Page 19 of A Montana Secret Admirer
And she had Reese.
Her cheeks flushed, and she turned away from Jane to hide her reaction to her own thought. A few minutes later, Jane had left. Serenity would be fine. She didn’t have to depend on anyone. All she needed was friendship. Nothing more.
Jessi’ssmall hand remained clutched within her own as they wandered through the ranch. He’d gotten up just as the sun was coming up, and he’d refused to go back to sleep.
It wasn’t lost on her that she’d avoided going out to see the sunrise and instead had insisted on fixing him a special breakfast of pancakes.
Now, they were trying to find each and every animal raised on this property. The Reese family had two large pigs, a flock of chickens, three goats, a small herd of sheep, and of course, the cattle and horses.
Presently, her three-year-old was fascinated with the large pigs that were sprawled out in the mud. He giggled as one lifted its head lazily to look at him. They hadn’t brought the animals breakfast, so it wasn’t a surprise that they weren’t getting much attention from the creatures.
Jessi pointed at the one closer to the edge of the pen. “What’s his name?”
“I have no idea, kiddo.”
“Can I name him?”
She laughed. “Sorry buddy, but I’d guess that he or she already has a name.”
Jessi frowned. “Oh.”
“His name is Bacon.”
Serenity gasped at the low voice directly behind her. She hadn’t heard his footsteps approaching, but by this point, she’d recognize his voice anywhere. It had a soothing sort of timbre to it… or at least it had until she started wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Now it sent waves of shivers. The hairs on the back of her neck rose, but she did her best to school her features as she turned to face him.
Reese flashed her a smile then dipped his eyes to Jessi, who had his face scrunched up with the most adorable look of confusion.
“Bacon? Why would you name him Bacon?”
Reese grimaced and leaned closer to Serenity as he whispered, “Does the kid know where his breakfast comes from?”
Slowly, she shook her head. They hadn’t gotten around to telling him more than where chicken came from, and that had only happened due to Jessi’s question of why an animal had the same name as his favorite food.
Reese hiked up his pants at his knees and crouched down to face her son. He glanced up at Serenity, a question in his eye—one she could read plain as day. She nodded, and he turned his focus to Jessi. “Because that’s what he is.”
Jessi’s scrunched face pinched further. “Huh?”
Reese chuckled. “You know, chicken comes from chicken. Hamburgers come from cows. And bacon comes from…” He nodded his head to the pig. “Bacon.”
Understanding dawned on Jessi’s face, and his eyes widened with shock. Then he wrinkled his nose. “Ugh. Bacon comes from pigs?”
More laughter spilled from Reese’s lips, and he glanced up to share his amusement with Serenity. She smiled back before watching her son grasp this new information. Reese rose to his feet and stared down at her boy with a teasing grin. “Do you like bacon?”
Jessi glanced at the pig again, and Reese shook his head.
“No, I mean the food. Do you like to eat bacon for breakfast or on your potatoes?”
Her son made a show of contemplating his question and gave Reese a nod.
“Then it shouldn’t matter. There are lots of things in this world that come from places we don’t expect them to. There used to be a time when we got our clothes from animals, too. And I bet you’d never guess where glue comes from.”
“Where?”
Serenity’s eyes shot wide, and she let out a strangled laugh. “I think that’s about enough of that. Jessi has all the time in the world to learn about where glue comes from.”
He gave her a dirty look—one that had both her and Reese laughing.
Then Reese met her gaze. “What have you been up to this morning? I don’t think I’ve seen you up this early since you’ve arrived.”
