Page 59 of His Tenth Dance

His non-outdoorsy Lisa had a job at the fabric store in town, and Hunter had to check the calendar for her schedule. They lived and died by the Google calendar in their family, and he saw she wouldn’t be done with her shift until two.

He wrapped up the extra sandwiches and put them in the fridge, because Ryder seemed to have four stomachs and always wanted something to eat at the most inopportune times. Honestly, Hunter could relate.

Before he knew it, he’d completed the evening animal feeding on their personal farm and started pulling tables out of the shed to set up in the backyard. The bonfire officially started at eight, but they roasted hamburgers and hot dogs for a couple of hours before that. Then they would put on the big pieces of wood and build the fire up into the towering twelve-foot monster that had become a tradition here at the Hammond family farm.

“Howdy, Hunt.”

He turned toward the most familiar voice in the world—besides his father’s. “Hey, Matt.” He laughed and shook the man’s hand before pulling him into a hug. “How’s everything in your neck of the woods?”

“Going great,” Matt said.

“I know we’ve been keeping Gloria out here a lot,” Hunter said. “What with Lady and Molly being down and all.”

“No more than usual,” Gloria said, sliding her bowl of frog-eye salad onto the table.

“Did you bring the girls?” Hunter asked, looking around for Alma and Roxanne.

“Just Alma tonight,” Gloria said. “Roxy’s still in the city.”

“Oh, right,” Hunter said. “She’s doing the summer semester.”

Matt nodded, and Hunter couldn’t tell if he was pleased or not about that news. Others started arriving, including Matt’s brother, Boone, and his wife, Cosette. Both of their kids were still at home, with Amy being the same age as Lisa.

Poppy and Travis approached from the north, as they’d obviously walked over from their farm, which sat across the street and bordered Hunter’s.

Relief paraded through him when Molly did not come out. But Hunter realized then that he needed to bring the food out, so he excused himself from welcoming everyone as they continued to arrive and headed across the back lawn to do that.

Inside, he found Molly’s mother and Jane making final preparations on the trays of toppings, buns, and meat that they would soon take outside.

“Hey, ladies.” He hugged them both and did the same with Lara as she came down the hall from the bathroom. “Did you see Molly?”

“I just checked on her,” she said. “She’s still asleep. Is that normal?”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. Deacon’s in there with her, right?”

“Yeah, he was,” she said.

“We’ll wake her up soon,” Hunter said.

The four of them got all the food outside, and more people had arrived in his absence, bringing bowls and trays and plates of deviled eggs, brownies, baked beans, pasta salad, potato salad, creamed corn, and bags of chips.Somany bags of chips, in so many flavors.

Hunter snapped pictures of the people standing around chatting, so he could show Molly who had come. He also wantedto send a text to his parents in Coral Canyon, who had decided to stay up there for the Fourth of July festivities. Hunter himself had attended them many times over the years, as Daddy and Elise had taken their family to Coral Canyon every summer before finally moving there themselves.

Getting ready for the big bonfire,he said, before he texted both Dad and Elise the tables laden with food and the candid snapshots of those they knew—Matt and Gloria, Boone and Cosette, Travis and Poppy, Keith and Lindsay.

He’d just sent the photos when someone said, “Holy cow, Linds, are you pregnant?”

An uproar started from there as Jane put her hand on Lindsay’s obviously pregnant belly, her expression one of stunned shock.

“We didn’t want to make it a big deal,” Lindsay said.

“Sending a text would have been not making it a big deal,” Jane said. “Showing up wearing maternity clothes makes it a very big deal.”

“I knew,” Britt said, and she moved in to hug Lindsay. “Isn’t it great?” She stepped back and smiled at Jane. “They’re going to have a boy—like you did.”

Jane softened then, because sometimes she could be a little bit harsh without realizing it. “Yes, it’s absolutely wonderful.” She drew Lindsay into a hug, and a line of women moved to do the same.

“I don’t know if I want a boy or a girl,” Britt said.

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