All I Need

by Jennifer Van Wyk

  She pouts and it’s adorable but it’s not bratty. It’s a pout coming from her wanting to experience more of what she did when Camilla was born and it only makes me like her that much more.

  “I’ll make you a deal. You go out with me this weekend and I’ll find a pregnant goat soon.”

  “I don’t see how I lose in this deal.”

  Me either.

  “Well, there’s a catch.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Grayson might be with us. He’s been talking about asking a girl out but his mom and her parents have a strict no dating alone until they’re sixteen rule.”

  “You’re asking me to go on a double date with a couple of fifteen-year-olds?” she asks, trying not to laugh.

  “I am.”

  Right or wrong, I’m testing her. She’s made it clear that she understands why Grayson is such an important part of my life but saying it and showing it are two very different things. I did promise Grayson that I would help him out so he could go on a date with his girl, but I don’t really intend for that to be on the night of my first date with Ellie.

  “Is Grayson okay with it?”

  One point for Ellie.

  “He is.”

  “And the girl? Has he asked her out yet? Are her parents okay with it also?”

  Two points.

  “They’ve been “talking” for a while now,” I say, using finger quotes around the word talking because in teenage world, talking means Snapchat and texting. “And yes, I imagine Barrett and Tess would be okay with Grayson taking out Harper. Though, her brothers won’t be able to know about it.”

  “As long as they’re aware of what’s happening, I think it sounds like fun.”

  Score.

  “Really?”

  “Of course. I’d like to have the chance to get to know Grayson a little better anyway.”

  I lean up and kiss her because there’s no other response worthy. I bunch her long thick hair in my hand as I hold her close, not wanting the moment to end.

  “You’ll have plenty of time, but tomorrow night is just us.”

  “But I thought…” she pauses then, “wait.”

  “I’m sorry,” I admit, hoping she understands why I’m sorry.

  She giggles before standing up, adjusting her clothes.

  “Hey, where are you going?” I reach out for her but she shakes her head and takes another step back.

  “You’re just as screwed up as I am,” she giggles.

  “I disagree.”

  “So I’m screwed up?”

  “I didn’t say that… holy shit. You’re trying to set me up!”

  “How’s it feel?”

  “Touché.”

  “You deserved it. You were totally testing me just now.”

  “And you had to get off my lap to tell me that?”

  “No. I had to get off your lap because if I didn’t, we would miss breakfast and my boss is kind of a hard ass so I’m going to need the sustenance to make it through the day.”

  I stand up too. “You think I have a hard ass?” I tease, turning around and shaking it in her direction.

  “Walker Paul, would you put your bum away so the poor girl can come in here for some breakfast?” Miss Polly shouts from the kitchen.

  “Does she have cameras in here?” Ellie asks, horrified.

  “I told you she knows everything.” I grip her hand. “I’m sorry I did that with Grayson.”

  “You don’t need to apologize. Remember, you told me how other women have reacted to your relationship with him.”

  “But it doesn’t bother you?” I ask, playing with her fingers.

  “No. It will only bother me if I see that you’re not living your own life because you’re focusing only on his.”

  Her words are like a punch to the gut. It’s exactly what I know I’ve been doing since the day Grayson was born. But it’s not because I planned it that way. I never found anyone else worthy of living my life with.

  Until now.

  “Time to eat. You have a big day ahead of you.” I lean down to kiss her and she puts a hand up in front of her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “How do we do this?”

  “Well, I’d say the first step is,” my hand curves around the slender column of her neck. “And then a little of,” my tongue snakes out, licking the seam of her mouth. She whimpers so I take that as my cue that it’s okay to keep going. “Sometimes,” I dip her backwards and she starts laughing when I nuzzle my face in the soft skin above her collarbone.

  When I stand us upright we’re both laughing and I would do anything to keep the joy on her face always.

  “How we do this…”

  “Yeah?”

  “When we’re at the clinic we keep it professional, but lucky for me, I own the place. I have nothing to hide but if you don’t want everyone to know, I’ll negotiate a timeframe for how long we wait to tell everyone. But know this, I’m not waiting long. I’m ready to stake my claim on you. It’s not as if no one suspects anything, anyway. We’ve been flirting around it for almost six weeks now. Still, I want everyone to know you’re mine.”

  “How very caveman of you.”

  “Yeah, well, I make no apologies for that. I want people to know.”

  “I’m yours, huh?”

  I rest my forehead against hers and whisper, “You are.”

  IT’S SATURDAY MORNING AND TONIGHT is our first official date. Yesterday went far more smoothly than I expected it to. That is, after I got over the awkwardness of Miss Polly walking in on Walker and I making out like teenagers. The clinic was busy from the start of the day to the end which helped keep my mind off the fact that all I really wanted to do was storm into his office, swipe everything off his desk and have him lay me out on the wooden top. Reenact the phone sex we had a few nights ago.

  Okay, so maybe I had a little extra time on my hands to daydream a bit.

  At the end of the day, though, he walked me to my car, kissed me lightly and told me he’d pick me up at six o’clock Saturday night. The smile on my face could have been seen from Mars and the butterflies in my stomach made me feel like I was floating the entire way home. I’m not sure if it was a blessing or curse that Miss Polly had plans with a few friends to play Bridge. Having the house to myself felt weird, to say the least. I wasn’t sure if I would even feel comfortable being alone in Miss Polly’s home. But she assured me it was ours, not just hers.

  Last night, while I was consumed with thoughts of whether he’d text or call I felt like I had as a teenager. It felt like I’d gone back in time to middle school when I had a crush on Danny Phillips and slipped him my phone number on a piece of notebook paper. I watched out of the corner of my eye in math class when he opened up the small piece of white paper. My heart pounded hoping he wouldn’t laugh or rip it up—or worse, tell everyone. But he simply smiled to himself, folded it back up and slipped it into his pocket. That evening when we were finishing up dinner, I had my first phone call with a boy. It was amazing and incredible, until the moment my dad came stumbling into my bedroom, drunk like usual.

  After I got over the anticipation of Walker either calling or not calling, I spent the evening organizing my bedroom then cracked open my kindle and settled in for some sexy reading.

  I stretch my arms above my head and settle back into my cushy mattress. The lilac sheets are soft and cool against my skin. I twist my head to look out the window, the sun already making its ascent into the sky but struggling to be seen through the heavy dark clouds from the approaching storm. A flash of lightning rips through the sky only moments before a loud boom of thunder claps.

  Smiling, I cuddle in. There is truly nothing better than lazing in bed during a thunderstorm. I’ve always found comfort in storms, which is weird because the day my parents left it was storming. But when they were around, the noise of storms helped to drown out the sounds of my parents arguing and when the silence descended on the house during the storm because they’d
finally given up on parenting, it was such a welcome sound.

  Another bolt of lightning rips through the sky and suddenly a thought goes through my head and I yank my phone off its charger.

  I find the number I’m looking for and press the little blue phone icon. It rings only once before, “Best wakeup call I’ve ever received. Couldn’t wait until our date tonight so you had to call, huh?”

  “Is Camilla okay?”

  “Good morning to you, too.”

  “Morning Walker. Is Camilla okay in the storm?”

  I’m met with a few beats of silence before I can almost hear the smile in his voice when he replies, “You called me at 7am because you were worried about Stormy’s calf?”

  “It’s thundering and lightning outside. Is she safe? Do they have her in the barn?”

  “She’s safe.”

  “But how do you know?” More silence.

  “I’m gonna go check on her.”

  “Ellie, I promise you she’s fine. Brett and Courtney know what they’re doing. This isn’t their first storm with cattle, obviously, given Stormy’s name.”

  “I know that, but… she’s so little. And helpless.”

  “That’s why she’s got her mama.”

  “Walker,” I plead.

  “She’s not helpless, sweetheart. I promise. She’s very safe.”

  I don’t know how to respond to that. I just need to see for sure that she’s okay. “Grayson and I’ll be there in a few minutes. He stayed with me last night,” he says after a few seconds of my silence, immediately causing tears to spring to my eyes. He’s an amazingly generous man. How women before me could fault him for his relationship with Grayson blows my mind.

  “You’re wonderful, you know that?”

  “How’s that?”

  “The fact that you don’t even know is just one more reason. I kinda like you, Mac.”

  He sucks in a breath. “I kinda like you, too, babe.”

  “See you soon.”

  “You will. Make sure you wear Willow’s boots. It’ll be muddy.”

  “Okay. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I hang up the phone and whip the covers off me. I run to the bathroom to do my business, throw my hair up in a ponytail and brush my teeth then I throw on a pair of leggings and a long sleeve t-shirt.

  I’m just making my way downstairs when I see headlights come through the front window. A quick peek into the kitchen tells me that Miss Polly isn’t up yet so I jot down a quick note for her and leave it next to the coffee pot to let her know where I am. It’s not lost on me that I’m leaving a note to let someone know where I’m going because the guy I’m… seeing? Is that the right word?… is picking me up.

  I lock the front door behind me and rush through the rain to Walker’s pickup. I glance up to see Grayson getting out of the passenger door.

  “Stay. I’ll climb into the backseat.”

  “I can sit back there.”

  “Nonsense. You’re taller than me.”

  He grins and opens the back passenger door for me and I climb in. From my seat I have a perfect view of Walker, which is just fine with me.

  “I was gonna come get you,” Walker says, turning in his seat to look at me.

  I smile at his chivalry. “I’m capable of getting to a vehicle by myself. Besides. There’s no reason for all of us to get wet.”

  He smirks and I roll my eyes. “Come here,” he says and reaches a hand to me.

  I take it and he pulls me to him and kisses me square on the lips, keeping hold of my hand. Apparently we’re not hiding anything since his nephew who I have an inkling is quite the blabbermouth, is sitting right here. When he pulls back, he smiles. “Morning, Ellie girl.”

  Good thing I brushed my teeth.

  “Morning.”

  “Uh, when did this happen?” Grayson asks.

  “When we saw her on the side of the road.”

  Warmth floods my veins and he releases his hold on me so I can sit back in my seat.

  “Figured. I knew I didn’t have a chance.”

  Walker shoves Grayson lightly against his shoulder and he laughs, pulling his cap down low.

  I look out the window as we take off down the now familiar road. Walker hands Grayson his phone and tells him to shoot Brett a text to let him know we’re on our way then pulls into a small building parking lot. A neon sign that says Hot Doughnuts is lit up in the front window. He pulls around the building to a drive through window.

  “Welcome to It’s Doughnut Time, what can I get you?”

  “Holy crap, that’s Harper.”

  “Huh?”

  “That’s her voice! Harper’s working!”

  I grin, seeing how excited Grayson is at the idea of seeing the girl he’s interested in.

  “Morning. Can I get a dozen assorted?” Walker twists around in his seat and looks at me. “Coffee?”

  I nod my head and he turns back to the window. “Two coffees with cream and an orange juice, too, please.”

  “You got it. I’ll have your total for you at the window.”

  Grayson sits up a little taller as we follow the drive-through of the small building. I lean forward so I can get a better look because obviously I want to see what this girl looks like.

  Grayson sits back casually in his seat, resting a knee against the door when the window comes into view and Walker chuckles.

  “Such a cool cat,” Walker teases.

  “Shut up,” Grayson murmurs back.

  “That’ll be $14.35, ple…” Harper’s words die off when she notices Grayson in the pickup and her face turns a bright shade of pink. “H… Hey, Grayson.”

  “Hey, Harper. How’s it going?”

  “Good.”

  They stare at each other for a long minute, Walker looking back and forth between the two. He hands Harper a twenty and says “Here ya go.” She startles and reaches out to take his money.

  “Right. Sorry about that, Dr. McKinstry.”

  “Harper,” Walker chuckles. “It’s Walker. You know that.”

  “Sure,” she mutters handing him back his change. When she leans out the window, I look at her closer. She has beautiful bright blue eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes like hers before. Her lashes are long and dark and her skin is flawless. Her hair is pulled up and a visor with the words “It’s Always Doughnut Time” covers the front of her blonde hair. It isn’t hard to see what Grayson sees in her. She’s got that girl-next-door look going for her in a big way.

  “How’s Grady doing?”

  She beams at Walker’s question. “So good. He and Bri are buying a different place so they have more land. Apparently it was a big deal having to get it all sorted out with the University, ya know?”

  “I bet he’ll like that. He seems like he would enjoy a little more space.”

  “Yeah, for sure. Let me grab your order,” she says.

  As soon as she’s gone Grayson blows out a breath.

  I poke him in the shoulder. “She’s cute.”

  Bless his heart, he blushes. “You think so?”

  I decide to tease him a bit. “You don’t?”

  “What? No. I didn’t say… yeah, she’s alright.”

  “Just alright?”

  He glares at me. “To think, I once thought you were so nice and sweet.”

  I grin.

  “Fine. She’s gorgeous, okay? I just don’t know how to talk around her. Usually I don’t have a problem around girls but I can’t help but stumble over my words when she’s around. She’s just so…”

  His voice drifts off and I decide to let it go. He likes her. A lot. And it’s sweet.

  Harper reappears and hands the box of doughnuts to Walker who then passes them off to me. I place the warm box on my lap and inhale the scent of fried dough deliciousness. Whoever invented doughnuts really should be honored somehow.

  “Do you need a drink carrier?”

  “Nah, we got it. Thanks, Harper.”

  “Sure thin
g.” She hands him the orange juice which goes right to Grayson then we get our coffees.

  Just before Walker rolls up the window Grayson says loudly, “How late are you working?”

  She seems surprised by his outburst but in a very good way. “I’m done at two.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you, if that’s okay?”

  She smiles so brightly, her perfectly straight teeth that show off what I assume is some excellent orthodontic work. “Yeah, that’s okay.”

  “Good.”

  Walker rolls up his window and we sit in silence as we sip on our drinks. Grayson is so much like Walker it makes me wonder if that’s how he was in high school around girls. I imagine every single girl clamored for his attention.

  I see Walker glance at me in the rearview mirror. He winks like he knows what I’m thinking.

  “Can I get a doughnut?” Grayson asks.

  “Pick one out first, Ellie.”

  Walker. Even chivalrous when it comes to doughnut selection. I could fall in love with him.

  “You’re such a good little girl,” I coo as I sit next to Camilla on the hay bedding. Stormy is laying on her other side, watching me closely.

  “Anyone else think this is weird?” Grayson asks, not even trying to be quiet.

  Neither Brett nor Walker answer him. A loud clash of thunder booms and Camilla doesn’t even flinch, easing my worries.

  “I feel like you’re wanting to say I told you so,” I tell Walker.

  “I would never say that.”

  “Out loud. But you’re thinking it.” I glance at him from my place beside the adorable little calf and his eyes dance. He makes a motion that he’s zipping his lips.

  Brett walks over and crouches down next to me. “She’s really healthy and Stormy is a good mama.”

  His words help me relax a little bit. Stormy’s a good mama. She wants to be here for Camilla. She wouldn’t desert her.

  I turn my head to look at Brett. “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure. But you’re welcome to come see her anytime you’d like.”

  What is it with this town? I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t welcome a newcomer with open arms.

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  “Anytime. You wanna hang in here with her for a few minutes?”