Page 44 of Serious Cowboy
A summer breeze blew gently through the surrounding trees and birds chirped overhead. The scent of something sweet floated over to them and the buzzing of bees from some nearby wildflowers provided a tranquil soundtrack to the beating of her own heart. She shifted her head against his head so she could also hear his, that thump-thump, thump-thump that she almost lost.
She gave him a squeeze, then peered up into those midnight blue orbs, half mystified by them. As Callie opened her mouth to say what had been burgeoning up within her for a long time now, so did Zeke.
“I love you,” they said in unison, and the coincidence and power of the moment made Callie blink.
“You do?” she asked him.
“Do you?” he replied back. She nodded just as he did, and as she felt her mouth curving into a smile, she watched as the same expression lit Zeke’s features.
It was then that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were not only together, but that they always would be.
She leaned into him rising so that her lips could meet his, and as they kissed it was like this culmination of all that had come before or would ever come in the future. The beginning of something vital and life changing. The start of a new life.
Callie had never felt so secure in the knowledge that she was doing what she was supposed to be doing with the man she was meant to be with. It was a bone-deep understanding that she couldn’t have explained even if she’d wanted to. But what it amounted to most of all was this overall sense that everything would be okay.
And she’d never felt so content.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Zeke stareddown at the framed photograph of him and Maria, of her sweet round face and his own. He’d been so young back then. They both had. And absorbing just how young—they’d been kids, really—impacted him for the first time.
Not that he hadn’t known they were a teenage couple who’d married and conceived a child very early in their lives. Of course, he’d known that. But looking back on that time from his mid-thirties made him see it all so differently. Made him understand that losing his wife and his newborn daughter had wrecked him in this fundamental way.
He was sure he would’ve been wrecked no matter when it’d happened, but being just a boy himself at the time meant he hadn’t had the coping skills to deal with any of it. He barely had the skills now. Not that he was any expert on grief and mourning. But he could say that he was getting better. And up until the accident, that frankly, hadn’t been the case.
Zeke hadn’t known it, but he’d been living as if frozen. Everyone else’s lives had gone on around him but not his. Never his. It had been like when Maria and Hadley died, his spirit had died rightalong with them, leaving nothing but the empty physical husk of his body behind. He’d been going through the motions of life but not actually living it.
Subconsciously, he’d thought it would always be that way.
And then, Callie had blazed across his sky like a shooting star.
He hadn’t been the same since, and though he didn’t know if he deserved the gift that was Callie Blum—kind of doubted it in fact—he sure was appreciative of receiving it anyway. He heard the bustling of many people inside his house, a rarity, and put the last touches on the custom wooden photo collage he’d made.
Inside nine separate panels all built into a single display were his fondest memories of him and Maria, including that one of her big pregnant. He stared at it for a moment, liking how it turned out. Zeke then carried the collage out of his bedroom, past the commotion occurring in his kitchen and living room, and to a place of honor on the wall near his front door.
There, he hammered in the nails necessary to hang it up. A dull pang rolled through him as he did, but the second he slid the collage into its new permanent spot, he felt lighter. This was a release of sorts. A chapter of his life closing so he could turn the next page and keep going.
Hewouldkeep going, too. Today was all about that.
Doing an about-face from his memorial to his late wife and daughter, Zeke took in the pandemonium going on behind him. Streamers in sunshine yellow mixed with the same color as Callie’s eyes billowed in upside-down arcs from his ceiling and cottony-looking tablecloths covered a buffet line that included finger sandwiches, an assortment of cold fizzy drinks, and thegrand finale, a two-tiered collection of cupcakes that would serve as a birthday cake.
Today, Callie would celebrate her thirty-first rotation around the sun. Even if she didn’t know it yet. Oh, she knew she supposed to go to her brother’s house for some ice cream and cake. But that particular birthday celebration was all a ruse. Right on cue, Lindsey approached him as she announced to her entire crew.
“Okay, people, we’re at T-minus fifteen minutes. Tim’s en route with Callie now.”
Zeke’s mouth curved upwards all on its own. This had become quite the production, but he wanted it that way. Callie would never suspect such slight of hand from him, and it made this party that much more delightful.
Since Callie believed she’d be having a small shindig at Tim and Amanda’s, she had no clue that the real celebration would be held at Zeke’s home instead. Most of the guests were already here. Amanda was here with Brian, Sallie, and Kimmie. Callie’s folks had flown in from Washington again. Erika and the other nurse from Tim’s pediatric practice were also here.
The plan was for Tim to claim that Zeke’s truck had broken down, and they needed to pick him up. If she offered to go get Zeke herself, Tim was supposed to say that he needed to bring over a heavy piece of equipment for him anyway, so he needed to go, too. It should work since Tim could be a convincing liar when the occasion called for it.
Everything was falling right into place.
Too bad every inch of him suddenly morphed into a giant ball of nerves.
He’d been planning and preparing for this day for a month now. It’s why he jumped way outside of his comfort zone and chose to not only have Callie’s nearest and dearest here at his residence, but to have it professionally catered by Lindsey’s business. Good thing he had an in by being employed by her husband. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have even known who to call.
But Lindsey had handled everything. Well, everything she could. The upcoming bit that he felt so nervous about though was up to no one but him. His hands trembling caused him to ball them into fists and stuff them in his pockets.