The waitress brought their food, and for the next hour, Audrey and Brodie entertained Lottie with the stories of how they had started off as enemies and finally realized they were falling in love.
“And honey,” Audrey looked across the table at Knox, “if we can survive all that, y’all don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“We work together eight to ten hours a day, then spend our evenings in the same trailer,” Lottie said and wished she could put the words back in her mouth.
Knox slipped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “So far, so good, but I have no idea how we’ll survive with a potbellied pig in the mix.”
The doubts were back in her mind—with or without a pig.
She told herself to shake it off and enjoy what time they had together, but that wasn’t easy to do.
Lottie locked eyes with Knox and saw something that looked a lot like love, respect, and happiness there. She reached up and gave his hand on her shoulder a squeeze and decided to quit second-guessing every move as well as the future.
Chapter 20
“Are we limited to only five acres?” Bo asked.
“Family can choose anything they want,” Knox answered.
“Then we want ten acres,” she said. “We’ve planned a sprawling ranch-style house, and we want plenty of room for kids to run and play.”
“You said you were thinking about the places facing the road for easy access, but we’d like to have a strip toward the back,” Maverick held Bo’s hand as the four of them slowly made their way across the pasture filled with blue bonnets.
“I’m fine with y’all choosing any place you want,” Knox answered. “But you might want to choose a place far enough away that Cheeto, my rooster, or all the construction noises won’t wake you at the crack of dawn.”
“You have a rooster?” Bo asked.
“Oh, yeah, and a kitten named Bally,” Knox answered. “They were thrown out at the worksite and chose my trailer to make their new home.”
“I’m just glad that whoever dumped them on the building site brought a cat and a bird. If they’d thrown out a baby elephant and a monkey, Knox would have probably taken them in,” Lottie said.
“Not in the trailer,” Knox argued.
“I can’t wait to get a cat,” Bo said.
“And a couple of dogs,” Maverick added.
“This is it!” Bo stopped walking at the southwest corner of the property and plopped down on the ground. A slight breeze whipped her strawberry-blond hair to one side. She tucked it back behind her ears and seemed to take in everything around her.
Lottie took a picture of Bo. “You look like a cover model for a romance book, sitting there with all these pretty blue flowers around you. I know Mary Jane would love to have a copy of this.”
“I’m pretending that I’m sitting in my bedroom right here,” Bo said. “I’m looking out at all the trees through the sliding glass doors that open out onto a patio. And I’m listening to the birds when I wake up every morning.”
Maverick sat down beside her. “I thought the first thing you would see was me propped up on an elbow and staring at you, not trees.”
Lottie snapped half a dozen pictures of them together. “I’m putting this on the wall of our rec hall and adding to it as we build more houses.”
“We’ll be the first ones with our photographs on the wall, Maverick,” Bo said. “And I love that you’re always the last face I see before we go to sleep, and the first one I see in the morning. And after we move into our new house, I will look at trees right after I get my good morning kiss.”
People didn’t really turn green with jealousy, but if theydid, Lottie figured she looked like a leprechaun with so much envy pouring out of her skin. Bo and Maverick were way further down the path than she and Knox, and she needed to be patient and let things work out like they were supposed to. But at that moment, she didn’t want to wait four months for it.
Lottie sat down a few yards from Bo and didn’t even realize that Knox was taking pictures of her until he eased down beside her and showed them to her. “Look how beautiful you are,” he whispered.
“Only in the eyes of the beholder,” she said.
“Hey, you are sitting in my living room, which means you are our first guests. Welcome to our home,” Maverick said.
“Thank you. When it’s a reality, I’ll bring the first bottle of wine,” Knox told him.
