Page 90 of Married with Mayhem

A small fist appears in front of my nose and it’s holding a half crushed yellow flower. Margaret gives me an endearing toddler smile and drops the flower.

“She wants you to have it,” Sadie says.

“Thank you, Margaret,” I say and stick the flower in my hair behind my left ear.

The little girl squeals, ambles over to the edge of the picnic quilt and bends down to yank out a handful of grass. Ripped shards of grass are dropped in front of me next.

“Thank you, Margaret,” I say again. She giggles and punches her chubby arms in the air.

“It’s just about nap time for someone,” Sadie says and picks up her little girl. Margaret watches us over her mother’s shoulder.

I blow her a kiss as she and Sadie retreat to the house. She giggles and hides her face in Sadie’s shoulder.

“So.” Anni drops down to my level on the blanket and nudges my shoulder. “Spill the tea.”

“I drank all my tea. Ask Peggy for more.”

“Do I need to tickle it out of you? What have you done with the girl who trash talks about sex all the time?”

The barn door opens and Monte appears with Cale right behind him. They’re both leading different horses.

I’m watching Monte and my sister is watching me.

“We didn’t have sex,” I tell her.

“Sure you didn’t,” she snorts.

“I’m serious. We did other things and they were fantastically fun things but we didn’t do the deed. Technically.”

“Technically,” Anni echoes and then shudders. “On second thought, don’t tell me what that means. You’re still my little sister.”

My eyes return to raking Monte over. The reddish horse he’s leading around the perimeter of the corral suddenly stops in its tracks and lowers its head. Monte waits, then coaxes the horse to take one step at a time.

I forgot how many horses are here, although Sadie told me the number earlier. She said most came from bad situations where they were abused and neglected.

Monte reaches into a burlap bag hanging from a corral post and pulls out a carrot. The horse gladly plucks it from his hand and he gives the animal a reassuring pat.

“All marriage mayhem aside,” Anni says, “youreallylike him. It’s obvious.” She can’t quite carve all the worry out of her voice.

“Monte’s a good guy,” I tell her. “He really is.”

She turns her head and studies him with clear skepticism. “Sometimes.”

I roll to my back and gaze up at the blue canvas stretched across the overhead canopy. “He makes me feel good, Anni. In a way that I didn’t think I’d ever be capable of sharing with anyone.”

“I see that,” she says. “But I’ll have to destroy him if he breaks your heart.”

“I know what I’m doing. I promise.”

My sister is humane enough not to pepper me with questions. Like what happens next? And how long are we supposed to be ‘married’? And what will we do when we return to New York?

I don’t know the answers to any of those questions. The only thing I know for sure is that I cannot wait to be alone with him again. In bed. With the lights off. I’ll try to be quieter this time.

Luca and Jane return from their short tour of the ranch. He needs to get back to the house and complete a pile of lawyer-ish paperwork.

“But your boy agreed to stay,” Luca says, jerking his head in the direction of the corral. “Cale could use his help exercising the horses and will give him a ride home later.”

Monte is on top of a horse again and he’s facing in this direction. This is an inconvenient time to be swamped with a surge of pure lust amid steamy memories of last night’s bedroom antics. I wouldn’t mind hanging out here all afternoon and crafting hot cowboy fantasies about my ‘husband’. However, I can’t turn down a chance to spend time with Anni and Jane.

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