Page 60 of Ethan

“I rode past them on my way back from the pond,” he said, holding them out. A little self-conscious about it, which she found completely disarming. “Thought you might like them.”

She took them and looked down at them for a moment, then back up at him.

“Nobody’s ever brought me wildflowers before,” she said quietly.

Something moved across his face. “Then it was overdue.”

She turned to find something to put them in, blinking once before she got herself together. She filled a glass with water atthe sink, set the flowers in it, and placed them on the windowsill where the evening light caught them.

She turned around.

He was watching her.

“Thank you,” she said. “I love them.”

He nodded. She crossed the room, rose up on her toes, and kissed him. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her back. She knew the nervousness had been completely unnecessary.

When she finally pulled back she looked up at him.

“Are you hungry? I could make something.”

“I ate.” His arm was still around her. “You?”

“Serena and I had lunch at the diner.” She tilted her head. “So, we have no reason to go anywhere.”

“No reason at all.” He looked down at her and her stomach did that thing again.

She took his hand, led him to the sofa, and sat down. She snuggled against his side, his arm around her shoulders. It felt natural. Easy. Like they’d been doing it for years.

“How was the fishing?” she asked.

“Good. Caught three, threw them back.”

She looked up at him. “You throw them back?”

“Every time.”

“Then why do you fish?”

He considered that for a moment. “Same reason you ride alone. Just to be out there.”

She nodded. She understood that completely.

They sat in comfortable quiet for a while, the evening light coming soft through the windows, and she thought about what she’d been worrying over before he arrived and how little it seemed to matter now that he was here beside her.

She looked up at him.

“Ethan.”

He looked down at her.

“What are we doing?” she asked quietly. “I mean, what is this?”

He held her gaze for a long moment.

“I think you know what this is,” he said.

She searched his face. “I want to hear you say it.”