Chapter 16
sixteen
Tarr jogged down the stairs, a newfound giddiness prancing through him. “I’ve got great news, sweetheart,” he called as his foot reached the bottom step.
Briar had taken his caramel-cheese popcorn in there, and he’d also found a cooler with his beloved Diet Dr. Pepper and root beer, iced and ready to go.
The stuff that she knew about him wasn’t lost on Tarr, and he could admit that he loved being taken care of by her. No, doted on. Briar had been doting on him all day, and it felt very adoring. No one, besides random strangers, had treated Tarr like that for a long time.
Briar emerged from the theater room as he started down the hall. “Good news?”
Tarr held up his phone. “I found the camera and disabled it, so we’re good on the entire basement level.”
Briar grinned at him. “That is good news.”
“Sorry I had to go take those phone calls.” He didn’t slow his pace as he reached her, and he wrapped her in his arms and lifted her right off her feet. She squealed and held on to his shoulders until he put her down.
“Who called?” she asked.
“The first was the general contractor, and he said he’s going to be out on Tuesday to look at my site and see what we need to do to get the house built by spring.”
“That’s great news,” she said.
“And I’d put out a few feelers about a different RV,” he said. “Though I think the one I have is fine if I can get it hooked up to water and electricity.”
“Yeah, but how are you going to do that?” Briar stepped back and laced her hands through his. “I thought we’d sit in the second row, so we’re still pretty high up, but we’re not right by the door.”
“Sure.” Tarr didn’t care where they sat in the theater room at all. He let Briar lead him down a couple of steps to the second row of luxury loungers, where she’d positioned the cooler on the floor between their feet and the popcorn and red licorice on the armrest between them.
“My friend Jentzen is going to come move the RV next to the barn,” he said.
“I talked to Ashton, who said he stays in the loft sometimes when he can’t get off the ranch due to weather, and he said there’s a semi-bedroom up there—just a queen bed with a blanket and a pillow.
And of course there’s a bathroom in the arena.
Tuck has a space heater out there for the winter, and it does okay, because, you know, we keep the arena air-conditioned and heated. ”
“Right,” Briar said.
“But Ashton then said we can just hook the RV up to the water and electricity in the arena, and if I park it on the south side, I’ll get all the winter sunlight and get some shelter from the wind.”
He sank into his chair and looked over to Briar as she did the same. “You’re going to sit all the way over there?”
“I’m not going to sit on your lap during the whole movie,” she said, with some measure of disgust in her voice.
“There’s plenty of room in this chair for both of us, sweetheart.” He grinned at her, but Briar just rolled her eyes.
“Eat your treats first, and then maybe I’ll come sit by you.”
“That would be gift number five, that’s all I’m saying. I’m pretty sure we could get to thirty-three.” He lifted the bag of popcorn. “This could be number six. The Diet Dr. Pepper, number seven. Root beer, number eight. Red Vines, number nine.”
Briar smiled and simply shook her head, but Tarr’s happiness would not be contained.
“So Jentzen said he can come look at my RV, help me with the stovepipe, and help me move it, since I’m not sure I can get it off the corner of the property where it is right now.”
“That’s great,” Briar said. “When’s he going to do that?”
“Wednesday,” Tarr said. “And Bobbie Jo and Tuck don’t get back till Thursday, so I might be able to get out of here before then.”
“You could just stay here with them,” Briar said. “I don’t get why you don’t want to. You have your own suite up there on the second floor, and they’re a really sweet couple.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tarr said. “I just feel lame. And besides, Ashton said that Tuck’s new client is going to be living here with them, and Rosie is going to stay for a while too, so I can’t have the suite and then put both of them down here.”
“Why not?” Briar asked, in her usually salty way. “There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms down here. How much room do you think they need?”
“I don’t know. It just feels weird, with them not being married at all. It’d be nice if they could each have their own floor.”
“Well, I’m sure Tucker and Bobbie Jo can explain the situation to them.”
“Yeah, but if I can get the RV moved next to the arena, then I can steal some of that electricity and water, and if it’s really bad, I can sleep in the room where Ashton sometimes does.”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve got a plan,” Briar said. “I didn’t know there was a bedroom in the arena.”
“He said it’s up on the second floor, along the row of offices. And he said it’s pretty bare, but he’s managed to make do with a case of water and some beef jerky. And then, of course, he can come to the house and eat with Tuck and Bobbie Jo.”
“Maybe you could put a microwave and a mini-fridge there.”
“I’ve got that stuff in the RV,” Tarr said. He couldn’t stop grinning, and he faced the big screen, which sat paused on the movie that Briar had found and he’d approved—Jumanji, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“Are we ready?”
“I’m just waiting for you to stop talking, cowboy.”
Tarr chuckled, and he really did want Briar in this luxury lounger with him, instead of all the way over there with the cooler and drinks and so many armrests between them.
He’d been surprised that she’d let him kiss her so much at the dining room table, and he felt certain that if Tuck and Bobbie Jo hadn’t interrupted, he’d have his kiss on the mouth by now.
That would be worth thirty birthday gifts, Tarr thought, and his pulse jumped just thinking about it.
They’d finished their poutine lunch about an hour ago, and he’d helped her clean up and opened his birthday gift—a brand-new pair of winter gloves to work around the farm—before they’d come downstairs to start their movie afternoon.
Then he’d gotten distracted with calls and texts and trying to disable the camera, but in the end, he felt all of that would be worth it.
Briar got up to go start the movie. She’d attached her laptop to the cables coming out of the wall, so she didn’t have a remote for it. She hurried back down the aisle, and Tarr waved her closer, as if she were an airplane and he wanted her to park right on his lap.
First, she bent over the cooler and got out a can of his Diet Dr. Pepper.
He took it and put it in the cup holder on his left so he could hold Briar on his right.
She slid into the space, and he opened his arm and put it around her, her hips butting right up against his.
Then she twisted onto one side and leaned into his chest.
“Is this okay?” she whispered, as if there were other moviegoers who would be bothered by the two of them talking.
“It’s perfection,” he whispered.
And while he wasn’t a hormonal fourteen-year-old who could make out with his girlfriend during the whole movie, Tarr suddenly wanted to. At the same time, he really needed to let Briar lead in all things physical.
He ate his popcorn slowly and then opened a package of Red Vines as he enjoyed the movie. Being with her was enough, and he didn’t want to pressure her or make her feel like it wasn’t.
He also didn’t believe that she would stay awake for the duration of the movie, and sure enough, about halfway through, a soft snore met his ears. He gently leaned the luxury lounger back even further so she could rest more completely against his chest.
Tarr’s new favorite thing was holding Briar while she slept when she wasn’t hopped up on narcotics, or hurt, or needed him to stay warm. No, she lay in his arms now by choice, and she only needed him for him, not because she had a medicine schedule to keep or she might freeze to death without him.
Tarr, too, closed his eyes, though he didn’t think that he would doze. He just wanted to breathe in the purity of this moment and enjoy the shape of Briar in his arms, the scent of her in his nose, and the fact that, for this soft moment in time, she was his and he was hers.
Briar had dinner delivered to the house—a complete steak-fajita meal—which completed the third meal of Tarr’s favorite things.
He hadn’t kissed her during the movie, and they’d taken their fajitas down to the big couch in the basement so they could talk without Bobbie Jo and Tucker overhearing them.
The hour had grown late, and Briar had been yawning for a good half-hour by the time Tarr stood up and said, “We should get you home, sweetheart.”
“Yeah.” She sighed as she got to her feet as well and started helping him gather up their plates, napkins, and plastic containers.
With everything upstairs and the house clean, Briar bent down and wrapped her arms around Wiggins’s neck. “You be a good boy for Tarr,” she said. “I left you some food on the counter, and he’ll feed you in the morning, and I’ll see you out at the Goatel, okay?”
Wiggins licked her face and she giggled as she stood up. She tucked her hands in her back pockets, a showing of vulnerability for Briar that Tarr really loved.
He certainly wasn’t going to kiss her right there in the kitchen or the foyer or the front porch, and if he wanted to do that for his birthday, he’d have to drive her back to her cabin, which seemed a little bit ridiculous.
“Thank you,” he said, pulling her into his arms again. “This was the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
“I’m glad.”
Tarr pressed a kiss to her neck, and then just below her earlobe, and then her cheek, before pulling away. “Thank you for lending me Wiggins for the night.”
“You know you could get your own dog.” She moved over to the couch where she’d tossed her coat at some point during the day.