Page 140 of Blue Jean Summer

Hallie beamed, blinking away tears of happiness. She set down the spoon she was using to babysit the pots on the stove and took the flowers from him.

“Let me grab a glass to put ’em in,” Mason said as he moved to the cabinet, where the dinner glasses, fancy coffee cups, and the random assortment of eclectic mugs that everyone actually used were kept.

“You know what?” Hallie clutched the flowers to her chest. “I’ve got a nice vase upstairs. I’ll grab that and get these in some water, then we’ll eat.”

“I can help get supper on the table,” Mason said.

Hallie waved him off. “I’ll be back down in a second.” She paused and looked down at the flowers, then back at him. “Thank you, Mason.” Hallie looked positively giddy as she hustled up the stairs.

“Attaboy!” Levi said, slapping Mason on the shoulder as soon as Hallie was out of earshot.

Mason looked pleased with himself. “Just…don’t make it a big deal.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Is it a big deal?”

“Do we get to have another wedding?” Savannah pressed.

Mason held his hands out. On the outside, he looked cool as a cucumber. But there was a twitch to his beard that told me he was smiling. “I’ll let you know when it’s a big deal. Until then, just don’t give her a hard time.”

Savannah reared back like that was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. “Hard time? I was about to lock y’all in a room until you decided to stop flirting and finally date. Or bang.”

“Just don’t break up,” Hayes said. “I don’t want to have to find a new groundskeeper and a new estate manager.”

“And no sex in the stables. That’s my place of work,” Levi said, making Hayes break out into a coughing fit. Levi looked at us and groaned as he put two and two together. “Don’t tell me y’all have…”

“Not technically in the stables,” I hedged. “More like…above them.”

“That’s my girl,” Savannah said with a grin as she high-fived me.

Hayes’s arms were warm around my waist. He craned around and pecked my lips as Mason, Levi, and Savannah delved into a conversation about a custom saddle she was working on.

“This feels right,” he said as he pulled me back against his chest.

“What does?” I asked.

“Them. Hallie and Zach. Us.”

I knew exactly what he meant. Between the two of us, we didn’t have any family left. If we did make it through a whole year of marriage, there would be no relatives to celebrate with us.

But we had them. And that was enough.

“How was work?” I asked.

“Mostly normal,” he said, and I could feel his satisfaction with the comfort of that. “I spent the afternoon meeting with the foundation’s legal team to sort out Lewis’s mess.”

“Have you heard anything from him?”

“Not directly. They’re considering him to be a flight risk, so he’s being held until his case goes to trial. Apparently, his ‘wife’ had tons of evidence against him and was more than happy to hand it over to the feds when she realized she wasn’t getting the payday Lewis had promised her.”

I let out a low whistle. “Who knew getting married on a whim was such a terrible idea?”

Hayes chuckled. “Not us. I’d say it worked out pretty damn well.”

I craned my neck to kiss him. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” he said with a smile that reached his eyes.

If forever meant growing old with Hayes Wilder, I couldn’t wait.