Chapter 30
thirty
Leo
After that night in the bed of my truck, I felt like I was on top of the world.
Carolina and I had settled into a routine.
I hated leaving her and Luke every night, but we agreed that we should take things slow.
We hadn’t told anyone we were back together, not that it was a secret since most people had their assumptions, but we wanted to keep it to ourselves for just a little bit.
As the summer neared an end, my parents thought it’d be a good idea to turn our usual Sunday dinners into a cookout by the pool.
Carolina had invited a couple of girls she’d befriended at the coffee shop and Brooks invited Callie Jo, one of the bartenders from Whiskey on the Rocks.
It’d just be close friends and family there.
Luke was excited to enjoy the pool as he ran around the house in blue swim trunks that had sharks on them.
“Slow down, bud,” I warned as he raced past me with a water gun in his hand that he’d wanted to put in the bag Carolina had packed.
She rounded the corner after him, and I sucked in a breath through my teeth. She had on a pale pink cover up with the straps of her bikini top peeking out. She was the most beautiful woman I’d even seen, and I tried to tell her that on a daily basis.
“You ready to go?” I asked as she checked the bag wrapped on her shoulder.
“Yeah, just wanted to make sure I had everything,” she said as she rummaged through it and looked up at me with a smile.
We piled in her SUV and headed off to the ranch, my hand in hers the entire drive.
I parked on the side of the house, and got out of the vehicle and helped Luke out before I opened Carolina’s door and held out my hand.
“Mi lady,” I said, causing her to laugh, and she placed her hand in mine.
Once she was standing, she turned around and grabbed the beach bag that she’d placed between her feet. She threw the strap of the bag over her shoulder, and I grabbed her hand, linking our fingers together.
I felt her questioning gaze on the side of my head as we walked hand in hand around the back of the house, Luke running ahead of us.
We walked down the slight hill, and Carolina stopped and pulled my arm to halt my steps.
“What’s wrong?” I turned around and asked her.
She looked down at our linked fingers then back up at me, but I feigned ignorance and gave her a questioning gaze as I waited for her to explain.
“We haven’t told anyone yet,” she whispered, as if the people down below could hear her over their laughter and the splashing water in the pool.
“Don’t you think it’s about time we do?” I asked her as I stepped into her space to crowd her.
She looked up at me and gulped before she gave a nod.
“Don’t worry about anything. We’ve been here before. They’ll be happy for us. And if they aren’t, who cares. Are you happy?”
She looked up at me and smiled.
“Yeah, I am,” she replied breathlessly.
“Me too. That’s all that matters,” I said as I leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose.
“Now let’s go have some fun,” I said as I pulled on her hand.
We walked down to the pool and joined the cookout. Everyone that was invited was already here.
“It’s about dang time,” Holden shouted and started to clap, causing everyone to turn their heads in our direction.
I held up our joined hands to show everyone what he referred to, and everyone else joined him in clapping for us.
I looked over at Carolina whose cheeks were a bright shade of red.
Deciding to up the ante, I stopped walking and pulled her into me, laying my lips on hers. The cheers grew louder the longer my lips were on hers.
I pulled back, and she swatted my chest with a smile before she turned and headed over to one of the loungers by the pool.
Ainsleigh and Gentry sat beside us on the daybed with baby Olivia laying on Ainsleigh’s chest under the protection of the canopy.
Carolina put sunscreen on Luke, and he begged her to get into the pool with him. She turned back to look at me and blew me a kiss that I pretended to catch before she walked over to the pool, and they both jumped in.
Brooks and Holden walked over, and the three of us sat on a lounge chair.
“You look happy, bro,” Brooks said as he patted my back.
“I am,” I said as I looked out at Luke as he splashed Carolina.
“I’m happy for you,” Holden said.
Gentry and Ainsleigh sat forward on the daybed and looked over at me.
“When did this happen?” Ainsleigh asked as she covered baby Olivia with a thin blanket to protect her from the sun. She had the cutest sun hat on her head, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s still new. Not too long ago, but it’s been leading up to this moment for a while,” I told her as I clasped my hands together, my eyes never straying from where Luke and Carolina played in the pool.
I wanted to remember these moments with them, the memories we’d made as a family, for the rest of my life.
I didn’t want to take any of them for granted, and I wouldn’t, not after I’d missed so much time already.
“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy for you. They're good for you,” Ainsleigh said, and I nodded at her. My life had changed for the better since they’d returned.
“Now give me my godbaby. I’ve waited long enough,” Holden said as he stood and walked around the daybed to where Ainsleigh sat, his hands held out as he waited for my sister to hand her over.
The four of us laughed at Holden as he laid the still sleeping Olivia on his chest and walked away.
“He’s goin’ to spoil her rotten,” Ainsleigh joked.
“Of course he is. We all are. You’re just goin’ to have to get over it,” Brooks said with a laugh, causing Gentry and I to laugh as well.
“I don’t know why you’re laughin’. They’re goin’ to spoil Luke too, ya know,” Ainsleigh said.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.