Page 64 of When We Burn

She came for both, arriving right around eight. I wanted to pull her into my bedroom so we could snuggle in my bed, but I didn’t want Birdie to walk in on that and have questions.

I need to talk to Birdie about Dani being around more often.

Instead, we cuddled up on the couch, me lying on my back and Dani curled up on top of me, with a blanket over the both of us.

I could have stayed there all day, but eventually, I heard Birdie stir, so we got up to make breakfast before we got ready to head out to the ranch.

We’ve been here all day, and it’s now mid-afternoon. Time for the three of us to take a ride. Nothing too crazy because Birdie’s still learning, but I’d like some time alone with them.

“Daddy, I want myownhorse today.”

“I think that’s okay,” I reply, eyeing my daughter. “We won’t go far.”

She just doesn’t have the stamina in her tiny body for a long ride yet. But I love that she enjoys the horses. She has no fear where they’re concerned.

Dani and I get the horses saddled and ready to go,and before long, the three of us are wandering down the same path I took Dani on last weekend.

“The trees have already started to change so much in just one week,” Dani says with a smile. “It’s fun to watch. Pretty soon, it’ll be time for pumpkins and apple picking and all kinds of fun things.”

“I like to carve punkins,” Birdie says. “And I want to be a princess for Halloween.”

“Of course, you do,” Dani replies. “Because youarea princess. Which one do you want to be?”

“Guess!”

I grin, enjoying the two of them. They’re so natural with each other. It makes me want things that I never dared want before because I knew that I was never going to make a family with Angela. She wasn’t ever going to fit in with us like this.

But Dani? Dani fits in just perfectly.

“Hmm.” The woman I’m falling in love with taps her chin, as if in thought. “Snow White?”

“No.” Birdie shakes her head, grinning. “Try again.”

“Jasmine?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, tell me. I’m dying to know.”

“Tiana,” Birdie says with a little wiggle. “I like green, and her dress is so pretty.”

“Her dress is beautiful. You’ll be a lovely Tiana. Do you have a frog?”

Birdie laughs. “I have a stuffed one.”

“Perfect.” Dani winks at me, and then it’s time to circle back around to the barn. Once we’ve put the horsesaway and have given them treats and rubs, we make our way to the house for dinner.

“Can we see the chickens?” Birdie asks, and my gaze immediately goes to Dani, who’s gone pale.

“Are you guys back already?” Blake asks as he comes around the barn. He’s with both Brooks and Beckett, and they’re all grinning at us.

“I want to see the chickens,” Birdie tells him, and Brooks’s gaze immediately moves to Dani.

We all know that Dani and her sisters have a difficult past with animals on the ranch because we all experienced the many times when the Lexington girls would arrive at our house looking haunted.Fucking traumatized by their asshole father.

“Why don’t we take you?” Beckett offers my daughter with a grin. “Let’s see if the ol’ girls left anything for us, and then we’ll go inside and pull dinner together.”

“Okay,” Birdie says, letting Beck take her hand, and along with Brooks, they set off for the chicken coop behind the house.

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