Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Reeves didn’t know what to say to erase the wide-eyed look of anxiety that had filled Bailey’s face. He didn’t agree with her assessment of herself at all, and he simply didn’t know how to tell her.
“I think—” he said at the same time she said, “What about you?”
She waved her fork and then finally speared a piece of lettuce appraisingly. “Sorry, go ahead.”
“No, what were you going to ask?”
“I was just wondering if you wanted kids,” she said.
Reeves sat with the question for a moment. “Well, like you,” he said. “It’s not really something I’ve thought a lot about, because I haven’t really dated anyone seriously enough to consider it.”
She nodded as she put her bite of salad in her mouth.
“I didn’t have great examples as parents,” he said. “Though it certainly wasn’t my mother’s fault.”
“My parents are great,” Bailey said.
“Yeah.” Reeves smiled and watched as she physically relaxed right in front of him. “I’d like to spend more time with them, you know, when you’re not passed out or we’re not knee-deep in mud.”
“Sure.” Bailey nodded and took a much larger bite of the salad.
“I think you’re wrong, you know.”
That brought her head up again, her eyes wide as they flicked between his.
“I think you’d be a great mother,” he said. “I’ve seen you take care of the things you care about, and I know that we’re still learning a lot about one another, but you’re kind, and caring, and deeply passionate about the things you do.”
She relaxed again and ducked her head. Though she usually expressed gratitude when he complimented her, perhaps this didn’t feel like a compliment.
“And I think if you had a child with a man you loved, and you were in a committed, happy marriage with that man, you would love that baby to the ends of the earth and do anything for it.”
He nodded like that was that, relieved when Bailey gave a couple of tight nods in agreement.
“Thank you, Reeves,” she whispered.
Yes, they had only been dating for several weeks now, but Reeves had seen Bailey in action at work, and he’d seen her deal with her staff and with OJ, and in stressful situations.
Sure, she might bring a dog or a pair of cats home and tend to them for a few days, and then give them away, but she wouldn’t bring them home at all if she wasn’t nurturing and maternal and cared about them.
He saw it from the front side of the situation, while she only saw the end of it.
He finished his sandwich, and then his coffee, while Bailey had barely started on her soup.
He leaned back in his chair and cleared his throat, and somehow that signaled to Bailey that he had something more he wanted to say.
She looked at him again with her eyebrows raised, having just put a bite of bread that she’d dipped in her cheddar broccoli soup in her mouth.
“I’ve been doing a lot of day trips and hikes for my channel,” he said. “And the wildflowers are really coming on.”
“Are they?” Hope bloomed on her face, and Reeves couldn’t wait to take her into the mountains to see the wildflowers.
“Yeah,” he said. “I was thinking of doing a couple of nights as a camping trip. I know you can’t come for that, but maybe you could hike in on a Saturday.
We could see the wildflowers, and I’ll cook lunch over the fire.
” He trailed off because his previous attempts at talking to Bailey about helping him with his videos had gone nowhere.
“You don’t have to be on camera,” he added. “You won’t have to do anything at all.”
“You just talked about me hiking in somewhere,” she said.
“I’ll come down and meet you.”
He tilted his head at her, trying to understand what was really going on, what really ran through her head. “I thought you liked hiking.”
“I do,” she said, and he realized then that she had been teasing him.
“It won’t be hard,” he said. “I just set up the camera so that it looks like I’m out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes there’s a highway right nearby.”
Bailey let out a laugh, and Reeves basked in the sound of it. He felt himself slipping and sliding with this woman, though he told himself to hold on and not fall too fast.
“When might you want to do this overnight excursion and hiking?” she asked.
“Next weekend,” he said. “The weekend after that would probably work too, since it’ll barely be the beginning of June.”
Bailey nodded. “I’ll look at my schedule when I get home tonight,” she said. “And make sure we’re covered at the clinic.”
She didn’t work every Saturday, but Reeves knew the clinic was open. “All you’ll need is a day pack,” he said. “I’ll bring everything else.”
“Just let me check my schedule,” Bailey said.
Reeves agreed, because he couldn’t ask for much more than that.
The following weekend, Reeves woke with the sun and gave himself a few minutes to enjoy the mountain stillness and the absolute serenity that came with the silence of it. He’d left home on Thursday and driven about a half hour outside of Coral Canyon east toward Jackson Hole.
He’d found a great little trailhead here, and he’d brought Sir and Pansy and packed in all of his camera equipment, as well as his camping gear.
He’d been filming for two straight days, and a brand-new type of giddiness romped through him, because Bailey would be joining him in only a couple of hours.
He’d shared his pin with her when he’d left on Thursday morning, and she said she’d be at the Swain’s Creek trailhead by eight, so she could hike in with him.
He could get the footage of the wildflowers he wanted, and then make her lunch.
He wanted to film both of those, and then he’d told her he’d turn off the camera, and they could go swimming in a little pond he’d discovered on Thursday afternoon.
She’d called him crazy, and he smiled just thinking about it. Yes, the water had been terribly cold, and Reeves had only dipped in one foot before pulling it right back out.
Right now, he reached up and switched on the GoPro, which he’d attached to a piece of hardware that he’d purchased specifically for filming in tents. He pulled his arm back and tucked it back under his sleeping bag, and then yawned for good measure.
“Well, good morning,” he said to the camera.
“It’s my second morning in the Teton Mountains on my first multi-night camping trip this spring.
I know it’s June for those of you watching this, but it’s still spring here in the Tetons, as that pond I found and showed you earlier in this video testifies to.
I’m going to get up and have a quick breakfast—just coffee and a protein bar this morning—because I’m hiking down to the trailhead to meet my new girlfriend. ”
He grinned for all he was worth. For those few moments of time, Reeves felt like his online persona, who always broadcasted happiness and smiles and promised a good time in the mountains, merged with the real man Reeves was.
He really was incredibly happy in that moment, and he knew that it had more to do with Bailey than anything else.
“She’s not going to be on camera this time, guys, because it’s still really new, and she’s only coming up for the day.
I want to show her how good I am at cooking lunch over a fire, and I want to show her the wildflower fields as much as I want to show you—maybe even a little more.
” He pulled his arms out and sat up, reaching for his GoPro, which he then held in front of him. “So, let’s get this day started.”
He held for a moment, and then stopped filming.
He’d set the camera up outside where he’d make his coffee over a quick flame instead of building a fire.
He didn’t want to leave his campsite with something burning, and it would take too much effort to build a fire just to make coffee.
He set everything up and went through the morning footage.
Then, he filmed himself shouldering his backpack and walking down the trail.
He had to backtrack and turn the camera off. Then he stowed it in the side pocket of his day pack and headed for the trailhead. He and Bailey would go through the wildflower fields on their way back to camp, so he’d need it to film.
He left everything else zipped up in his tent because he hadn’t seen another soul up here in the past two days.
“It’s the weekend now,” he muttered to himself.
He figured he might see a few people willing to hike the mile and a half up from the trailhead, past where it ended, and into the meadow where he’d been camping.
He made it down the mountain without an issue, and he couldn’t have timed his arrival any more perfectly.
Bailey had just pulled in, and she parked next to his truck as another wide smile spread across his face.
“Howdy,” she called as she got out of the driver’s seat, and then immediately turned to open the back door. “Let me grab my pack.”
“We’re not in a hurry,” he said, and he continued toward her, suddenly desperate to feel her skin against his and kiss her hello. He hadn’t had someone waiting for him after his camping trips before now, but the simple sight of her soothed his weary soul.
She slammed the back door, and Reeves drew her into his arms. “It’s so good to see you,” he said a moment later.
He skated his lips across her neck, and then her jaw, and then the line of her jaw to her chin, and then finally claimed her mouth as his.
Oh, he was definitely falling too fast for this woman, and in this moment, he didn’t care one whit.
Bailey kissed him back, her hands grabbing onto the straps of his backpack and fisting there. She broke the kiss first and held him close. “I have a question for you.”
Reeves only had enough brain cells to hum, so he did that.
“We were planning to pack up early this afternoon and just go home, right?”
“Yes.” He opened his eyes and met hers. She fiddled with a tie or whatever he had on his backpack, but he couldn’t look away from her. “Why?”
“My momma texted and said they’re having a barbecue up at Whiskey Mountain Lodge tonight,” she said. “And I thought maybe we could go there after this.”
Surprise and fear filled Reeves from head to toe in one mighty wave. “I haven’t showered for a couple of days.”
Bailey finally looked up at him and smiled. “It’s a lodge,” she said. “It has something like eight or nine rooms with full bathrooms.”
Reeves swallowed because he wanted to take this step in his relationship with Bailey. They’d eaten out in a restaurant closer to the center of town, and while Reeves liked his privacy and his reclusive lifestyle, he also enjoyed being out with Bailey.
“We could also go home first,” she said. “My mom said they’ll have the burgers and hot dogs done around six.” She spoke with enough hopeful nonchalance that somehow made Reeves want to be at her side tonight.
She made him feel brave and strong, and he found himself nodding. “A barbecue sounds fun. At the very least, it’ll be a meal I won’t have to make.”
“There’s that,” Bailey said with a giggle.
He turned back toward the trailhead and dropped his hand to hers. “Let’s get going,” he said. “And I’ll decide if I want to shower at the lodge or if I want to go home once everything’s packed up.”
“I don’t mind either way,” Bailey said. “If we go home first, we’ll only have to take one car to the lodge.”
Reeves nodded and decided not to decide right now.
“How’s your trip been?” she asked.
He grinned over to her as his boots finally started crunching over the dirt path of the trail. Reeves felt more at home in the mountains than anywhere else, and having Bailey at his side only doubled that.
“Amazing so far,” he said. “But twice as good now that you’re here.”
Bailey grinned at him and shook her head, though he wasn’t kidding.
“And the wildflowers are amazing, my wildflower.” He leaned over and touched his lips to her forehead. “I can’t wait for you to see them.”