Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“This will be the shop,” I inform her. “I’m hoping to have it framed in before the snow flies.”
“You poured a foundation.” She frowns up at me, blinking in surprise. “I didn’t even know that it had been surveyed.”
“That was right before the wedding,” I confirm. “I forgot to tell you, with everything going on. I’m sorry about that. Then, this week, the concrete company had a break in their schedule, and I had them come out. It’s just the shop, but—”
“But it’s what you wanted,” she says, finishing the sentence for me. “It’s gonna be a big shop.”
“Thank God,” I reply with a grin. “I need a lot of space. But there’s something even better to see.”
“If you tell me that you already built the house, I’m going to be peeved because that’s the fun part, and I want to know all the things. Mostly because I’m nosy.”
If I have my say, she’ll be making a lot of the decisions about the house because she’ll be living there with me.
“It’s not invisible, so no, not the house.” With her hand in mine, I lead her down to the lake and point. “A dock.”
She stops short and covers her mouth with her free hand. “You built a dock. I was too busy checking out the shop to notice this.”
“To be fair, my brothers and my dad helped. Hell, even Brooks and his brother, Blake, helped a bit.”
Brooks has a big family like mine, and there’s always a brother to spare to jump in and help with a project.
“I can’t believe you kept this a secret,” she says as she takes the first step onto the wooden dock and then shivers in the cooler air, so I pull the flannel out of my bag and wrap it around her. “This is gorgeous.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise, and it really didn’t take that long.”
Her eyes are pinned to the last of the surprise that’s sitting on the end of the dock. It’s a table set for two, with candles, flowers, and a cooler where the food for dinner is stored.
“Who was in on this with you?” she asks and reaches out to touch the forget-me-nots in the vase.
“My mom.” I grin down at her. “I managed to get a couple of texts down to her so she’d know when we would be here.”
“And so she’d know to pick these flowers. This is—” Summer swallows hard and then wraps her arms around me and holds on tight. “This is really great.”
“Keep that in mind when we start getting bit by mosquitos.”
“Too late. That’s been happening all day.” She laughs as I hold her chair for her, and then I sit across from her and pour us each a glass of wine. “What’s the occasion, by the way? It’s not my birthday.”
“No occasion, other than it’s a beautiful day, and I enjoy being with you.”
Her smile softens, and she reaches out for my hand and then turns her face to the sun setting behind the mountains.
“We always manage to catch sunsets,” she murmurs.
“It’s our time of day.” I pull her hand to my lips and kiss it. “There’s no better way to end the day than with you.”
“You’re extra sappy today,” she says. “But I like it. What’s for dinner?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see what Mom made.” I open the cooler and grin. “Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, and it looks like some kind of cobbler for dessert.”
“Wow. This feast with that view? Priceless.”
And delicious.
There’s not a morsel left when we’ve finished eating. We’ve just finished loading everything up into the truck, thanks to the flashlights on our phones, when we hear the call of some coyotes somewhere on the ranch.
“That’s wildlife,” Summer says with wide eyes and hurries to jump into the truck, making me laugh.
Before starting the truck to leave, I reach over and tuck her hair behind her ear.
“Thanks for today.”
Her gaze whips over to mine in surprise. “You have it backward. Thank you for today. I had a great time, and I always love being out here on your property. Specifically, your spot on the lake. It’s just so beautiful out here, Chase. When will you start building the shop?”
“Tomorrow morning, first thing.”
That has her blinking in surprise. “You move fast.”
“We’re already into September, and the snow could decide to fall anytime. I figure I have six weeks, tops, of reliable weather, so I’d like to get it started right away. I’ll be out here on most of my days off, but hopefully, you can join me sometimes, if you’re up for it.”
“I can’t build anything.”
“No, but you can help in other ways, and that’s only if you want to. And if you don’t want to, no problem.” I just like having her close by, no matter what she’s doing.