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“No.” She shakes her head definitively. “That’s a lot of work and takes expertise I don’t have. We already have a nursery in town. But I love it when your mom pops in to ask questions. She’s a wonderful woman, you know.”
“I know.” I nod, thinking about my mom. “She’s proud of all of us, too. Now that Erin’s taken over the bookkeeping for the ranch, Mom can finally retire, and she and my dad are planning some travel, but I think she’ll want to stay close by most of the time.”
“She’s an important part of our community,” Summer adds. “She’s so active with volunteering and with clubs and groups. I see her in town all the time. I can’t imagine Joy being gone most of the time and missing out on all the things happening in Bitterroot Valley.”
“I can’t either. But she’s earned a vacation somewhere tropical.”
Summer grins over at me, and soon, we can hear the water.
“Is that a waterfall?”
I can’t believe we’ve already made it this far on the trail, but I nod at Summer. “Yup.”
“Oh, my God, I want to see it.”
She practically skips farther down the path and turns a corner, and there it is. The top of the falls is at least thirty feet in the air, and the water rushes down into the creek below.
“I didn’t even see the creek,” she says as she sets her hands on her hips and watches the water.
“We were walking perpendicular to it. We’ll walk along it on the way back.”
She turns to me and then rushes over and jumps up into my arms. My hands land on her ass as she loops her arms around my neck and kisses me, pressing herself against me as we listen to the water, and the cool spray fills the air around us.
“I take it you like it,” I murmur against her lips.
“Chase, it’s gorgeous.”
“And you’re not even looking at it.”
She laughs, and I let her slide down my body, my hands still glued to her ass, and then she turns to take it all in again.
“I love water,” she says, her eyes pinned to the rushing current before us. “I always have. Lakes, rivers, waterfalls. I love visiting the ocean. It’s the sound of it, you know?”
I slip my hand in hers, linking our fingers, and stay quiet as she goes on.
“It’s as if the sound of the water drowns out all the noise in my head, and I can just be. I don’t have to worry or overthink anything because the water calms all those chaotic thoughts.”
She turns to me again.
“How did you know that I needed this today?”
I shrug a shoulder. “The season’s winding down, and I know that the summer was full of stress for you. Between the shop, the weddings, and the bullshit of someone trying to scare you, I figured it was time for a break. For some quiet. Even if it’s just for one day.”
She nods slowly, turning her gaze to the waterfall once more. “I guess it really has been a pretty crazy summer, huh?”
“Pretty crazy,” I agree. “But I’m glad that it has been. Because if those idiots, whoever they are, hadn’t tried to scare you, we might not be here like this.”
“Oh, I like to think that we would have found our way here eventually.” She laughs and moves over to the small wooden bridge that my brothers and I made about ten years ago so we can keep moving on the path. “I would have figured it out. Speaking of figuring stuff out, are there any new leads on my case?”
“No.” I refuse to sugarcoat it for her, and I hate that that one word has some of the light draining from her eyes. “I’m sorry, sugar, we’re still investigating.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Feels like it is,” I reply absently, but then she’s in my arms once more, her hands framing my face.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do those things, Chase. Some asshole did. It’s their fault. You’re doing everything you can to keep me safe, to make me feel safe, and I appreciate it so much.” She nuzzles my nose with hers. “So stop feeling guilty, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
