I glance at Millie, and she nods with a smile. “Go on. It’ll be fun.” Picking up her book, she winks at me. “Besides, I’ve got a murder to solve.”
After we say our goodbyes and Hunter hugs Mille, I follow him out to his truck.
“Are you having a good day?” he asks when we’re on the open road.
“I am.”
“Percentage?”
I stare out the window while I think about it, cataloguing my body and my energy levels. I actually feel really fucking good today. “Wow.”
“What?” Hunter asks, glancing at me from the driver’s seat.
“Like seventy, I think.” It’s more than usual. Like, by a lot. And I haven’t felt this good in so long—years, really—that I can’t even besure.“I think, anyway. Hard to say when I’m used to so much less.”
“Fuck, sweetheart. That’s amazing.”
It really fucking is, huh? Holy shit.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and slide into the middle, buckling up again quickly before pressing my face to Hunter’s shoulder. He grips my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I murmur, breathing in his heady scent. “I’m so okay.”
I stay that way for a few minutes before sitting up and looking out the window. There are fields on either side of the road, filled with corn. The sky is an endless blue, and for the first time in what feels like forever, my soul just relaxes.
The world doesn’t feel as heavy as it usually does, and it makes my heart so warm that I nearly burst into tears. “Jesus.”
“It’s a new feeling, huh?” Hunter asks, reading me easily.
“It really is.”
I don’t want to miss a second of the trip, so I flip Hunter’s hand over and run my fingers up and down his palm as I watch the fields go by.
Close to twenty minutes later, we pull into an older-looking store with a nearly empty parking lot.
I climb out of the driver’s side after Hunter, and he holds his hand out to me. “If you’re not comfortable in public, that’s okay.”
Sliding my fingers into his, I give his hand a little squeeze. I’m fucking thrilled and honored to be holding his hand.
The inside of the store smells a bit like the barns—old and kind of stale—but I breathe it in anyway. I’m finding that I really enjoy the way it smells.
My eyes dart around, and I pause when I hear tiny chirps. “What’s that?”
“Oh.” Hunter’s face lights up, his lips quirking into a smile. “Baby chickens.”
“Can we see?”
“Course.”
He leads me across the front of the store to a section with little containers full of babies. “Oh. My. God. They’re so cute.”
Hunter laughs. “They are. We didn’t let any broodies sit this year.”
“What?” I ask, turning to face him.
He’s watching me with a crooked smile. “Momma hens go broody, and then they sit on a nest of eggs.”
“I remember you saying that before.”
