need a hand?”
Pope nodded. “If you’ve got one.”
Church took two pumpkins from each man, relieved to be useful while the gears of his mind kept grinding. “Where we taking ’em?”
Pope lifted his chin in the direction of the barn. “Willow wants them by the gate where the hayride starts.”
When they reached the gate and set the pumpkins down, Honor hurried over to them. “Oh good! You brought the pumpkins.”
“Anything else you need?” Pope asked her.
She looked around, long curls swaying in the breeze. “That’s it for now. But I think Fern and some of the guys could use a hand in the community garden if you have time to spare.”
Before they headed to the garden, Church scanned the grounds, hoping to see Zee. But she wasn’t anywhere in sight.
At the garden, harvest was underway. Fern and some of the guys were picking the last of the produce. Church ended up carrying a crate full of late tomatoes and a squash to the back patio of the lodge.
The scent of grilling food hit him before he reached the patio. Corn roasted on the grill. Tomato slices were lined up on the surface, charring at the edges. Beef sizzled, sending hunger twisting through his gut.
He set the crate down and lingered to see if he could be of use. A couple of the Malone women were sorting through vegetables while another brushed melted butter over the corn. Everyone seemed to thrive on the energy of the ranch.
Church found himself in the middle of it, carrying plates and passing produce down the line to be sliced and placed on the grill. He hoped Zee was experiencing the excitement on the ranch too. If anyone deserved to have some fun, it was her.
By the time Gabe found him, Church had a plate of steak and grilled vegetables in hand.
Gabe’s lips quirked. “You get roped into harvest duty?”
He nodded toward the thick sirloin on his plate. “Payment’s worth it.”
“I’ll grab a plate and sit with you.”
The patio had tables neatly placed where people could sit near the railing and experience the view. A few tables were pushed up against the wall of the lodge for those veterans who needed a different setting.
Gabe joined him for the meal, and talk fell easily into the training facility. Though they’d hashed through all the details before, they discussed the first group’s arrival and what that would bring.
“Soon,” Gabe said, biting into an ear of corn. “Soon we start training. Will you be done with your bodyguard gig in time?”
