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Ember looked at the blanket for a moment, then up at Jake. “Perfect.”
“Yeah. It’s really weird. I had this moment a few weeks ago involving chocolate chip cookies, and ever since Genny’s been making them for me. Like obsessively making them. I don’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t really about eating them. It was…something else.”
Ember patted his arm. “She’s very sweet.”
“Yeah. I guess. She does make great cookies. And pie. Well, you had some pie at Thanksgiving.”
“Yes. It was excellent.” She took a bite of the sandwich. “And you make an excellent sandwich.”
“Years of practice. My kids got peanut butter and jelly two or three times a week in their school lunches.” He unwrapped his sandwich.
“Do they still eat it?”
“Sawyer does. Of course he’ll eat anything. The other two, I think, have moved on from it.”
“Yet you’re still eating it.”
He took a bite and nodded. “My dad was a lot more inventive than I was. He’d make crazy lunches for Gen and I. Every Friday was invent a new sandwich day. I tell you what, there were a lot of Fridays I skipped lunch. Some of the things he came up with were…well, inedible.”
“You have a great family, Jake. You’ve suffered your losses for sure. But I love how close you all are.”
He contemplated what she said while he chewed a bite of his sandwich. “I’m lucky my kids still want to come home. J.T. will never leave. And Sage hated being gone at school. She told me the other night that she doesn’t want to go back in January.”
Ember studied him for a moment. “And how do you feel about that?”
“I’m fine with it. I want her to be happy. And I missed the hell out of her when she was gone. If she wants to finish up online. That’s fine with me.”
“And what about Sawyer?”
“He’s his own man. He loved growing up on the ranch. But he’s got other interests. His damn boxing. His motorcycle, which I think he’d rather ride than a horse. I always knew someday he’d leave. And he did. Right after he graduated.”
“Yet he came back when you needed him.”
“Yeah. He did. And he always will.” He finished his sandwich and picked up a cookie. “You’ve been doing great with my dad. He’s improved a lot since you came.”
“He wants to get better. He’s trying really hard to get back to his old self.”
“Is he going to get there?”
“I’m not sure about his leg. He might always have some numbness there. But his arm is coming right along.”
“Will he ever get back up on a horse? Because that’s all he really wants to do, is get on a horse again.”
“I think he just might make it.”
Jake smiled. “That’s great news. Maybe by the fifteenth?”
“Um. Possibly. Is that date significant?”
“Possibly.”
Ember took a bite from a cookie. “So, do you think Jacob and Lucy will ever go beyond this friendship thing they’ve got going on?”
“I think they’d miss annoying the hell out of each other.”
“Well, they could still do that.”
“Whatever it is that they have, it works for them. I’m not sure either of them would want to risk losing that.”
