“So,” Rhett says once we finish eating. “How’s camp been?”
Winnie springs off the diving board and dives straight into the same stories Tanner and I spent just last night listening to.
With Lauren and Rhett occupied, Tanner and I quietly shuffle around the kitchen cleaning up. I wash the dishes, he dries and puts them away, I wipe down the counters and light a candle. When we finish and flip out the big light, Winnie is still talking.
“I think she has their attention for a while,” Tanner whispers to me. “Come on.”
He nods for me to follow, and I don’t hesitate for a second. We walk down the creaking hallway to the front deck. Not bothering to put on shoes, we step down into the cool damp grass and head toward the flowers and trees and broken fencing.
Tanner is only a few steps ahead of me and I am torn between looking at the land and watching the way he looks at his land. He has a contented pride that carries him along as we head toward some of the fenced-in pastures that are surrounded with wildflowers and those broken flowerpots.
A baying makes me freeze in my tracks before spinning to find the source. Just to the left, behind a thick row of flowers, is a wooden fence with two white-ish animals strolling toward us.
“Sheep?” I say in the form of a question as if they would be anything else.
“I just got them this morning,” he says and steps over a crushed down path to a cleared bit of fence. “Dollie’s friend over near Près du Lac, you know, Lac Dunes? She needed to re-home them, and they dropped them off this morning.”
I lean my forearms on the fence watching the animals graze and Tanner leans next to me, our shoulders a breath apart.
“Do you know how to take care of sheep?” I ask.
Tanner’s eyes drift from the sheep back over to me, like he’s studying me. “No idea. Dollie has offered to help until I get the hang of it.”
Turning my back against the fence, I look out over at the chickens and the trees. Time feels slower up here. Softer. Warmer.
“Where’s your mind at?” Tanner turns and rests a single arm on the fence, his body facing me.
“Hm?” I blink over at him.
“You have that look. It’s like the one Lauren gets when she’s thinking. Winnie too.”
I smile. One shift to the left and I would be in his arms. One breath. One small movement.
“This is just about the most amazing place I have ever seen,” I admit. “And all these months we’ve talked, I can’t believe this was your view all along.”
“Baby, I can guarantee this view is not what I was thinking about when we talk.” He says it like a joke, but my heart doesn’t take it that way. Nor do my blushing cheeks.
“Then what were you thinking about?”
Tanner pushes off the opposite fence toward me, then rests his palms on either side of me. His thumb then connects with my hip and traces little circles absently. “You know.”
The sound of the screen door snapping shut brings me back. However, Tanner doesn’t move an inch. He’s still leaned down into my space, waiting for me to close the extra inches and accept his challenge. My eyes look up the trail to see the other three making their way toward us.
“I’m never going to beat Winnie's allegations of you being my boyfriend,” I say and duck under his arm.
“Winnie thinks I'm your boyfriend?” he calls after me and I just shoot him a look over my shoulder.
Winnie gasps as she approaches but it’s not at the sight of her mom and her uncle’s friend speaking closely in the garden. It’s what’s across from us. “Chickens?”
“Chickens.” Tanner confirms, and she bounds over, watching the little brown-and-white birds peck around.
“What was that all about?” Lauren asks quietly as she catches up. Rhett is at her side looking just as curious.
“Nothing,” I say. “He was just showing me around.”
The two look at each other and I swear they communicate in glances and stares.
“Here Fred.” Tanner steps over and helps Winnie climb up a rung on the fence so she can see better.
