Gus jumped up and down, trying to get Gunner to throw a stick. “Not now, boy.”
His arm wrapped around my waist as we headed back to our tent. “Hmm, wonder why?”
I leaned my head against his arm. “Thank you for this morning. It was amazing.”
Gunner kissed the top of my head. “I agree.”
“As much as I’ve loved this trip, I miss Alex something awful.”
“Same here. I can’t wait to see her.”
Gazing up at him, I couldn’t help but smile. I loved how Alex already had Gunner wrapped around her little finger.
We dropped our things back at our tent and headed over to Jeff and Ari’s site. Josh and Heather were already there. As we walked up, we heard Josh re-telling the story of the mountain lion last night.
“And it’s started,” Gunner said with a chuckle.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Hayes. The mountain lion keeps getting bigger. It wasn’t that big,” Ari said as she shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth.
Heather glanced up at us and smiled. “Good morning. Why Ellie, you certainly look beautiful this morning.”
“I feel beautiful,” I said as I kissed Jeff on the cheek. He gave me a wink and said, “Good morning, sis.”
Sitting, I reached for a piece of bacon. I inhaled deeply. “Pancakes,” I whispered.
“Not just any kind of pancakes. Chocolate chip with fresh strawberries.”
My stomach growled as I watched a large plate of pancakes be placed in the middle of the table. By the time I picked up my fork and went to get a pancake, they were gone.
“What in the heck, y’all?” I asked as I looked at Heather and Ari.
“What? I’m feeding two other people,” Heather said with a huge smile.
Ari on the other hand stood and put a pancake on my plate. “There ya go, Ells.”
I glanced down at the one cake then back up at Ari. “One? You’re only giving me one?”
With a shrug, she motioned over to Jeff with her head. “He’s making more.”
“Here, Ellie, got you some more.”
Jeff placed two more pancakes on my plate. Heather and Ari were both eyeing them, causing me to slide down the picnic table away from their reach.
“Hey, it looks like she has more chips in hers,” Ari called out to Jeff.
Spinning around, Jeff grabbed the chips and dumped them over Ari’s food. “There. You’ve got more chips. Happy now?”
“Yes, I am.” Her eyes widened as she looked up at Jeff. “What in the hell are you wearing?”
Everyone looked at Jeff. I couldn’t help but start laughing. His T-shirt said,
Gunner stood and walked over to Jeff, hitting him on the back. “Now I get the diving symbol on the back of your shirt. Only you, Jeff. Only you.”
I walked into the stables and took a good look around. Taking in a deep breath, I smiled.
“Any man who draws in that deep of a breath must either work with horses, or really love them.”
Turning, I smiled at the young blonde woman standing in the doorway of the stables. She for sure must work at the stables. She had on dusty jeans, boots that had seen a better day, and work gloves were sticking out of her back pocket.