Wyatt thought he’d let Tory spring that news on Chey, who he knew had been giving Bailey riding lessons for some time now. He couldn’t imagine there was much Bailey couldn’t make happen if she put her mind to it, so he expected he’d see barrels being rolled out into the training ring quite soon.
He hadn’t been in the Falls that long, but he already felt like he was part of the ebb and flow of life there. And that didn’t alarm him in the least. It was settling and grounding to feel that he was part of something stable and permanent. His life had been none of those things now for as long as he could remember. He’d been so busy, cramming thirty hours of living into every twenty-hour day, and enjoying every minute of it, he hadn’t even known stability was something he was missing, or that he was wanting, until he had it.
It wasn’t that he missed his empty croft in Wales. This was an entire life being handed to him here. He’d been welcomed like a long-lost member of the family, and he’d come to care about these people quickly. Not because they were important to Chey, but because he truly liked them.
He wanted to take up Jake on his offer to show him the winery and the grapes he was growing and learning to press; he wanted to see Seth and Pippa welcome their first child into the world. He wanted to learn more about the exotic orchids he’d seen the previous week, and talk to the artists in residence at the mill, watch them ply their various trades. And those were just the people. He was itching to put a kayak on Big Stone creek, hike up into the rugged mountains above Firefly Lake, take up Addie’s invite to explore her area up in Hawk’s Nest Ridge, see the majestic birds of prey who had given the place its name.
And so much more.
The problem was, wanting all of that hadn’t stopped him from wanting the life he already had. He hadn’t even begun the final edits on the streams from Nepal or looked through the set of requests Dom had narrowed down to the “next pick” list and sent him just that morning. Wyatt was excited to look through them, meet with Dom, Jon, and Peli, along with the rest of the core crew, and see what worked for everyone. Then it would be time to assemble the rest of the team, dive into all of the paperwork and other planning that went into setting up the actual trip.
He had a few weeks, tops, before he had to have at least the initial stages underway if they had any hope of being prepped and ready to go come fall. Harvest season at Lavender Blue. He didn’t want to miss that, either. Or miss watching Chey and her friends celebrate their first full, beginning-to-end lavender season.
He thought about Dom’s words. We’re all entitled to make our world a better place, too. Don’t forget that.
How did he straddle both, keep both? He wanted his work, and he wanted to have a life here with Chey. When Pippa had laid a hand on her belly and told Chey she was expecting, the look on Chey’s face had been everything. Wyatt wanted that for her, for them. Wanted to put his hands on her belly and know life was blooming and growing there, a life they’d created together.
“Where has your mind wandered off to?” she said softly, drawing lazy circles on his chest with her fingertips.
“Just thinking about last weekend. How amazing you were,” he said. She was right. Now was not the time to find solutions to unsolvable problems. He shifted and lifted her chin and kissed her. “You were pretty badass.”
“I was pretty terrified,” she told him. “I can admit that now. But I was more pissed off than I was scared, and I knew the only chance I had was to confront him in front of everyone in a way that would guarantee he wouldn’t be able to retaliate without everyone knowing what he’d been up to.”
“Want your own superhero stream?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I happen to know a guy.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I like the boots, but I don’t do capes. And don’t get me started on the spandex Underoos.”
He barked out a laugh at that, then rolled and put her on top of him. “I don’t know, I think you could do the cape.”
“I don’t even wear dresses,” she said.
He pulled her down and kissed her. “I’d just take them off you, so probably just as well.”
She smiled against his mouth. “Because they’d look that awful on me?”
He rolled her to her back. “Yeah, that’s totally why.”
She toyed with his hair. “I should be getting up and showered and out in the fields.”
“I know,” he said, kissing his way down the side of her neck. “Dom sent me the list of contenders for our next stream a few days ago, and I have to get to that today.” He nuzzled the spot by her nape that he knew she loved. “But I could help with the shower part.”
She went still, and not because he’d licked an erogenous spot. He replayed what he’d just said and closed his eyes. So much for not ruining the moment. He just wasn’t used to filtering what he said to her.
“Sorry,” he said, “I wasn’t thinking.”
“No,” she said, and turned her face to his. “It’s okay. It’s silly to pretend this isn’t what it is. I know that.”
Now he frowned and pulled back just slightly. “What do you mean, ‘what it is.’ What is it?”
“Don’t do that—that’s not what I meant.” She sighed when he didn’t say anything, then immediately struck an exaggerated pose, baring her neck to him. “Can’t we please continue with the ravishing, dear sir?” She glanced at him from the side of her eyes, still holding the pose. “Don’t make me get my cape.”
He smiled at that, because he couldn’t not smile. And he wanted, badly, to just pick up where they’d left off. He knew what she’d meant. Mostly. It had just thrown him to hear her give voice to the same concerns he’d been having, only in a way that seemed to indicate maybe she’d come to some conclusions already. And her conclusions didn’t include the two of them figuring this out.
He waited a beat too long to respond and she lowered her arm and shifted back around so she could look at him fully. “What I meant was—”
“It’s okay, Chey,” he said quietly.
“What I meant was,” she repeated deliberately, “we have the next month or two to play house, and while it would be lovely to think that it will be this way forever and ever, we both know it’s not. August will get here, and you’ll have to go, and we’ll have to figure out what that means. So, this”—she gestured between the two of them—“is going to change. Meaning it’s temporary, until we figure out stage two. So, it’s silly to pretend that change isn’t coming.” Then she smiled at him. “But it’s sure fun to try.” She slipped out from under him. “Shower time. Come, wash my back.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “In that order? Seems backward, but—”
She threw a pillow at him and he caught it and threw it to the floor, then took her hands and pulled her up as he rose to his knees, so they were both kneeling on the bed, facing each other. “I love you, Cheyenne McCafferty,” he said without preamble, just put it right there. Right out in front. “And this feeling is way stronger than the love I had for you back once upon a time.”
She’d been about to grab another pillow, but went still, then turned to him. And it was wonder he saw in her eyes. And surprise. And most importantly, joy.