Page 47 of Promise You Forever

“Of course. I can do it on my own if you want?”

“No.” She shakes her head and shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “I think I just need you with us for a couple nights until I get comfortable again.”

“It’s no problem for me, but last night was an outlier. I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had a predator come near any of the buildings.” I follow her down the stairs, Charlie bounding ahead of us.

“I was wondering this morning if we should get another guard dog, one for the goats?” She grabs her coat and stuffs her hands through the sleeves. “And do the pigs need one?”

“No, the pigs are fine without them, but we can definitely get one for the goats. Paul never thought they needed one because they’re so close to the house, but I think getting one would be good.”

“I think Amber is coming out for Thanksgiving, is that okay with you?” She leans against the railing as Charlie takes off doing laps around the yard.

“It’s your house. Of course it’s alright with me.”

“Yeah, but you’re living here, too.”

“Do you want me to move back to my cabin?” It’s a question I’ve been dreading asking, but now is as good as ever to have the conversation.

“No.” She didn’t even have to think about it. “I think I’d be too lonely in this house all by myself. It’s bad enough I’ve been putting off going through their bedroom to sort through everything. That’s one of the things Amber’s going to help me with.”

“I’m happy to help if you need it, too.” Relief floods me knowing she doesn’t want me to move out. A tiny seed of hope takes root within me that she’s opening her heart to me again.

Nineteen

ELI

“Ihave no idea what to do with this bird.” I look over at Amber who’s scrolling through Pinterest looking for Thanksgiving recipes. I offered to host everyone since we have the space for it. But I’ve never done anything like this, I haven’t even hosted dinner parties. I’m so far out of my element.

“Don’t look at me. I’d just call a caterer.” She doesn’t even look up, just keeps scrolling. “I did find a stuffing recipe, but it uses homemade focaccia. Think you could make that?”

“Doubtful. But maybe Linda could hook us up with some of her sourdough.”

“What’s the difference between stuffing and dressing?”

“I have no clue. I thought they were the same thing.”

“I’ll look it up.”

While she continues researching, I send Luke a text.

Can you ask Linda if she has any sourdough we can use for stuffing?

It barely takes him any time to respond.

I’m sure she does but I’ll check

“Who’d you text?” Amber glances up at me.

“Luke.”

She makes a contemplative noise and raises her eyebrows.

“What?” I ask.

“Funny that your first inclination was to ask him when Janey works with Linda.”

I flatten my lips and look at her, annoyed by the insinuation. We’ve gone several rounds on this topic. She is convinced there’s something simmering between us. I haven’t told her about the night we had sex because I’d never hear the end of it.

I’m not sure when she hopped on the Luke Stone and Eli Hart belong together train, but she’s reading into every single small moment she witnesses between us. Like yesterday when I filled his coffee while he ran up to his room to grab something he forgot. It was obviously just me being courteous. Then last night I was jumping to reach something off the top shelf, and he walked up behind me to grab it for me. It’s not because there’s something going on between us, it’s because he’s tall.

---