“They were having a big sale,” he said, still trying to catch his breath. He thrust a fancy, gold-foil lined bag toward her. “I think you’ll like this.”
A brand name was embossed on the bag, and Ginger wondered how in the world he knew she loved Arbortia lotions. A smile filled her from top to bottom as she pulled the tissue paper out of the bag and found not only the hand cream she adored, but a fancy, sparkling bottle of perfume.
“Nate,” she breathed, lifting it out. She’d seen this perfume before, and she knew it was very, very expensive. “Thank you.”
Their eyes met, and Ginger suddenly didn’t care who was watching. Not the general public. Not Connor. She stepped into his arms, still clutching the gorgeous bottle of perfume, and kissed her boyfriend.
Chapter Fifteen
Nate emerged from his bedroom, leaving Connor to sleep. He got up before the sun now, because the chores on the ranch still needed to be done, but the heart of the summer brought such extreme temperatures that Ginger had ordered everyone to be back inside by noon.
She’d made a rotation for who had to go out and do the evening chores, and no one ever went alone so someone didn’t get overheated and not have help nearby.
Spencer stood in the kitchen with Jack, another cowboy that lived in the basement of the Annex. Two dozen blueberry muffins steamed on the counter, and Spencer put a plate of butter next to them while Jack chopped pineapple.
The amount of food that went through the Annex still impressed Nate. The food in prison wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t delicious either. There was never enough, Nate knew that. Here, though, he always had enough to eat—and more.
Jack put the bowl of pineapple on the counter too, and then turned to get the pan of breakfast sausage that had scented the air with salty maple goodness.
“Morning,” Nate said. “What’s with the spread?”
“Samantha broke up with Nick,” Jack said, and Nate sure did like how these men took care of each other.
“That’s rough,” Nate said. “They seemed to get along great.” He’d met the woman several weeks back when Nick had brought her back to the Annex after one of their dates. He’d seemed absolutely smitten with the blonde, and Nate supposed she was beautiful.
Not Ginger-level gorgeous, but Nate knew everyone had their own chemistry and attraction. In his opinion, Ginger should’ve been snapped up a long time ago, and he wondered if somehow, she’d just been reserved for him.
No matter what, he liked being her boyfriend, and with half of his reentry period over, Nate thought he had a very good chance of leaving this ranch with so much more than he’d arrived with.
Of course, the knowledge and skills he’d acquired over the past three months would be invaluable too. As would the friendships. He opened the fridge and got out the flavored creams Jack, Spencer, and Nick liked. He enjoyed them too, especially the caramel one.
“Bill’s on the evening shift with me?” Nate asked.
“That’s right. So he’s sleeping in, and he’ll make sure Connor’s looked after,” Spencer said.
“Great.” Nate tried to vocalize his appreciation every chance he got, because everyone at this ranch had helped with Connor. There were no other kids here, besides the ones that came out to the ranch for riding lessons, and everybody seemed to love Connor.
Nate sure did, and he couldn’t wait to be the boy’s legal father. He hadn’t heard anything about it in a while, and he wondered if he should make a call to his lawyer.
His phone buzzed in his back pocket, but he ignored it. Whoever was texting him at four-ten in the morning could wait, at least until after breakfast.
“Here he comes,” Spencer hissed. “Places, guys.”
Nate got out of the way, joining Jack and Spencer on the other side of the island, though he hadn’t gotten the memo about where his place was. He heard Nick’s boots against the tile, and then he entered the kitchen. He stopped and took in the counter full of food, his eyes then moving to the three of them waiting for him.
“You guys,” he said.
“Sorry about Samantha,” Spencer said.
Misery streamed across Nick’s face, and Nate’s heart went out to him. “Yeah, well.”
That was all. Nate had been in similar situations. Maybe not with women, but plenty of things that the only response could be, “Yeah, well.” There simply wasn’t anything else to say.
Nick picked up a plate and started putting muffins on it. The others joined in, and between the four of them, they barely managed to save enough for Bill and Connor for when they got up later.
Nate left the house stuffed full, with Nick right behind him. “At least we get to go to the beach this weekend,” Nick said.
“Yeah,” Nate said, remembering his phone. “I’m looking forward to that.” He pulled his device out of his pocket and looked at it, his stomach clenching around the huge meal he’d just eaten. Oscar.
Last drop. This weekend. Then we’re done.
Anticipation and excitement combined with his raw anxiety, and he quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket. He didn’t want Nick to see it, as he wouldn’t be able to explain much about it. He’d need to delete this text as soon as possible, after confirming with Oscar.
Now that he could call the bank and have them get his money ready before he showed up, it shouldn’t be too hard to do this last drop. He’d been lucky last time when it had been Ginger’s birthday. That had allowed him to sneak away without having to come up with an excuse.
He worked through his animal chores, loaded his tools into a bin on the ATV he’d use later, and prepped the boxed lunches for the birdwatchers. They arrived, and Nate greeted them with smiles and the tablet, checking them in and assigning them a bird blind.
They waited off to the side until everyone was checked in, and then he swung his leg over the ATV to lead the group out to their assigned blinds. They’d spend three days and two nights here at Hope Eternal Ranch, and if Nate rode out to the wetlands on the ranch tonight, he’d find their domed tents behind the blinds he’d spent a month improving and even building.
Other cowboys drove big side-by-sides with the people who’d paid to come find the birds they’d never seen before, and they followed him in order of when they’d drop people off. Once there, Nate went over the rules with them and made sure each blind didn’t need any last-minute repairs or trash removal.
After the last drop-off, he drove back to the ranch with the last side-by-side behind him, and he and Ken parked in the equipment shed and marked all the paperwork so whoever looked at it would know who was where and for how long.
“Done,” Ken said, sighing. “I’m over in the stables. Where you goin’?”
“I have to run back to the Annex,” Nate said. Connor should be up by now, as it was almost nine o’clock, and Nate liked to check in with him early in the day to make sure he was okay and knew Nate would be back by lunchtime. “I’ll walk with you over to the stables.”
Once there, Nate bent to get a cold bottle of water out of the cooler at the end of the row, and when he straightened, he found Ginger coming toward him. “Hey,” he said, grinning at her. They hadn’t really had a conversation about taking their relationship out of the shadows, but after her birthday lunch and shopping afternoon, it had just happened.