Page 87 of Bailey

One of the men laughed. “No,” he said. “But I’d like to think that I could survive if I somehow got lost in the mountains, because of your videos.”

“That’s how I feel too,” Bailey said. “But my idea of camping is a trailer, or a motor home, or better yet, a hotel room.”

They all laughed, and Bonita lightly touched Reeves’s shoulder. “Reeves, we’re ready for you.”

“Sure,” he said, and he nodded to the man. “Thanks for watching,” he said, then he turned and steered Bailey to go with Devon, who waited for them with two menus. He did sit with his back to the restaurant, and once Devon had explained the specials and said their waiter would be right there with them, he met her eyes.

“So, how did I do? I felt a little stilted there.”

“If that’s stilted,” Bailey said, “I’d like to see what you think easy casual conversation is, because you were incredible.”

“Really?”

She giggled and reached for the drink menu in the middle of the table. “Yes, Reeves, everything you do is incredible.”

“Well, that’s just not true,” he said.

“Well, they think so,” Bailey said. “And so do I.”

He had hours of editing in front of him, because no, he didn’t set up every shot right, and sometimes he had to do it two or three times. He thought about doing a blooper reel at the end of his videos. He’d seen those on other channels in other industries, and he always enjoyed them. He could definitely do it on the next several videos, as he had literally taken a fall on one of the hikes in Yellowstone.

“So, how did everything go at Bryce’s?” he asked.

Bailey gave a wistful sigh. While she texted a little bit, she hadn’t really told him much.

“It was great,” she said. “And I kind of wanted to talk to you about something I said earlier.”

“Oh, yeah?” he looked up as their waiter approached.

“Evening, folks,” the man said. “My name is Tom, and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.” He tossed a couple of cardboard drink coasters onto the table. “Do we need anything to drink? Any appetizers here?”

“I want the Tower of Onion Rings,” Bailey said, though Reeves had not noticed her pick up a menu yet. “And I want the non-alcoholic Moscow Mule.” She looked over to Reeves.

“Diet Coke,” he said. “Bring me two, would you? I’m really thirsty. And I saw online that y’all have fried mac and cheese balls here.”

Tom grinned. “We sure do.”

“I’m going to need some of those,” Reeves said.

“You guys heard our specials tonight, right?”

Reeves had, but he had already forgotten them.

“Yep, we sure did,” Bailey said, and the man left. Reeves looked back across the table to Bailey and simply waited for her to say something. She looked like she might throw up, and oh, Reeves couldn’t have that.

He reached across the table and took her hands in his. “Hey, we’re past this, aren’t we?” He ducked his head, barely able to see her past the brim of his cowboy hat. “I mean, less than an hour ago, I told you I was falling in love with you.”

“Yes, you’re right,” she said. “We are.” She pushed her hair over her shoulder and gazed at him evenly. “Helping Codi with Samuel this week was awesome,” she said. “And I got to hold that baby fresh from heaven, and I was wrong. I want kids, and I think I’d be an amazing mother.”

Reeves grinned at her as he pieced together all the things she’d said. “I think so too, Bay.”

She smiled, and all of her tension seemed to bleed away. “There’s a couple more things I’ve been thinking about this week.”

“Lay ‘em on me,” he said.

“One, my daddy’s retiring from his energy company at the end of September, and my momma and I are starting to plan a retirement party for him.”

“Okay,” Reeves said, not sure what this had to do with him.