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I press a kiss to Hunter’s shoulder. ‘Thank you.’
He lets go of my hand and drapes an arm around me. ‘Sorry it didn’t come with a kelpie.’
‘I think my mum needs Banjo more than I do right now. That dog is all she has left of her family.’ I continue watching my sister. ‘I have enough.’
Hunter turns to me, cradling my face with both hands and looking in my eyes. ‘This has been the hardest, longest wait of my life, but so bloody worth it.’
I wipe my face. ‘You’re going to have a lot of trouble getting rid of me now.’
‘Good.’
He kisses me slowly, and there’s no need to hide anymore, no one here to tell us it’s wrong.
‘Gross,’ Bridget says.
Except my sister.
Hunter kisses me again before facing Bridget. ‘This paddock’s his. You can come here as often as you like, so long as you bring Annie with you every time.’
Bridget frowns in his direction. ‘I suppose that’s one way to keep your girlfriend close.’ She pauses. ‘Thank you, by the way. This is… I’ll pay you back.’
Hunter shakes his head. ‘You already have. Three years watching over her when I couldn’t.’
Bridget swallows, then looks back at Charlie.
The sound of a door opening and closing makes us look in the direction of the house. An older man steps outside, presumably the infamous Pete Leroy. He peers in our direction, looking from the two of us to Bridget.
‘Sue’s got more chops in the slow cooker than she knows what to do with,’ he says. ‘Come and get something to eat.’
Hunter nods and looks over at Bridget. She’s standing with her face buried in Charlie’s mane.
‘Leave her,’ I say, tugging him in the direction of the house.
He threads his fingers through mine as we walk. ‘Sue’s probably going to fuss and ask you a lot of questions.’
I smile at the ground. ‘That’s okay.’
‘Not too much too soon?’
I lean into him. ‘A welcomed change. Normally it’s not enough and too late with us.’
‘That’s because we’re… was it misaligned broken bones?’
I laugh once and push up onto my toes to kiss his stubbly cheek. ‘Yes. Misaligned broken bones.’
