Page 50 of His Eighth Ride

Everything he touched went into his mouth, and he blinked rapidly for a moment as he first tasted the baby-food-peanut-butter concoction.

“It’s good, right?” she asked him with a grin. “Okay, now say Opal. O-Pal. Ope. Al.” She’d been trying to get him to say her name, but he wasn’t interested. He could babble out Mama and Dada, and he loved answering the phone.

He made plenty of other noises with his mouth, including barking for a dog and “ow, ow,” for a cat. He buzzed and blew and babbled to himself all day long, and Opal loved him dearly.

“I’m planning a great party for you,” she told him. “We’ll be live-streaming it for Grandma and Grandpa up in Coral Canyon, but Auntie Jane and Uncle Cord are confirmed to come.”

Opal smiled at West and kept talking to him while she fed him the rest of his lunch. The sun shone outside today, but that didn’t mean the air held any warmth, and Opal bundled up West and then herself before she took him out the front door.

She liked to get out whenever she could, and West loved being able to see his momma before Opal brought him back for his afternoon nap. She’d been cleared to lift heavier objects after her last appointment just before New Year’s, but she’d been advised to take it easy, especially if she felt any pain at all.

So she went down one step at a time and held West’s chubby hand as he descended the steps the same way. When he hit the sidewalk in front of the farmhouse, he squealed and started running.

He’d been mobile for a couple of weeks now, and it took all of Opal’s patience and willpower not to pick him up. He could fall at any moment, and she told herself everyone deserved a chance to learn.

She drew in a deep breath though it stung the inside of her nose, and she looked up into the clear sky. “Thank you, Lord,” she said aloud. “For this beautiful place. For my amazing brother and his equally amazing wife, who let me live with them.”

West went the wrong way, and Opal paused her prayer to say, “West, baby, this way.” He turned back to her, unconvinced he couldn’t run toward the wilds of the ranch instead of toward the barns and stables. Opal extended her hand toward him. “Come on. This way.”

He decided she was right, and he came back her way. They meandered toward the barn on the cleared road, as it had snowed again, and this time, it hadn’t melted all the way. Opal tucked her hands in her coat pockets, her thoughts wandering away from her gratitude and worries back to West’s birthday party.

Then back to her tasks at-hand. As they neared the barn, she said, “I need to find my own place, don’t You think? I’d like my own space to take care of. I’d like some privacy.”

Opal had lived alone for a few years while she finished her residency in California, and she did need to feel responsible for her own space again. But she couldn’t imagine living an hour from Gerty and Mike and West—and Tag.

Apparently, Keith’s fiancée had a farm she wanted to sell before she got married. She and Keith were looking for somewhere closer to where they’d both work, and Mike had suggested Opal look at the hobby farm.

She’d looked it up online and nothing more. It sat an hour from this farm, and Opal didn’t want to be that far away. And she didn’t necessarily want a hobby farm. A nice house in a small town would be enough. Most of the lots provided enough space for a big lawn and a vegetable garden, as Opal was keen to try her hand at growing carrots, peas, and cabbages this summer.

But she didn’t need to have eighty acres the way Gerty did, and she didn’t even want it. She’d started looking at houses in Ivory Peaks, Cherry Creek, Willow Springs, or Glendale. They were all within a half-hour of Gerty and Mike, and if Opal could find somewhere in the middle, she could be that close to Jane and Cord too.

“Of course,” she murmured while keeping an eye on West while he toddled over to a pile of snow. “Jane’s considering moving too.”

They still lived in the gated community about halfway between the farm and downtown, as that was where Hunter had lived with his family for all the years he ran HMC as the CEO. But Cord’s shop was in Cherry Creek, so they wouldn’t go too far from that.

“I just need to figure out where I fit,” Opal said. “Where I belong.”

Gerty opened the barn doors then, for she knew to come outside if it wasn’t raining or snowing to see her son, and she dropped into a crouch as she said, “Hey, baby.”

West squealed and ran toward her, exclaiming how excited he was to see his momma without using English words. Gerty scooped him up into her arms, gave him several fluttery kisses all over his face, and stood.

“I’m going to leave the rest of the day to Tag and Steele,” she said to Opal. “So you’re off the hook for this afternoon’s babysitting too.”

“Okay,” Opal said easily. “I think I’m going to do some drive-bys of a few places. Just to see the curb appeal, you know?”

Gerty’s joviality disappeared. “You are?”

“Yeah.” Opal tried to smile at her, but Gerty wasn’t receiving it. In fact, she dropped her gaze to West, completely avoiding Opal’s gaze. “It’s a pretty day, and I need to run to the grocery store anyway.”

“What are you doing for dinner? Are you and Tag going out?”

Opal shook her head. “Staying here. He’s going to build a fire in his backyard, and he claims he has a way to blow the heat back toward the porch, where we’re going to put the purple couch and eat dinner and watch a movie on his computer.”

It wasn’t the most romantic thing Opal could imagine, but she’d been on plenty of dates to fancy restaurants and big-city events. She didn’t need that anymore; she wanted someone who thought of her and what she wanted, and Tag knew she loved the flickering flames of a fire—but he didn’t have a fireplace indoors.

“Ah, that’s why I saw him carting that blow-up thing past the walking circle earlier.” Gerty grinned. “Okay, we’ll talk later then.”

“Okay.” Opal stepped into her and gave both her and West a squishy hug. He protested in his baby voice, and Opal smiled as she stepped away.

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