Page 90 of Blue Jean Summer

Not long after Catherine left, I spotted Mason cutting through the rose garden. He walked to his truck that had been parked next to Hallie’s van and headed off the estate too.

Work carried on as usual. The house was blissfully quiet. After the upheaval of life after my granddad died, then funeral preparations that turned into wedding preparations, it felt like things were finally reaching a new normal.

I wondered if Catherine felt the same. She hid her grief well, masking it with a packed schedule and constant motion. I liked being swept up in her whirlwind, but it was the moments when she was still that captivated me most. Sometimes, I was afraid to approach her in those moments, preferring to watch from a distance as she held her heart in her hands. But instead of locking it away in her rib cage the way I did, she carried it out in the open for all to see.

Life is a beast with soft eyes and a gentle purr that lures you in with promises of warmth and comfort. Its claws and fangs are never hidden far behind that velvet facade.

Still, Catherine approached the monster with her heart extended as an offering.

I wondered what it was like to stay breakable after putting the pieces back together time and time again.

There was a special place in hell for anyone who broke a heart like hers. I just needed to finish making the reservation for the one who had.

I clocked out at five on the dot and glanced out the window. My SUV still wasn’t back. Neither was Mason’s truck.

I closed my laptop and made my rounds through the house.

No Catherine.

I checked the stables and ran into Levi. According to him, he hadn’t seen Catherine or Mason for hours. I poked my head through the thick trees that hid the pond, but dragonflies were the only ones enjoying the mountain stream. When I cut back through the kitchen, Hallie confirmed that Catherine hadn’t come back to the house yet.

Which left just one spot to check.

The walk up to the gates wasn’t impossible, but it was long and winding. My leather loafers weren’t the best walking shoes. I donned the hat Catherine had given me as a wedding present and saddled up Maisey. Her long legs ate up the hills as she broke into a gallop the moment I was on her back. The jolt knocked the air out of my lungs, but I breathed a little easier when I saw my SUV parked beside the old cabin. Mason’s truck, with a trailer attached, was beside it.

Fencing had been erected, lining the property that now belonged to Catherine. My SUV was backed up to the brand-new gate.

And there was Catherine, coaxing a little black-and-white calf out of the passenger seat.

I blinked to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

Nope. There was a cow in my car.

“Sweetheart,” I said sternly as I dismounted. “Mind explaining what you’re doing, transporting livestock in my very expensive, very clean vehicle when we have trailers for that?”

Mason snickered as he jogged out of the cabin and continued to unload paint, lumber, and flooring from the flatbed trailer. “Tried to tell her I could come back for a stock trailer to get her.”

“Come on,” Catherine cooed as she wrapped her arms around the little thing and lifted it from the seat. “You’re gonna love it here.” The calf was no bigger than a large dog, but still. There was a cow in my front seat.

“Catherine,” I said as I came into her line of sight. “What happened to going into town for supplies?”

Her cherry cheeks rose in a smile, making those Blue Ridge eyes sparkle with delight. “Isn’t she adorable?”

“You let her ride in my front seat,” I said in disbelief.

Catherine waffled back and forth. “Technically, it’s our front seat.” Her smile was infectious. “Scale of one to ten. How mad are you?”

“How mad am I that you apparently bought a cow? Zero. How mad am I that you let it ride in my vehicle? About a five.”

“What if I told you there’s a banana bread latte waiting for you in the cup holder?” she grunted as she eased the little thing down into the grass.

“Did the cow drink from it?”

“Of course not,” she said. “That would be ridiculous. I got her a pup cup.”

“Of course you did…” I muttered under my breath as I reached across the driver’s seat and grabbed the cup that still had part of the wrapper covering the straw opening. “Where’s its mother?”

Catherine closed the gate and went back to unloading supplies for the cabin out of the back of the SUV. “Not sure,” she said as she hefted bags of soil out of the trunk like they weighed nothing.