Page 114 of Scrape the Barrel
“You still don’t want to join us?” Callan asked.
I glanced at him as I continued braiding. “I want to watch you guys from the side. I’m hoping to get a few pictures.”
He nodded and pulled a cookie out of his pocket. Ace instantly moved to take it from him, his big lips grabbing for it in the palm of Callan’s hand as he held it out for him. “Need help with anything before the parade starts?”
“I have an extra ribbon I don’t know what to do with,” Avery said, fishing through her pocket to then hold it up with pink fingertips.
Callan eyed the light pink ribbon, approaching her. “I think I know just the place.” He reached up to remove his hat, then crouched to prop it on his knee. Grabbing the piece of ribbonfrom Avery, he looped it through the band around his hat, tying it into a delicate bow. “How’s that?”
“It’ll match Ace so good!” Avery replied, elated.
“Avery, you ready?” Charlotte asked as she walked by with the banner rolled in her arms.
Avery quickly ran the remnants of paint on her fingers through the tip of Ace’s tail, then spun to follow after Charlotte. “Ready!”
Callan stood, placing his cowboy hat back on his head as I watched her scurry off. She wiped her sticky hands on her jeans as Charlotte explained what her task was. She was so attentive to everything she said, her passion for this evident in her demeanor.
Looking at my work, I considered it good enough. I hadn’t braided his entire mane, but half would have to suffice.
“She worked very hard,” I told Callan as he surveyed his horse.
He nodded. “I’m suddenly feeling like my chaps should have confetti and sparkles on them.”
“I can call Avery back, have her do that for you real quick.”
He grinned, pulling me in for a kiss, then said, “Maybe next year.”
“You’ll have to take care of it yourself next year. I’m sure she’ll be too busy decorating her own horse.” Saying those words would take some getting used to. Even though Avery had been asking every day since her party when she was going to meet her horse, it still felt foreign on my tongue.
Stepping to the side, I gave Callan space so he could set his boot in the stirrup and heft himself up into the saddle.
He looked down at me, the pink ribbon shifting on his hat. “See you when it’s done?”
I nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”
I set a hand on his leg, reaching up on my tip toes as he bent down to press his lips to mine. Every kiss with Callan was a reminder that our lives were only getting better from this point forward, together.
I readjusted his cowboy hat on his head before he straightened in the saddle.
“See you in a few,” he said with a grin, then eased Ace into a walk so he could get to the head of the group. They were already lined up in the formation Charlotte had instructed them to stand in, so his mom gave him a playful side eye as he found his spot.
I took a quick picture of everyone lined up, with Callan and Ace standing just behind the banner Avery was holding. Her little hands were gripped tight on the material to keep it steady, and then they all started walking down the street behind the firefighter group ahead of them. Callan was a step late, caught up in staring back at me with a smile on his face.
In a crowd full of people, his eyes were glued on me.
“That’s love,” Lettie said, coming to stand beside me.
“What?” I asked, watching the next group start lining up behind them.
“The way helooks at you.”
I shook my head. “We just recently made things official. He couldn’t.”
Lettie was quiet until I looked at her.
“My brother has always hidden his feelings with kindness, never letting anyone past those walls he has reinforced in his head. In the past, he was made to believe he couldn’t be vulnerable without being controlled, yet he opened up for you after all those years of keeping to himself.”
My teeth gnawed at the inside of my cheek. “I’m not following.” Not because I didn’t know what she was saying, I just didn’t know if my brain was ready to hear it.
