He’s a perfect gentleman, pulling out my chair and serving me the wine first. It’s everything I’ve always imagined. Though, as we start to eat, I have to know.
"Why the change of heart?"
He hesitates only a moment, before answering.
"I hated the idea of you on a date with someone else."
I don't know what to say to that. Though I'm sure tonight as I think it over, I’ll come up with a bunch of snappy comebacks, but right now, I just let it go.
The conversation comes easily, and the meal has all my favorites, proving how well he knows me. The date isn't anything over the top or extravagant, but it's us, and it's the best date I've ever been on, because I'm not worried about saying or doing the wrong thing.
Conversation flows, and we laugh and talk. It's not awkward, when he reaches across the table to hold my hand, or when he pauses the conversation just to look at me with a smile on his face. This is the first date that I don't want to end, and he seems to feel the same way.
"Come spend the weekend at the ranch with me. We can have your dad over for dinner, or whatever you want, but spend the weekend with me," he says.
This is the weekend dad would normally come to spend with me in the city. Since we don't have any plans, I know he won’t mind a change, and he'd rather have dinner on Garrett's ranch any day than some fancy dinner in the city.
The only downside is there will be a lot of questions I know I won't have the answer to, not yet, anyway.
"Okay." I agree.
The smile that takes over his face is one that I haven't seen in a long time. It's blinding and radiates pure happiness. It makes my heart race.
I'm in so much trouble with this one.
Garrett
Tonight is the night Kaylee is coming to spend the weekend at the ranch. I have dinner going, because she texted, saying she’s on her way. Though I kind of cheated a little, since it's one of my mom's lasagnas she put in the freezer for me, I’m serving salad and garlic bread, too. Earlier, I stopped by the diner and got Kaylee’s favorite Apple Cinnamon Blaze cake for dessert.
Since our date night by the river, we’re on the phone every night. We share every detail of our days and talk without any barriers. It's so much better than when we talked on the phone before. There were lines we didn't cross, but now, I can tell her how beautiful she is, and how much I miss her.
I’m finishing setting the table on the back porch when she arrives, and I meet her at the front door. She looks comfortable in her jeans, showing off those curves I love. But most of all, she’s still hot as hell. Though she looks a bit nervous today, and I'm glad I'm not the only one.
"You made it." I smile at her and lean in to kiss her.
Intending for it to be a quick kiss, but her lips taste like cherries, and when she melts into me, I pull her closer. Then, I can’t resist nibbling on her lips, but when she moans, I pull back, because if she keeps it up, I’ll end up taking her right here on the front porch for the whole ranch to see.
"I thought we'd have dinner on the back porch. I know you like watching the sunset there." She helps me take the food out to the table, and I should have known when she calls me out on it.
"I've always loved your mom's lasagna." She winks at me, after her first bite.
"Busted. Mom did stock my freezer for me the last time she was here. It has saved me from running to the diner for dinner more times than I can count."
She shakes her head with a smile.
"I should show you how to use your slow cooker. You put the food into it in the morning and dinner is ready, when you’re done for the day."
"I'd still find a way to screw it up." I shake my head ruefully.
"Of course, you would." She laughs, and we talk about my parents, and what they are up to.
That turns to talking about her dad, and what questions he’ll have for us when he comes over for dinner tomorrow.
Once we’ve finished eating and have cleared off the table, we settle on the couch on the back porch to watch the sunset. I sit on one end, and she sits on the other, but turns sideways and rests her legs over my lap.
A million times we have often sat like this, watching the sunset. From here, the house is on a bit of a hill, so you can see down a large portion of the ranch fields.
Tonight though, it feels like so much more than simply watching the sunset. For once, I don't have to hide the fact that I want to watch her and not the sunset. When she catches me staring at her, she smiles.