Page 79 of Her Summer Hope

“Ready to go?” he asked with a hopeful and very nonchalant look. She smirked at him and he bit back a smile and shook his head. “That was…I was only trying to help.”

“I know.”

“If you feel like you need to tell your husband, I’ll be here all day tomorrow if he wants to come bash my head in or bloody me up. I won’t even fight back,” he promised earnestly.

“Kyle,” she sighed. What could she say? “He isn’t…you don’t need to worry about it. It was nothing.”

“All right. Well, if you change your mind…”

“I won’t. Now, can we go before I start developing arthritis and Em outgrows her carrier?”

He laughed out loud and it was worth the awkwardness of the last few moments just to hear it. It resonated with a place deep inside. It made her want to hug him and find other ways to make him laugh. It made her want to never leave.

It made her want to confess everything.

She tried not to let her smile dim as they went out onto the porch where he left his bag.

“That thing is huge,” she said.

“I hear that all the time,” a cocky voice said, coming up the steps from the yard.

Wyatt’s smirking nod made her huff out an indignant laugh and she shook her head while Kyle glowered at the other man. “There are children present and you aren’t wanted here.”

Wyatt raised his eyebrows. “She’s a baby and besides, she’ll be hearing all kinds of stuff if she’s going to be hanging out here. I personally have never seen the point in being all overprotective—”

“You might change your mind when you have kids of your own,” she pointed out.

“Lord save us all from Wyatt’s future children,” Kyle murmured as he hefted his gigantic bag and tightened the straps.

“Don’t worry. I’m never having kids. I’ll just hold Em occasionally and call it good,” Wyatt promised, resting his hand on top of the baby’s head. She noticed he was very careful not to touch her in the process.

“Go clean the gym,” Kyle growled, shooting death rays at Wyatt’s hand.

“Sure thing, boss. Have fun,” he said, walking away. He stopped and glanced back. “Unless…you want me to come with you? I can be ready in—”

“No.”

She giggled and followed Kyle’s steady pace as he led them away from the grinning man. She supposed she couldn’t expect to work around a bunch of men without some crude humor and posturing.

It was flattering really and it reminded her quite a bit of James and Jackson fighting over toys. She couldn’t help the smile that thought caused.

The forest was calm and quiet. The trees were the deep green hue of late summer, but the occasional patches of orange and yellow glowed in the dappled sunlight under the canopy.

The air was crisp, but not cold, and she was glad she’d bundled Emmie up. Her bright little face was studying everything they passed, and as she watched her baby, Kyle, and the surrounding trees, she felt intense contentment fill her.

She was happy in a way that she hadn’t been in a long time.

Everything else—the money issues, the lawsuit, the lies she told, the burdens of homeschooling, the lost sleep, the hunger—it all faded into insignificance as she contemplated what really mattered in life.

She had the kids. They had food and shelter. She had friends. She had Kyle.

They had been following a trail that gradually wound through the woods. The incline wasn’t steep, but it was steady and she realized just how out of shape she was. Her legs were burning and her breath was coming in gasps as they continued.

He was keeping a steady pace, even with the heavy bag, and she realized that he didn’t know she was having issues. He likely never had to come out here with someone who wasn’t as fit.

The shoulder and waist straps of the baby carrier dug painfully into the bruises that she’d developed after yesterday’s fall and the backpack—seemingly light at first—felt like it had gained ten pounds.

“Kyle,” she said, trying to keep her breathing even and not gasp out his name in an embarrassing gust of wind.

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