Page 47 of A Montana Secret Admirer
They fell into an awkward sort of silence. Leo seemed to be consumed with his own thoughts for several long moments before he glanced up at Reese again. “Do you really think there’s someone out there for all of us?”
“Yeah, I do,” Reese murmured.
“But I thought you weren’t interested in settling down.”
Reese put the last of the picnic supplies into the bag he was loading. “I say a lot of stuff I don’t mean. I think it was more of a way for me to…” He sighed and scrubbed his jaw. “Avoid disappointment.” He’d never admitted this out loud. Not to anyone. “You know how much I dated. You know what it’s like not finding the connection that you know in your heart you want to have.”
“Yeah, I know.” Leo straightened, cocking his head as he rose to his full height. “And Serenity… she does that for you. She has that connection that you’ve been hoping for.”
“Yes,” Reese said firmly. “I couldn’t imagine having anyone else in my life but her.”
His brother nodded. “Well then, I guess… good luck?”
Reese chuckled wryly. “Thanks.”
The ride outto the pond felt longer than usual. That was probably due to the fact that he couldn’t shake the unease about Serenity putting two and two together. She was intelligent. There was a slim chance that she wouldn’t know exactly what this meant. The big question was whether or not he wanted to shrug it off or confess everything.
He still couldn’t decide.
Serenity held tightly to the reins, still clearly uncomfortable with riding. She hadn’t been raised with horses, so that was understandable. However, she’d been on the ranch for several weeks. She’d ridden a handful of times—but all within the confines of a corral.
She tossed him a strained smile to which he winked. Her smile relaxed somewhat, and they continued on their ride.
“What did you tell the boys?”
“Hmm?”
“Where you were going—what did you tell them?”
“Oh, right.” She squirmed in her seat, and her face scrunched a little. “I begged Jane to take them to town for the day. They’re going to see a movie and go out to dinner. Maybe they’ll hit up the park. I told them that I was going to relax and take a ‘Mom day.’”
He nodded thoughtfully. While it would have been nice to have this budding relationship in the open, he could understand her hesitancy. Those kids had gone through a lot in the last year.From losing a parent to uprooting their lives for the summer by coming here. It was probably for the best that they didn’t become witnesses prematurely to their mother moving on with her life.
“Where are we going?”
“You asked that before,” he chuckled.
“And you haven’t given me answers.”
“I told you. A picnic.”
She scoffed. “Seeing as you’re practically laden down with supplies, should I be worried that we’re going to be spending more than just an afternoon out here together?” She nodded pointedly to the guitar bag on his back.
He laughed. “It’s just a guitar. I brought a book, too, if you would rather read.”
This time, she stared at him with curiosity. “You brought a book?”
“Three, actually.”
She laughed. “Three books. And what are they? Do you know what kind of books I like to read?”
“Well, two of them are romance. The other is an adventure of sorts. If that’s not a good enough variety, then I guess we’re just going to have to write our own story.” His tone was playful, and the way she smiled at him only confirmed that he was on track to getting everything he wanted.
“Any news on that course you were looking into?” she asked.
“Not really. I gave Bo the information so he could look into it. Jane, too. They have a waitlist for signing up for it—apparently, it’s a pretty prestigious program.”
“Are there prerequisites?”
