Page 53 of Samuel

“That they didn’t love me. That I didn’t love them. I never got to apologize.”

“Evie, I’m sure?—”

“Oh, god,” she groaned. “I didn't mean to turn our beautiful date into a sob fest. It’s fine. I let it go a long time ago.” She reached over and grabbed her cup of apple cider. “Will you tell me about your dad? Now that I’ve fully traumatized you?”

“Hey. I’m glad you shared that with me.” Sam reached around to the cooler at his side. “Are you still hungry?”

“I don’t think I could eat another bite after finishing that lemon bar,” she laughed.

“I have pickles.” His dimples flashed as he winked at her.

“You brought pickles in your cooler?”

“I wasn’t sure how long we’d be out here, and I didn’t want you to be hungry. I also made peanut butter sandwiches and brought sliced onions. I know that’s on the top of your atrocious cravings list.”

Her hand playfully whacked against his chest before she could stop herself.

“Now that you said there are pickles in there, I won’t be able to stop thinking about them. Hand it over, Cowboy.”

Sam chuckled as he rummaged around in the cooler. Her mouth watered as he pulled out three different containers, all filled to the brim with pickle slices.

“What is all this?”

She could have sworn a faint blush dusted Sam’s cheeks.

“I didn’t know what kind would be best. So, I have a few choices. There are sweet pickles, garlic dill pickles, and this last container,” he popped the lid off and smiled. “These are spicy pickles. They’re my favorite, but I wasn’t sure if they would set off any indigestion.”

“This istoo much, Sam.”

“I told you, I have a lot of making up to do.”

“Consider your penance paid off with these pickles.” Evie laughed as Sam plucked a slice from the sweet pickle container and fed it to her. “Oh god. Those are so good!”

“So, you want to know about my dad?”

Evie nodded.

“He was the best. Honestly, the hardest working man I ever knew. Made taking care of the ranch seem so easy. He was the kind of man that could always be trusted to help you out in a time of need.”

Evie bumped her shoulder against Sam’s. “Sounds like another cowboy I know.”

“I think that’s the quality I most admired about my dad growing up. Someone would call the house and my mom would run out to the porch yelling ‘Joel! So-and-so needs your help!’ and he would just drop what he was doing and go.”

“You’ve stepped right into his footprints, Sam. All of your friends would say the exact same thing about you.”

“I’m just trying to be a good man.”

“You are a good man. No ‘trying’ about it.”

He shook his head. “The fact that you can say that with a straight face after the way I treated you…”

Evie sat up, reaching to press the covers back onto the pickles. She scooped up the containers and reached over Sam to tuck them away.

“Are you… do you want to go back?”

“No.” She let one leg drape over his lap, pressing her hands firmly against his chest as she rolled to sit on top of him.

“Evie?”

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