I shrug like it’s nothing and lean down to kiss the top of her head.Again.“Nothing you need to worry about.”
That earns me a narrow-eyed look. But she lets it go.
For now.
Sitting in my chair across from her, I open the picnic basket. Inside are a couple of containers that Beau and Lawson packed up this morning. Extra coldfruit salad—strawberries, blueberries, melon, and pineapple—and a stack of chicken salad sandwiches that Abbie’s been devouring lately. Like these things are the only ones on earth that can give her the sustenance she needs.
“Stopppp.” I smile proudly at her. “You are my favorite person today.”
“I know.”
We eat slowly, the breeze rustling through the willow branches above us. The whole ranch spreads out behind Abbie—rolling pastures, distant fences, the mountains faint on the horizon.
She chews thoughtfully for a minute before looking up at me. “Do you miss it?”
“Miss what?”
“Rodeo,” she clarifies. “Did you miss competing all year?”
I don’t even hesitate. “Nope.”
Her brows lift. “Not even a little?”
I shake my head and lean back in my chair. “This,” I say, gesturing around us, “is exactly where I’d rather be.”
Something soft settles over her expression before she smiles and goes back to eating.
By the time we finish, Abbie leans back in her chair with a satisfied sigh. One hand drifts to her stomach without her even thinking about it. And I just… sit there.
Looking at her.
The sunlight filters through the tree branches, catching the copper strands in her red hair and turning them gold. Her eyes flutter closed for a moment as a breeze blows through, carrying with it the sweet scent of lupines.
The world I once thought was my everything now frames thepersonthat’s my everything.
When she got here, Beau once told me she reminded him of fall.
Warm. Fiery. Beautiful in a way that makes you stop and stare.
But sitting here now, surrounded by new grass and wildflowers and the quiet hum of spring waking up the valley.
She looks like she belongs tothisseason.
Soft.
Alive.
Full of something new growing inside her.
Never wanting to forget it, I quickly pull out my phone and take a picture while her eyes are closed, her face basking in the afternoon sun.
Perfection.
My phone makes a noise when I set it onto the table, and she peeks her eyes open to look at me, still staring at her. “What’s that look for?” she asks.
I grin. “Just thinking about how damn beautiful you look.”
Her smile spreads wide. “Linc said the same thing earlier. You all are too good for a woman’s ego.”
