I pulled her back for second. “How the hell did you get outside?”
She looked at me like I had just asked her the stupidest question ever. “I climbed out the bedroom window. ”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want Garrett to think we were messing around. If I came out from the bedroom, he would have. ”
I just stared at her. She made it sound so logical. I leaned down to kiss her as she let out a giggle.
“God, I love you, baby!” I barely pulled my lips away from hers.
“We’ll pick up where we left off later,” I said as I smacked her ass.
“Sounds good. Um, Jeff, I really need to talk to you about something. It’s really important. ”
As I looked down at her, I ran the back of hand down the side of her face.
“Do we need to talk now, baby? I can just tell Garrett that I’ll be up in a little bit. ”
“No, they need help, and this is Garrett and Emma’s big day. We can talk after the party. ”
“Okay, baby, if you’re sure. Is everything okay, Ari?”
She smiled at me, and the spark that was in her eyes made me smile back at her.
“Yeah, at least, I um…yeah…no, really, it’s fine. Come on, let’s go. ”
I took Ari’s hand as we made our way outside. Garrett was waiting for us, leaning up against his truck.
“Hey, Garrett, I’ll just follow you. That way when it’s time to leave, I won’t have to ask anyone for a ride. ” I said as I held open the truck door open for Ari.
He nodded and got in his truck.
***
We spent the morning setting up tables and chairs for the party. Gunner was practically flying high after working from with his father. Ellie was so in her environment, and I was glad to see her smiling as much as she was. She adored Emma, and Emma adored her. Grace seemed to be falling right into the role of mother-in-law perfectly. She and Ellie got along so well. And at times, my heart just wanted to burst because I was so happy for Ellie.
Heather seemed to be slipping further into a funk, especially with Lynda following Josh around. Josh just seemed…shit, I don’t know how Josh seemed. Fucked-up is the only way I could describe it. It wasn’t a good sign that he had already started drinking around lunch-time.
Sitting on one of the hay bales, I tried to listen to Gunner going on about something with the cattle, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Ari. My beautiful Ari. She looked happy, but at the same time, she looked so lost. She had such a beautiful glow about her, I lost my breath just watching her.
She was now arguing with Josh about where he was going to put the washers game. Josh looked like he was about to pull his hair out. I should really be a better friend and go save him from my beautiful, outspoken future bride.
I decided it was kind of fun just sitting here, watching the two of them.
Ari put her hands on her hips and tilted her head at him. I watched the whole thing play out. Ari tilted her head and put her hands on her hips. She just looked at him with that look of hers, and the next thing I saw was Josh moving the game.
I smiled, and just then, Ari looked over at me. Her frown turned into that goddamn smile of hers. If I had been standing up, my knees would have buckle.
Gunner nudged me with his shoulder, and I moved my gaze away from Ari to look at him.
“Dude, you do know how lucky you are to have her, right?”
I smiled as I looked back at Ari, who was still looking at me. Her face seemed…. concerned. I knew she wanted to talk to me about something, she seemed excited about it but nervous as hell also.
She started to walk toward us, I instantly felt my body react to her. As she reached me, she lowered her head, looking at me through those beautiful long eye lashes of hers. It was almost like she knew how much I wanted her.
I turned back to Gunner and smiled.