Page 143 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

Nope, too late, she had her arms wrapped around me and was holding me tight.

“That’s all I ever wanted, sweetheart. It’s all any parent wants for their children. I told you that not becoming a vet was just a setback.” She pulled back, holding me at arm’s length. “Because look at you now.”

Yeah, look at us now. A giggle bubbled up inside me as I watched Dad argue for slower cooking times on lower heat and Nan dismissed both him and Garrett as idiots. Arguing about a sausage sizzle seemed stupid, but that wasn’t what I was focussed on. We were all together, bound by bonds of love, and right now my heart ached with the intensity of it. Of course, I couldn’t say that.

“Um… I need to get up to feed the puppies. Did you want to come?”

“Oh, I’ll stay here, love.” Mum glanced back at the chaos. “Dogs are more your thing than mine, and I think someone’s going to need to arbitrate here.”

I shook my head and then went over to Garrett.

“Tell your grandmother that we are not running an American low-and-slow barbeque joint today,” he said with a huff.

“Yeah, right.” I pointed at the three of them. “I like eating food. You guys go nuts about it. Anyway, speaking of food, I’m off to feed the pups.”

“So I’ll see you later?” His tone dropped as he turned his back on the conversation, sheltering me. “I might have a sausage for you to put in your mouth.”

“Oh my god…” I looked around him to make sure none of my damn family caught that before skipping free of him. “I’ll come and find you later.”

The sound of puppies yipping filled the air as I slid off the ATV. They were so cute, but also so damn noisy. Why became evident pretty quickly.

“Hey!” Rhys was just closing the door of the fridge we kept the dog food in before turning and sweeping me up into his arms. “We didn’t wake you? You looked so cute when we snuck out this morning. Figured I’d get a jump on the feedings, and you know Bronson loves coming up to hang out with the puppies.”

Almost more than he did with us. He was the reason the puppies were so excitable right now. Bouncing around their enclosure, he had them following hard on his heels before whirling around to chase them.

Because it was now he had the opportunity to be a puppy himself.

You could almost see him grinning as he charged at the pups, sending them scattering, only for them to rally seconds later and launch themselves at him.

“Look how happy he is,” I said, my hand going to my chest.

“Look how happy we are.” When his arms went around me, I looked up, catching his warm smile. “This is a helluva lot more fun than bollocking out ‘roid heads for not putting their damn weights away.”

“So you like being out here?” I asked in a small voice.

They’d sold their house, Rhys had sold his half of the business and reinvested it in the shelter. I’d wanted someone to choose me, but in the end, they went far beyond that. Sometimes I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and then they’d realise what a mistake this all was.

“Never happier.” He snuggled in closer. “Not even pulling off a complete 2160 spin off a vert ramp could top this.”

“Even if Tony Hawk was watching?”

“Even if the entire 1980s era Bones Brigade was standing on the sidelines,” he replied.

I had no idea what that meant, but it was enough to have me turning back to the dogs. Part of me wanted to sit here for hours and just watch them go crazy, but?—

“There you are.” We looked up to see Pa had pulled up on the tractor. “Time to start setting up.” He nodded to the trailer attached to the tractor. We’d cleaned it up so kids could jump in and go for rides. “Young Rhys could drive us back down to the house, show me he won’t drive over your grandmother’s roses.”

“One time…” Rhys shook his head. “I did that one time.”

“C’mon, Bronson.”

When I called out to the dog, his head jerked up, and he went running over to the gate. I let him out, forced to keep the puppies from following us.

“Not this time, guys.” I was met with a chorus of yips of complaint, but I knew they’d be OK. We’d given them a purpose-built puppy pen that was safe and secure, out of the weather, had plenty of water and toys and dry food for them to eat. They were safe, and when they got a bit older, we’d trial them going on walks around the farm. “Alright, Bronson…”

I didn’t need to tell the dog twice. He was up and in the tray, paws planted on the railing as Pa dismounted. Rhys took over and revved the engine a little, just to make us stumble in the tray.

“Ready?”

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