“Awww, you know I love you baby,” he said sweetly, tickling her around the waist as she squealed and pushed his hands away. I looked over at them and smiled. They were so happy; I was envious of their relationship, and could only hope that one day I would be as happy as they obviouslywere.
After I ate a bacon sandwich and quickly threw some jeans on, we all made our way to the cottage. I was walking arm in arm with my mom as Brody, Josh, and my dad walked onahead.
“You’re very quiet sweetheart, are you okay?” my mom asked, squeezing on my good arm, which was linked with hers. “If you’re having second thoughts about moving into the cottage, it’s not too late to change yourmind.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’m not having second thoughts. I need to do this—it’s the right thing for me and thebaby.”
She nodded her head and smiled. “As long as you’resure.”
“I am,” I reassured her, even though if I was honest with myself, I was nervous as hell. We caught up with the others, and they were all waiting for us outside the cottagedoor.
“There’s still some painting left to do, so it’s not quite ready to move into yet, but I think we might have it finished by the end of today,” Josh said, reaching for my hand and leading me through the door. My arm erupted in goose bumps from his touch, and I followed him blindly, loving the feel of his large hand envelopingmine.
The smell of paint hit me as we walked into the sitting room. The room was dark as the only window was boarded up due to the broken pane, so when the light was flicked on and the freshly painted room came into view, I gasped. “Wow, it looks amazing!” I exclaimed, looking around. The walls were painted with the ivory paint we’d chosen from Target, and the fireplace had been cleaned out, ready for a fire to be built. I hadn’t been in the cottage since hurting my hand and was glad to see that the blood had been cleaned up from in front of the window. The wooden floors looked like they had been polished. “How did you manage to get it looking like this in one morning?” I asked inshock.
“It was a joint effort honey. We each took a room,” my mom said, her eyes dropping to my hand, still encased in Josh’s. She smiled. “Your dad and I did in here, Brody took the baby’s room, and Josh, your room. All that’s left to do is the bathroom, and then it all needs a good cleaning. I think you could move in next week, if you’reready?”
I nodded as I felt my stomach churn with nerves. It was actually happening—the cottage was almost ready and I’d be moving in, alone. I felt Josh squeeze my hand. “You okay? You’re really quiet—if there’s something you don’t like, we can change it,” hesaid.
“No, everything is great, I love it,” I rushed out. “I’m really grateful for everything you’ve all done for me.” I plastered on a smile. “I guess I’m going to need some furniture—I feel a shopping trip coming on!” I exclaimed, trying to push the nerves away. I’d never lived anywhere other than at home, and it was going to take some getting usedto.
“You won’t need much sweetie. You can have all of your bedroom furniture, and the sofa from the den for in here, so you’ll just need furniture for the baby’s room,” my mom said, pulling me away from Josh and guiding meupstairs.
After seeing the rest of the cottage, I thanked everyone and made an excuse to leave, telling everyone I had a headache. My parents thought it was because of the paint and ushered me outside, but not before my gaze landed on Josh, the concern evident on his face. I dropped my eyes from his and headed back to the house. He must have known somehow that I was lying about the headache, but I didn’t want them all to know about my date. I knew I was making a mistake going out with Alex, and I was going to make sure I kept things in the friend zone with him. Once we’d gone for a ride, I’d tell him I couldn’t see himagain.
As I walked back to the house, I saw Mason coming out of the stables. I raised my hand in greeting and he waved back. I hoped he wouldn’t be around when Alex arrived; I wanted to slip away on the horses without anyone noticing us. I had half an hour to kill before Alex was due, so I quickly got changed into some shorts I could still fit into and grabbed my cowboy boots before sitting on the porch swing to wait for him toarrive.
At 11:30 on the dot, I saw a truck pull into the drive and Alex hopped out. He raised his hand and waved, and I gave him a small wave back. Taking a deep breath, I headed down the steps to meethim.
“Hey Savannah,” Alex said, brushing a kiss across my cheek. “You lookbeautiful.”
“Thank you,” I replied quietly, embarrassed by hiscompliment.
“What did you do to your hand?” he asked, reaching down and taking my bandaged hand in his. “Will you be able toride?”
I nodded, gently pulling my hand free of his. “I cut it when a window broke, and it looks worse than it is. I’ll be fine to ride.” I paused, watching as he nodded. There was no mistaking how gorgeous he was, and I could tell he was well built by the way his t-shirt pulled tight across his chest, his tanned arms bulging out of the sleeves. Despite acknowledging that he was good-looking, my stomach didn’t flip, and my heart didn’t race when I looked at him. There had only ever been one guy who had that effect on me, and I was guessing there would only ever be one guy who did. Pushing my feelings for Josh away, I focused my attention back on Alex. “Should we headout?”
“Yep, lead the way,” he said enthusiastically. I felt awful that I was leading him on. Even if I hadn’t been pregnant, I knew nothing would ever happen between us, not while I was still so hung up on Josh. “This place is incredible,” he exclaimed, looking around in awe. “Did you grow uphere?”
“Yeah, my Grams and Grandpa ran the ranch, and my parents took over when they couldn’t manage anymore. Running this place is all my parents have ever known. They’ve changed it quite a bit since my grandparents died, but I really love it here.” We’d reached the stables and I pushed the door open with my good hand, relieved to see that Mason wasn’t around. “All the ranch horses are kept in here, and I keep Marley, my own horse, with them. I thought you could ride Titan, he’s the black horse in the end stall. I’ll just get thesaddles.”
“Let me helpyou.”
“Okay thanks,” I replied, realizing I was going to struggle to saddle up the horses with only one hand. Thankfully Alex seemed to know what he was doing, and 15 minutes later I was sitting atop Marley, heading out past the guest accommodations with Alex riding next to me. I edged Marley into a slow trot, enjoying the warm breeze rushing around me. Alex looked confident on Titan and joined me in a trot. It was a beautiful fall day, and the sun was shining. The weather had been unusually warm for the time of year, and it was a perfect day for a ride. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, signaling a message, but I couldn’t stop to check it as my good hand was holding Marley’s reins. It would have to wait until I reached the lake and was able todismount.
“So where are we heading then Savannah?” Alex asked after we’d ridden in silence for a fewminutes.
“The Colorado River. It’s about a 45-minute ride, but it’s well worth it. It’s my favorite place on theranch.”
“Sounds great,” he replied, smiling across at me. I gave him a small smile back as I felt my phone buzz in my pocketagain.
We chatted comfortably as we rode, and I found out that Alex was quite a bit older than me at 28 and worked as a physical therapist at the hospital in Marble Falls. He asked me what I did and seemed surprised when I told him I was in college, getting a degree in business. “I thought you were around my age—you look older than 21,” hesaid.
I laughed, looking over at him. “I’m not sure whether to take that as a compliment ornot.”
“You’re beautiful Savannah, it was definitely a compliment.” Feeling my face flush, I dropped my eyes from his, and we continued in a comfortable silence. I felt my phone vibrate with three more messages before it started to vibrate continually, indicating that someone was trying to call me. I knew from my surroundings that we were about 10 minutes from the river. Someone obviously needed to get in touch with me, and I needed to get there to check that everything was okay. I could have stopped and dismounted, but if I was being honest, I had struggled slightly to mount Marley with my bad hand, and I didn’t want to have to dismount and mount unnecessarily. I hadn’t wanted to ask Alex for any help back at the stables after telling him I would be fine toride.
Finally reaching the river, I carefully dismounted Marley, being careful of my hand, and left him to graze in the shade of the trees. Alex did the same with Titan and we made our way to the water’s edge. Digging in my pocket with my good hand, I pulled out my phone and held it up. “Sorry, it was going crazy on the ride here, do you mind if I check it?” I askedAlex.