Page 54 of Come With Me

I pull them in for hugs, kissing the top of Serena’s head and then planting my lips on Laney’s. “This makes me the happiest man alive.”

We pile in the car, and Laney tells me about her plans during the drive to the airport.

They’ll spend the next two weeks packing the house and will fly up to Tennessee while a moving truck brings their stuff. With the money from the sale, we’ll use it as a down payment on a new house for the three of us.

“What if we built our dream house?” I offer.

“That’s a bit more complicated. We’d need a construction loan and somewhere to build, and I’m not sure—”

“I’ll buy some land from Garrett. He’s offered it to me once before, but I had no reason for it at the time. This way, we can design it exactly how we want and make sure we have extra bedrooms.” I flash her a wink, and she blushes, knowing exactly what I’m referring to.

“I love that idea.” She squeezes my hand. “They won’t mind us livin’ with you in the ranch hand quarters until then?”

“Nah. It’s a two-bedroom, and it’ll be plenty of room temporarily. And then when school starts in a couple months, Serena can take the bus with Mallory.”

“Yes!” she squeals from the back seat.

“What about a job? Do you think any place is hirin’ in town?” Laney asks nervously. “Maybe something in sales?”

“I have an even better idea for ya.” I smirk. “Dena’s openin’ a massive gift shop next to The Lodge this fall. She’s gonna have tons of merch—clothing, drinkware, key chains, magnets. You know, all the stuff tourists love. She’ll need a manager to run it. And I just might have the connections to help you get an interview...”

“Seriously? That’d be awesome if I could do something on the ranch!”

“Yep, and then we could meet for lunch, or I could swing by to give ya some sugar.” I waggle my brows.

“Gross.” Serena groans, and we burst out laughing.

Two days ago, we sat her down to tell her that we weretogethertogether. We wanted her to understand that when they came to the ranch, Mom and Dad would be sharing a room and what that meant as a whole. When Howie lived with them, his bedroom was what is Laney’s office now, but they were strictly roommates. Although they were married and everyone referred to them as Mr. and Mrs., Serena didn’t know the details behind that. Luckily, she was too young to understand most of it. So we wanted to be sure she understood her parents were an actual couple who would show affection and, hopefully someday soon, get married.

She’d never been around anything like that, so she made a gagging noise the first time she saw us kissing in the kitchen yesterday.

Now it’s just fun making her squirm in disgust.

“Just wait till she asks where babies come from,” Laney leans over and whispers.

“Um...you didn’t have that talk with her yet?”

“No. She’s never asked.” She shrugs. “I figure the time would come when she got curious or learned it in health class.”

I chuckle at her expression as if to say she’d rather do anything but havethattalk.

“Mallory learned from Landen when she asked a bunch of questions about the breedin’ operation, and he told her all about baby-makin’.”

“Oh my God...” Laney drawls with wide eyes. “Guess we better get to her before Landen does.”

Checking in the back seat, I see Serena with her nose in a book, hopefully not listening to a word we said.

“Maybe we should in a couple months when we tell her you’re pregnant,” I say, keeping my voice low.

“We don’t know that I’m pregnant. It’s too soon.”

“My boys got the job done. Don’t worry.”

She rolls her eyes and smirks. I want to reach over and tell her how much I love her, that it means the world to me that they’re moving to Tennessee, and how badly I want to give her everything she’s ever wanted.

Her dream house.

A husband and another baby.

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