“I know. Pretty awesome.” I smirked, and he rolled his eyes but walked into my arms anyway.
I kissed him, then pulled him out of the tent. “Want to make a little fire?” I asked, pointing at the portable fire pit with a couple of benches set at a wide angle so their ends almost touched.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
I went to make the fire while he looked around in the dimming light. Stars would be out soon, and I couldn’t wait. The evening was still and mostly quiet. On occasion, a lone moo carried from wherever the cows were at the moment. It was all very peaceful.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked, going to the cooler.
“A pop would be nice,” I replied.
I’d had a glass of non-alcoholic bubbly when we’d toasted the happy couple, and I didn’t feel like drinking any of the beers I was sure Nick had put in the cooler.
Soon, the fire was crackling in the pit and I sat on the bench, watching as the sparks flew upwards to the night sky. Emery came back and handed me a Coke Zero, then sat next to me on the same bench to cuddle to my side.
“This is nice,” he said after a while as we sipped our drinks.
He’d gotten himself a wild berry Poppi, which he set next to himself before letting out a deep sigh.
I wrapped my arm around him and kissed his temple.
After a few minutes, he sighed again. “Can we get the talking out of the way?”
“Of course.” I squeezed him a little, then pulled away enough that we could make eye contact easier.
“I wasn’t avoiding you on purpose,” he started.
I snorted softly. “Maybe not consciously.”
“There was so much to do and—”
“And I could’ve helped.” I wouldn’t have gotten in his way, either, and we both knew that.
He hung his head, starting at the fire from under his curls that were flopping all over after his shower.
“I had it under control. I was doing all the things she would’ve done for herself.”
Raising a brow at him, I asked, “So you admit that you were doing two people’s tasks?”
He made an annoyed face. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
I chuckled quietly. “Okay. But you could’ve still asked for help. Delegated to people you trust. Didn’t have to be me.”
His gaze snapped to my face. “I trust you.” The tone of his voice was almost outraged, as if he couldn’t believe I’d hinted that he didn’t.
“I know.” Then I sighed and looked at the fire again. “We have eight days left.”
“Yeah.”
I held out my hand and he took it, and we sat there in silence for a long while.
Neither of us continued the conversation we needed to have, and he didn’t open up about his twin yet, so eventually I got up to put more fire in the pit and went to the pile of extra blankets inside the tent.
Emery looked at me curiously when I came back with two folded ones.
I rolled them and put one at the end of the bench he was sitting on, then went to the other one and sat down.
“It’s a pillow,” I explained, then gestured up. “Look at the stars.”
