Kate took a bite of her sandwich and wrinkled her nose. “My taste is off,” she said. She pulled the cheese off, and tried again. “Better. Man, I’m so hungry I could eat an entire horse.” She turned and looked at said creature. “It’s an expression. Don’t worry. But I never know what’s going to actually taste right and what’s going to taste funny. I love cheese.” Her expression went mournful. “But at least I have energy. I could do all the same work I’ve been doing. Not like with Carson. I could barely get off the couch when I was pregnant with her.”
His cousin was an odd, forthright creature. But he had a feeling it was exactly how Elsie would handle a similar situation. She really did remind him of his sister. And he thought—not for the first time—that it was a shame they hadn’t had the chance to be closer. Particularly for Elsie’s sake. It would’ve done her good to have a slightly older cousin around, a strong woman who was so much like her. Who would probably make her feel like she was a little bit less of an odd bird than he knew Elsie sometimes felt.
“Sorry, Kate,” Sadie said. “Did you need some kind of special cheese?”
“I don’t think any cheese is going to work. This baby hates me. It’s a very bad sign.”
Jack grunted. “It’s a bad sign for me.”
“It probably is,” Kate said cheerfully. “I can only imagine all the abuse I’ll hurl your way in the next few months.”
Jack grinned. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
But Wolf had a feeling the guy meant it. That he really did feel like the luckiest man in the world, even sitting with a feral, hormonal wife.
It was such a strange thing. And something Wolf just couldn’t access. There had been a time in his life when he’d dreamed about it. About breaking the cycle. About being one of the happy Garretts. Which was just such a rare thing that he... That he hadn’t imagined it was possible, not really. Until he met Breanna.
He didn’t want to think about her right now. Not here.
They finished up lunch, and the men helped pack away all the lunch gear. “We’re pretty much done here,” Eli said. “If you want to head off.”
“I came to help,” Wolf said.
“Yeah,” Connor said. “But if you want to spend some time checking out town...”
He laughed. “I’m not really a checking-out-town kind of person.”
“Suit yourself.”
He turned to Violet, and in spite of himself, caught her arm. “Did you want to take a ride?”
Her eyes went wide. “A ride?”
“On my horse.”
“I...”
He could feel his cousins looking at him. “You mentioned that you wanted to. Sometime. And that you hadn’t had a chance.”
“Right,” Violet said. She seemed to suddenly catch hold of his drift.
“Well, then,” Connor said, his gaze cool. “Enjoy that.”
“See you for dinner?” Wolf said.
“Yeah,” Connor agreed.
He set about to ignoring his cousins, and helped Violet get up on the horse. Then he threw his leg over the back, getting on behind her, fitting himself snugly behind her body. “You hanging on?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes,” she said.
“Then let’s go.”
They started riding up toward one of the trails he had noticed earlier, taking her deep into the woods.
“You know they know now,” Violet said.
“They don’t know anything.”