Page 3 of All My Love

He returns his focus to Juni, where they exchange phone numbers as neighbors apparently do. Another wave—hismonstrous hand hovering in the air making me ache for a spanking. Then he’s gone, and Juni and Ivy are blinking at me, sharing a knowing look.

I turn to them, and hide nothing.“I have to have him.”

That night, I take down all of my Henry Cavill posters and magazine pages. I print out a photo of a big, black truck, just like Hudson Gray’s, and pin it on the wall next to my pillow.

My future husband’s truck.

two

SOMEONE LIKE HER.

Hudson

Present Day.

My stomach howls. I’ve been out running errands all morning and I’m starving. I’m not a guy who’s nice when he’s hungry. Last night, Bear had a nightmare. I didn’t want to wake him this morning by making myself breakfast, so I didn’t eat. And I slept terribly, since he ended up coming into my bed around half past one, after the nightmare returned.

He pressed his little foot into my kidneys for most of the night, but he slept as sound as ever.

I catch a stray yawn with my gloved hand as I turn to leave the Feed ‘n’ Seed, peering out at the back of my pickup truck weighed down by chickenfeed.

I never wanted chickens. But five years ago, newly married with a baby on the way,wewanted a ranchette.Shewanted animals.

She’s been gone for four years and now I have chickens, an entire small dairy farm worth of cows, and two horses.

“Hope to see you again soon, Hudson,” Jade calls, leaning over the counter a little extra as my eyes float back to her. It may’ve been years since I’ve acted onit, but I still recognizeit.I pinch the top of my hat and slightly tip it, without lifting, and step into the fresh air.

Jade is the daughter of the Feed ‘n’ Seed owner, Winston, and never misses a farmers market out on my property.

Another thing that started as aweand do as justme. The farmers market. We started one for the entire town, which is small as all get-out. We have more than enough room on our ranchette and our neighbors even wanted to contribute and help bring our dream to vision. It was a success, unlike my marriage, and it’s since been Bluebell’s weekly tradition.

Saturday farmers market out at Gray Farms.

We sell our fresh milk there, me and Bear. Ev works there since she’s at my house most of the time anyway, helping me. Speaking of the devil, my sister Everly calls, and I answer my cell as I slam the driver’s side door closed.

“Hey, Ev,” I say as I twist the key in the ignition a few times, appreciating when it finally starts up on the third try. I flick on my blinker, and scrunch down in the cab to peer out the side mirror, checking for traffic. Truck or not, not too many places are comfortable for you when you’re 6’4”.

“’Bout wrapped up?” she asks, the clatter of lunch dishes in the kitchen sounding off in the back.

“Yeah, it took longer than I’d hoped. Jade didn’t want to stop talking.” I pull out into the street and lean back, fingering through my hair. My hat sits on the passenger seat, because it has to—I’m too tall for this pickup with it on.

Ev snorts. “I’m sure she didn’t.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I sigh, not wanting to hear it from my sister again. She’s always telling me how Jade is practically throwing her panties at me with her eyes when we go to the Feed ‘n’ Seed, and while I know it’s true, talking about it makes me…uncomfortable.I’ve never been one to enjoy the attention I get from women.

All that noise is almost… a turn-off. Someone wanting me is good, but going so far as to behave like an animal in heat over a bag of chicken feed?Could not be less interested if I tried.

“How’s Bear?” I ask about my four-year-old son.

“Rowdy as ever. Keeps harassing me about going to the creek to skip stones.” Back at the house, she calls to my son, and his wild footsteps bring a curl to my lips. “Tell your daddy what you’ve been doing since he left,” she says playfully.

My son takes the phone. “Daddy, when you get back, can you take me to skip stones? Aunt Ev is mean. She won't take me.”

I smirk. My boy and I started skipping stones across the creek over the summer. Tessa and I always planned to give Bear the life I had growing up—open land, a taste of the earth, a country upbringing full of rewarding chores and hard work. That’s what we wanted. So that’s what I’ve been giving him.

And he loves skipping stones.

I love that he loves it.

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