For a second, I thought maybe I’d gone too far, but then his gaze dropped, like he didn’t know how to answer.
So, I didn’t press.
Instead, I changed the subject, tugging at my damp T-shirt. “I’m going to smell like a petting zoo for the rest of the day.”
“You already do,” he said, voice dry as kindling.
Andthattiny flicker of sarcasm? That was the crack in the armor I’d been looking for.
I grinned. “Ah, so hecanbe funny.”
Ben gave me a look that could probably wither crops, but he didn’t leave. He didn’t retreat. He stood there, watching me like he was trying to decode an unfamiliar language written in lavender and lemons and stubborn cheer.
I took a step closer. “You came back.”
He didn’t answer right away. Then, gruffly, “I needed a break.”
“From Millie?”
That earned me the tiniest quirk of his lips. Not a smile. But his face definitely did something. I wanted to throw confetti.
“From myself,” he said finally.
That quieted me.
The hose, the goats, the teasing, it all slipped into the background as I looked at him.
Ben Jensen wasn’t mean or cold; he was justtired.
Tired in a way I recognized in my bones, and maybe that’s why I couldn’t help myself.
Why I was standing in the sun, damp and ridiculous, still trying to make this man laugh.
Because if anyone needed a reminder that the world could be light and silly and good,it was him.
“Do you want to help me feed the ducks?” I asked, gently now. “They’re only mildly judgmental.”
He stared at me, and for the first time since he arrived at the lodge, I saw it.
A flicker, a glimmer, and the memory of a smile.
“Sure,” he said.
Just like that.
One word.
And I felt it settle deep in my chest.
He didn’t say much, and he still didn’t laugh, and still looked at me like I was made of glitter and chaos.
But he washere.
And I had a mission.
Operation: Turn Grumpypants into a Grinning Human was officially underway.
Chapter Sixteen
