Page 39 of All in with the Maverick Montana

“Well, glad you brought your appetite. Burgers are almost done. You want cheese and bacon on yours?”

“Is that even a question?”

“Right. We’ve talked about how Faith is making you suffer the turkey bacon.”

“And whole grains,” Amy added. “She should have to answer for her crimes.”

“I’ll put a couple extra pieces of bacon on for you then. So you can indulge.”

Amy dipped her head in thanks. He was so effortlessly thoughtful. Bacon. It was such a silly thing to get emotional over, and yet she blinked back a sudden wave of tears. God, what was wrong with her? She tried not to stare at him as her cheeks flamed hotter than the grill. “I’m glad I don’t have to corrupt you to my bacon-loving ways.”

“No worries there. I am a red meat carnivore through and through. Poultry has its place. Just not on my burger.”

“Can I do something to help?” Amy asked.

“Grab the plates? And the condiments,” he said. “They’re on the counter in the kitchen. Unless you’d rather eat inside. I just thought that it’s shaping up to be a nice evening and we might as well keep enjoying it.”

“Definitely,” Amy agreed, heading for the house.

“Oh, there’s potato salad too,” he called.

Amy tossed a look over her shoulder, impressed.

“Don’t get too excited. Angela made it.”

“I’m learning so much tonight.”

“I may not know my way around the kitchen that well, but I do know my way around the grill.”

Amy winked. “And that’s what really matters.”

She slipped through the door. Walking through Josh’s space didn’t feel foreign the way she thought it might. It was comfortable, filled with old wooden furniture and little touches of home she figured had been left over from his mother—the checkered throw blanket tossed over the back of the couch, the cute framed cross-stitches hung along the wall, the family portraits. In the kitchen, she gathered up the essentials for dinner and took them outside, along with a glass of sweet tea for each of them.

“You were blond,” she said, coming back to the porch.

“Huh?”

“As a boy. You had blond hair.”

“Oh.” He ran a hand through his hair, and she appreciated the way the locks parted on either side of his face. “Guess I was. It darkened up by the time I started middle school. You snooping at the family pictures?”

“Can’t be snooping when they’re hanging out right in the open.”

Josh plated up the burgers, and they dressed them up to their liking, then sat side by side in the Adirondack chairs, watching the last of the sunset wash across the sky. It felt like such a simple thing, being there together, eating dinner, but it also felt like everything. Amy didn’t know how else to describe it. How else to express the overwhelming bubble of contentment that rose up inside her. The swell of peace made her feel like she was floating. And if that was the case, she never wanted to come down.

“Good?” Josh asked, catching her eye.

“Really good,” she said. “You were right. You know your way around the grill.”

“I had to figure out some way to survive bachelorhood.”

“Has it… Have you…” Amy wasn’t quite sure how to ask what she wanted to ask. “Feel free to tell me to mind my own business,” she started again.

Josh sat up in his chair. “It’s okay. You can ask.”

“Has it been that long since… there was someone important in your life?”

Josh opened his mouth, closed it. He sucked in a deep breath, letting it out again. “Yeah. A good long while. My previous relationship, the one with Erica, she was the last woman I was serious with. And I’m not very good at being non-serious, so I haven’t really been dating around or seeing anyone. I’m just not so good at the going out thing and being around heaps of people all the time. I’m my best self here. On the ranch. Where I can be outside. And I appreciate that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”