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“Would you want to if you could?”
She thought about that as she sipped her lemonade. “I don’t know. They stood by while…” She trailed off, then seemed to catch herself. “No. I can never go back again. Harper is my family now. She’s all I need.”
Sunny frowned.
“You really don’t want kids some day?”
She looked away and swallowed hard, but her response was sure. “Definitely not. I don’t think I’m built for that.”
That should be good news for him, shouldn’t it? Maybe they could be… no. Friends that was it.
“Me either. I had such a crappy example of a father, I’m pretty sure I’d suck at it.”
“I can understand that,” she said.
When the food arrived, they both dug in. Eagle had been spot on—the food was delicious and he was glad to see Laura seemed to be enjoying it as well. He kept her entertained with stories of boot camp and how he’d been certain he was going to die in those first weeks.
“I bet that’s an amazing feeling. Doing something that feels impossible, especially physically, is supposed to be really good for your mental health.”
That made Sunny pause. He’d never thought of it that way. It was after boot camp that he’d begun to make peace with the fact that nothing he did would be good enough for his old man. Not that he’d given up. He’d worked his way up and qualified for Ranger school, knowing his parents probably wouldn’t care about that either. That was the moment that made him give up completely, though.
“It is. Even though it was never my dream, I’m glad I did it.”
She tilted her head. “What is your dream?”
That was the second time in a month he’d been asked that. He sighed. “I gave up a full ride for pre-med at Georgia to join the army.”
Laura’s eyes widened at that, but she caught herself. “That’s amazing. You must be really smart then. I really wanted to go to veterinary school, but I have my GED and it’s so competitive I decided to stop at the animal science degree.”
“What made you want to work on a ranch?”
Her face lit up. “I love big animals and being outside.”
“Would you have been a large animal vet if you could?”
“Definitely. Would you still want to be a doctor? You could have done that in the army.”
He let out a bitter laugh. “No, I’m too old to make that big of a change now, but I have thought—” He stopped and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I like being here.”
She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “It does matter, I promise, and if there is something you want to do, you should.”
He squeezed back but didn’t answer. After that, they stayed away from heavy topics as they finished eating.
Things like sports, movies, and childhood pets kept the conversation going all the way back to the ranch. Sunny jumped out and jogged around the truck to help her out. She gave him a shy smile that made him feel warm inside. He walked her to the door where they found a note saying Harper had decided to stay at the ranch since Tech was watching Cap and Hilary’s place that night.
Want raced through him thickening his dick at the idea that there was an empty bed not far away and no one else home. He ignored that, though. Leaning in he kissed her cheek.
“Thanks for coming out with me. It was nice to have someone to talk to besides the guys.”
Her face was shadowed, but he saw her shoulders hunch and wondered what he’d said wrong.
“I’m sorry—”
“It’s fine,” she cut in.
He slipped a finger under her chin and with gentle pressure tried to get her to look at him. After a moment she did.
“What’s wrong? Did I say something?”
