“Hey, you’re the boss.”
She laughed. “Not of you.”
Once they put all the gear in the truck, Finn double-checked the trailer and hitch to make sure they were secure.
“I need to do something with Murphy,” he said as the dog sat between them, his tail wagging wildly.
“Oh, Murph’s coming with us.”
“He is, huh?”
“Of course. I figured he’d enjoy a day on the boat. And there’s a life jacket for him, too.”
“You thought of everything, didn’t you?”
She smiled. “I tried to.”
They climbed in, Murphy jumping into the back seat of the truck.
“Where to?” he asked.
“I already have the coordinates mapped into the truck’s GPS.”
“Well, aren’t you the planner today?”
“Actually, I’ve been working on it all week.”
He tilted back a little to study her. “All to surprise me.”
She shrugged. “Yes.”
He liked this take-charge attitude of hers, and that she had, in fact, surprised the hell out of him. The idea of Brenna taking a day off work was practically unheard of. She had to have her fingers in everything related to winemaking. Giving that up for an entire day just to spend it with him?
He did feel special.
Hell, he felt a lot of things where Brenna was concerned, but it was too early in the morning to decipher them, so he put the truck in gear, punched Go on the GPS and off they went.
It took about an hour to get to the lake, and he followed the directions to where Brenna wanted them to go. It was a great spot to launch, so they got everything out and loaded up the boat. Finn got the boat into the water, then Brenna parked the truck and met him on the dock.
He held her hand while she climbed in. She looked amazing in her tight pants and boots, her jacket flapping in the morning breeze. She’d put her hair in a long braid this morning, and she looked so beautiful she took his breath away.
Murphy thought so, too, because he came up to her, his tail wagging so she’d pet him.
“What do you think about all this, Murphy?” she asked as she smoothed her hands over his back and rubbed his ears.
Murphy’s enthusiastic tail thumping was his answer. As Finn moved slowly through the water past the No Wake zone, Murphy put his paws on the edge of the boat so he could look out over the water. Finn could tell Murph was going to enjoy this.
And Brenna? She sat in the seat next to him, wisps of her hair blowing back as he cranked up the engine and soared through the water. He’d been to this lake several times before, and he knew just the right place for fishing.
He found a nice isolated spot where they wouldn’t be disturbed. Not that there’d be a lot of traffic on the water on a Thursday morning in October anyway. He killed the engine and dropped the anchor.
Brenna moved out of the chair and went to one of the bags, lifting out two sandwiches she’d wrapped in foil, and brought them over, handing him one.
“I figured you wouldn’t have had any time to eat breakfast, so I made sausage and egg sandwiches.”
Just the thought of food made his stomach grumble. “You made this?”
“I can cook. Sometimes. If I have to.”
He gave her a look as she unwrapped her sandwich.
She shrugged. “Louise wasn’t there yet so I had to do it. And it’s totally edible.”
“I believe you. Thanks for making this.” He took a bite, and it was good. He leaned over to grab his coffee.
“Hey, this is good,” she said.
“You’re surprised that food you made is good. Maybe I should be scared.”
“I don’t cook very often. I eat out and at home we have Louise.”
“But you were married before. Did Mitchell cook?”
She snorted out a laugh. “Hardly. I cooked . . . some. But we both worked a lot, and I often worked late at the house, so I took a lot of meals with the family, and he would get takeout or make a sandwich when he got home.”
He nodded as he swallowed, then said, “Makes sense.”
She lifted her head. “Say you’re married to . . . someone. What would your expectations be about the whole cooking thing?”
“Never thought about it, honestly. I guess if she likes to cook, great. But I don’t mind doing the cooking if she’s not into it.”
“Huh.” She took a bite and chewed while staring out over the water.
“What would your expectations be?” he asked.
She pulled her gaze from the water. “Same as yours. I’m not big on one person being responsible for certain roles. Like the guy having to mow the lawn and take out the trash, and the woman having to do the cooking and cleaning.”
“Nah, that’s bullshit. If you live together, you share everything. Though I do enjoy mowing. I’d hate for my wife to take that task away from me.”
She laughed. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. I like being outside.”
“So do I.”
“Okay. I’ll mow. You get to be in charge of the garden.”
He waited for her to laugh again, but she looked away to stare out at the water, as if she was pondering something monumental.
Or maybe she was just trying to wake up. It was still early.
He hadn’t meant to plan out their future like that, to assume they’d have that life where he mowed and she gardened.
Or maybe he had. Maybe he was testing the waters to see how she’d react.
And now he knew. But he filed it away, because they were out on the water, it was a beautiful, cool fall morning and it wasn’t the time for deep discussion.
After they finished eating, Finn got out the fishing poles and strung up their lines. They sat back and watched the sun come up over the hills while Murphy barked at the birds circling overhead.
“How do you feel about a working mother?” Brenna asked.
He shifted his gaze over to her. “What?”
“Say you get married, and you and your wife have a child, and she wants to go back to work after she has the baby. How do you feel about that?”
“I’d feel fine about it. Did you assume I’d want my wife to quit her job and become a full-time mother?”
“I assumed nothing. I was just asking a question.”
Since the topic had never come up, it was worth pondering. “I guess if she wanted to stay home and raise the kids, we’d discuss it. Otherwise, why should she give up her career? I’m not giving up mine.”