Page 88 of Wild For You
In the last few days, she started making the cutest noises while she slept. Little grunts and snores. I wouldn’t ever tell her about them, but sometimes in the middle of the night, I’d wake up and listen to her little sounds for a few minutes before drifting back to sleep.
I let her body settle against mine as the clock changed to 2:34 a.m. Today, I was helping Nash out at the farm. It was a weekend, but we received word about a horse that needed to be rehomed. We weren’t a sanctuary, but we did our best to provide a nice home for animals when we had the room to spare. Many, we ended up rehoming to other farms in the area, if we saw they were in need.
That was one of the best things about the Ashfield community. We were always looking out for each other.
Kelsey barely budged as my alarm went off what felt like seconds later but was actually hours. I took a quick shower to wake myself up and dressed in layers for the colder mornings but warmish days at the farm. November in the mountains could go from one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter ofhours. With a quick breakfast of eggs and SPAM, I returned to the bedroom to find Kelsey in the same spot I left her.
Leaning down, I pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Have fun today,” I whispered, and she stirred a bit before adjusting the pillow under her head. Even in her sleep, her body sought me out, as her arm reached out toward where I normally laid. “I love you, baby.”
“Mm… I love you,” she mumbled in reflex.
I pressed another kiss to her soft form, this time on her bare shoulder, then left the bedroom, closing the door behind me.
Grabbing my keys and Resistol cowboy hat, I headed out the front door, locking it behind me. Ashfield was a safe town, rarely any crime besides the random teenager acting out, but I wasn’t about to risk Kelsey or the baby’s safety.
I fingered through my damp locks, combing the strands toward the back of my head as I started the truck. My beloved accessory occupied the passenger seat.
Once I arrived at the farm, I went to work with Leon, the new farm manager, to see what items I could help him tackle. It seemed the demon cow, Claire, had knocked down another fence. Which we now learned was a sign she wanted to spend some time with Owen. We ragged on him endlessly about the bovine’s crush. Claire seemed to only tolerate Aspen because she would bring Owen to the farm.
I saddled up Thunderbolt and put the equipment I needed in the saddlebags to fix the fence. Leon was going to work on adhering stones to the large Sunny Brook Farms entrance sign that had fallen off over the last week. Since the storm, when I showed Kelsey the special lookout at the event venue, we’d had almost nonstop rain until yesterday. The stones dislodged if we had too much water.
We agreed to meet at the stables to check on the stall being set up for the new horse.
Riding Thunderbolt made me miss how it felt to hold on for dear life on the back of a bucking bronco. There was a thrill only that ride could provide.
I made quick work of the fence, Claire smartly keeping her distance as I patched it up.
Finishing early, I stored all the items back in the saddlebags and hoisted myself onto Thunderbolt’s back. With time to spare, I allowed the horse to pick up speed until we were galloping across the fields. My house wasn’t too far off from the damaged fence, and I directed him toward it.
Most of the construction equipment had been removed, since the exterior was done. Now, the inside was the main focus. The team had been busy hanging the drywall yesterday, and I was curious to see how it was all coming together.
I hopped off Thunderbolt, directing him to the shade, where he munched on grass.
Opening the door to the house, I walked around the now distinctly defined rooms. The drywall still needed to be taped and floated, but the space looked like an actual home now. I could clearly see where the kitchen would go and how a large archway opened the foyer to the living room.
The stairs leading to the second floor were temporary. I had a custom staircase being made, which would be delivered the following week. There were four bedrooms—two of equal size, an oversized master, and a smaller room next to it. The designer added a connecting door, so the room could be used as either a nursery or an office.
The designer was already collecting the items to decorate with. I’d been picking Kelsey’s brain for input on the room decor. Her style was more classic, where I tended to lean toward mid-century and modern.
I hadn’t officially asked Kelsey to move in with me, but I was hoping she had caught the hint that I wanted her to stay.
A special project I had the designer add recently was an external door for the basement. I told Kelsey the space was going to be used as a home gym, and it was originally, but I decided she could turn it into her own therapy room. By adding the door, she could have her own business here at the house without the clients having to walk through our home.
Or what I hoped would be our home.
As I stepped outside, I received a text message from Mom containing a bunch of images. I asked her to help Kelsey select some maternity clothes I asked Nicole to bring into her store. Kelsey had no idea she was going on a shopping spree at my expense—mostly because I knew she would never go if she did. Instead, I told her my mom requested she spend the day galivanting with her. Which wasn’t a complete lie.
The real surprise though was that Mom was going to take Kelsey to the baby store in town. She hadn’t bought a single thing for the baby when she went to check it out, but I caught her scrolling online a few times, saving images of things she liked.
I told Mom to buy her whatever she wanted, no questions asked. I knew either Kelsey was going to be as angry as a disturbed hornet’s nest when she got home, or she was going to run up the amount on my card to an obscene amount. Maybe both.
Thunderbolt raced through the fields on our way back to the stables. I knew he loved to stretch his legs, and I was all too willing to let him go at full speed.
“Whew, he’s a pretty one when he runs like that,” Leon said in his strong Southern drawl.
“I think we both needed that,” I said, a bit out of breath.
As I removed Thunderbolt’s gear off and worked on brushing him down, a truck with a huge trailer slowly droveover the hill toward the farm. I asked Leon if he was given any information on the new horse, and he shook his head.
