As we entered the house, a handful of Harringtons were still sitting at the table.
“Morning, you two!” Jenn beamed, then accepted the vigorous hug from Payton.
“Morning, Mrs. Jenn!”
“Hey, you look ready for something fun,” Crew commented as he lifted his head up for me to give him a kiss.
“Yeah. You about done with breakfast?” I asked and squeezed his shoulder.
“Yeah. Do you need help with something?”
He was wearing his usual work gear, which would do, but he needed hiking boots. Good thing we’d prepared.
“You could say that.” I grinned. “There’s a pair of footwear on the porch for you.”
Jenn, who had made sure we had said hiking boots ready, came to us and kissed the top of Crew’s head. “I don’t need you today. Mal and Payton do.”
Crew looked confused for a moment. Then Payton started to jump up and down and chanted, “Family date! Family date!”
Mike, Hawk, and Gemma chuckled and smiled.
“You go change into your hiking boots while I get Mal the food.”
Shaking his head but smiling, Crew downed the rest of his coffee, then got up and hugged his mom, lifting her clear off her feet. “Have you been scheming behind my back, mother dear?”
“Put my wife down. She would never scheme,” Mike deadpanned, then laughed.
“Listen to your father,” Jenn tried to sound scolding.
Damn I loved these people.
Crew went to get his boots. He said he had a hoodie in his truck, so we were all set.
While Payton went to the bathroom, Jenn gave me a medium sized cooler for the picnic and a small one for car snacks. I hugged her and made a mental note to do something nice for her soon.
Once we stepped off the porch, I gave the smaller cooler for Payton to carry, and with his tongue sticking out of his mouth, he walked toward Crew’s truck.
Crew met him halfway and ruffled his hair as he took the cooler. “Good job.”
We loaded the boy and the food into the truck, then smiled at each other.
As the owner of the truck, Crew climbed into the driver’s seat, and as soon as I had my seatbelt on, he looked at me expectantly.
“So, does the kidnapping victim who is also the driver get to know where we’re going?” he asked, raising a brow at me and glancing over to the backseat at Payton.
Payton giggled.
Grinning, I replied, “Well, let’s leave the ranch first and head toward Denver.”
“Denver it is.”
Soon, we were on the road. The radio was turned low and Payton concentrated on the view for the time being. He wasn’t a hard kid to entertain during a drive, so I wasn’t expecting issues.
“Oh, louder!” he exclaimed just as we got past town and were properly on the road.
I did as I was told, and Payton began to sing and shimmy along to one of Wren Paxton’s songs.
Crew chuckled and shook his head. He reached for my hand and squeezed.
