CHAPTER 18 #2
Today, the Ashby yard is a hive of bustling activity.
This is only the third time I’ve been here for a party, but ever since I started helping Wade on the wedding cabins in the spring, I’ve spent a lot more time here.
I don’t usually like spending too much time with people, but being on the ranch is easy; the Ashbys are always together and celebrating something.
Plus, I’ve taken a liking to riding the breathtaking trails.
That is, when I don’t bump into runaways in need of rescue.
Today, Jo has the whole back yard decked out. A red-white-and-blue banner hangs from the pergola and on the big table are matching napkins and plates; red, white, and blue cake pops; and a cheesecake covered in strawberries and blueberries to look like an American flag.
I survey the happy scene around me as Wade finishes taking everyone’s order and Ginger gets pulled into a game of ladder golf with Mabel.
People are talking over the music, joking and laughing with one another.
There isn’t one member of this extended family who isn’t open, loving, and honest. Until I met the Ashbys, I thought families like this only existed in the movies.
“I need a teammate.” Ginger looks around the table.
“Don’t even think about it.” CeCe laughs.
Ginger focuses on Ivy. She shrugs then stands and, before I can protest, a giggling, chubby Billi is set into my lap. “Time to be christened into the role of baby watching.”
Ivy smiles at me as she slides a bag full of toys over. “People line up for this, you know. She isn’t walking yet, so if you spread this blanket and get some of these toys out, you should be good for a game.”
“Wait.” I’m not usually one to panic, but I’ve also never been so close to a person this vulnerable before. “What if she needs something?”
Billi reaches up and pats my beard, laughing as it tickles her hand, but Ivy’s already walking into the yard.
“I just changed and fed her. All she needs is someone to play with her for twenty.” Ivy’s laugh echoes as she picks up her ladder golf balls. “I can still see you and hear you. It’ll be fine.”
I look down at Billi, who stares up at me with big blue eyes just like her mama’s, and a strange, happy feeling takes over my chest. “You’re actually really fucking cute, aren’t you?”
“Oi.” Cole cuffs me in the shoulder. “First rule of holding a kid. Don’t say ‘fuck’ in front of them.” He says it quiet enough that his daughter doesn’t hear and charge him.
“Shit, sorry.”
“Missing the point, bro.” Cole chuckles. “Maybe don’t have kids.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I sigh as I try to figure out what I’m gonna do to entertain her.
“Shoot, me neither,” Hunter says from behind me. “I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with one.”
“Y’all are missing out,” Wade says as he flips burgers. “Best job I ever had.”
It might scare the shit out of me, but as I look at Billi, happy and content in my arms and smiling up at me, I decide this isn’t terrible. And, aside from my shitty language, Billi seems completely oblivious to my lack of baby knowledge. I can’t help but smile back at her little face.
“All right, Billi bug. Looks like it’s you and me then, yeah?
” I toss the rainbow-covered bag over my shoulder and head to the grass at the side of the patio, holding on to this sweet-smelling little nugget for dear life.
The last thing I need to do is drop her. I doubt I’d be welcomed back if I did.
“Ma ma ma,” she babbles just as we reach our destination, which gives us a good view of the girls playing their game.
I chuckle as I pull the blanket out of the bag with one arm and hoist her up on my hip.
“I’d want your mama too if I were you,” I mutter.
“You’re a natural!” Ivy calls from the yard as I pull something called a Montessori Wooden Farm out of the bag.
“Who knows, maybe you’re next?” Haden chuckles over the Kenny Rogers album that just started playing from Jo’s Bluetooth speaker. He’s pulling the cling wrap off a prepped salad Cassie brought.
“Fu …” I clear my throat and look at Billi as I set her down in front of me. “I mean, heck no.”
I sprawl out on my stomach in front of Billie to move her little cow and pig across the blanket, making animal noises, which she seems to find pretty funny.
“Ya ya ya,” she babbles, which I tell myself means do it again.
She starts to giggle as I pretend the pig runs into the cow, falling over, and allow myself to laugh with her.
So much so that I don’t hear the patio door moving until it closes.
I look up at the sound to see Olivia holding a big plate of cupcakes covered with red, white, and blue icing, staring down at me and the baby.
She looks from me to Billi, then back to me.
My fucking pulse is hammering in my throat.
This is the first time I’ve been this close to her since the wedding, and I didn’t expect to be affected in this way.
Olivia’s eyes are bright, and her smile looks almost genuine as Jo takes the plate of cupcakes from her.
She wears a checkered baby-blue sundress that falls just off the shoulder, clings to her small waist, and falls to her mid-thigh.
The look is completed with a red bandanna tied like a scarf in her copper waves that blow in the summer breeze.
Olivia’s skin is glowing and her wispy bangs frame her heart-shaped face; she’s close enough that I can smell her sweet, sugary scent and see that soft dusting of freckles on the bridge of her nose.
The urge to run my hands up under her dress just to feel those curvy, silky thighs is overwhelming.
Fuck, she takes my breath away and she has no goddamn idea.
“Christ,” Hunter mutters under his breath with a chuckle and a look that makes me want to backhand him as Olivia takes her time saying hi to everyone and I continue to entertain Billi.
“We think he’s next,” Haden tells Liv, hiking a thumb at me when Billi starts laughing hysterically at my best piggy impression.
Olivia chokes on air, as if the idea is preposterous.
I look down at Billi staring up at me adoringly. She seems happy enough. I lean in and tickle her cheek as she giggles again.
“The fuck do they know, Billi bug?”