Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 46

CHAPTER 46

KENNEDY

J ess and I bundled up in warm coats before we headed out for a stroll around the farm. It was too late in the season for the fireflies, but Merrick Meadows was beautiful with or without them. The moon and the stars lit our way, so bright we cast shadows as we walked.

In the distance were the trees that formed one of the borders of their property. Between were gorgeous fields and paddocks illuminated by the silvery light. I inhaled deeply as I walked beside her. The tall grass on either side of the little path to the barn gave off an earthy scent I couldn’t get enough of. It made me feel connected to the land in a way that was impossible in the city.

“You’re going to love our calves,” Jess said excitedly, finally breaking the comfortable silence we’d shared ever since leaving the house. “The dairy cows are thriving, and we had an incredible haul of babies this year to join our growing herd.”

“That sounds amazing, Jessie,” I said, automatically reverting to my childhood nickname for her.

Jess was the only friend I really had left from my days growing up in town, but she was also the only one I’d made an effort to stay in touch with. She had always been the sister of my soul, a kindred spirit I didn’t need to see or speak to every day to know that things would be exactly the same between us whenever we were reunited.

That remained true to this day, and while I sure hoped I would be seeing a lot more of her from now on, I was also just immensely thankful to have the time with her I had right then. “It’s so freaking good to be back here. I didn’t even realize how much I needed the quiet and the fresh air until tonight.”

“I’m glad you came.” She led me into the barn and motioned at the far side of it. “I need to warm up some milk for us to feed them, but go on over there for now. It’ll only take a minute.”

Happy to go spend some time with her new babies, I nearly melted at the sight of their small bodies and huge, kind eyes. Their fluffy tails flicked, their little noses so cute and shiny that I couldn’t help cooing at them.

“Oh, look at you guys. You are the most adorable things in the whole wide world, aren’t you? Yes, you are.” A few of them came curiously toward me and I smiled. “Don’t worry, babies. Jess will be here with your milk in a moment. You’re going to enjoy that, right? Some warm milk on a cold night. Aren’t you lucky duckies?”

Jess laughed as she came closer, carrying a caddie filled with bottles that looked almost like they were meant for human babies. Perhaps just with slightly wider nipples.

“I knew you were going to adore them too. Slate thinks I only love them so much because I’m pregnant myself, but come on. They are the cutest, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.” I grabbed a stool and sat down before taking a bottle from her and following her instructions on how to feed them.

With a calf’s warm body close to my own, I glanced at her, noticing how radiant she looked and grinning as I took her in. “He’s good for you. Slate. When you first told me you were marrying an oil guy, I nearly fell off my chair, but it’s so obvious that you guys belong together.”

“We really do,” she mused out loud before smirking as she looked back at me. “Speaking of, how are things going with my brother?”

I blushed all the way to the roots of my hair. “I mean, uh…”

“Don’t make it weird.” She laughed. “I like that you two are getting close. You really don’t have to worry that I’m going to be that annoying sister who won’t let her friend hook up with her brother. Besides, I already saw you guys together at dinner. You’re more than into him. Don’t even try denying it.”

Since I was staring at her so intently, wondering exactly what to say, I didn’t even see the calf moving closer until I got a wet kiss from a pink cow snout. I laughed and patted its neck. Taking a deep breath, I decided to be honest.

“Okay, right. It’s just that I haven’t really talked to anyone about this,” I admitted. “Winrey knows that there’s something going on, obviously, but I…”

“Uh huh,” she hummed expectantly when I trailed off. “You what? Use your words.”

“I think I might be falling for him,” I confessed in a rush, more heat flooding my cheeks as I scrunched my nose. “Is that weird, that I might be falling in love with your brother?”

Jess shook her head hard, letting out a gleeful giggle as she clapped her hands together. “No, it’s not, and we’re not going to make it weird. Tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out. Except maybe super graphic. I don’t really need those details.”

I was blushing so hard now that I felt my heart beating against my throat, but I swallowed it down. “Cross my heart that I will not, ever, give you any super graphic details.”

She grinned at me. “But you’re hooking up with him, right? Bumping uglies? Rolling in the hay?”

“Yeah, I know what hooking up is.” I grimaced, not really sure how much to say but genuinely wanting to spill it out to her. She was his sister, sure, but she was also one of my oldest friends. Someone I loved like family and had always been completely honest with. “And yes, we’ve shaken a few headboards.”

“Okay, calm down.” She reached out to give my knee a playful smack. “That’s more than enough.”

I smiled. “And he’s good.”

“Ew, no.” Jess flapped her hands like she’d just touched something gross. “No graphic details. Damn.”

“No, I meant as a person.” I chuckled and shook my head. “Like he’s considerate and supportive. He’s so strong and in charge all the time, but he can also be so nice. So warm. So cuddly.” I bit my lower lip and stifled a groan.

“I get it. I get it. You’re going to make the morning sickness come back.” Jess wrinkled her nose.

“You wanted to know,” I said, shrugging. “It’s not my fault he knows how to candy a girl’s yams.”

“So much for leftovers.” She shot me a mock glare. “Thanks a lot.”

“Seriously, though. I’ve spent so many years desperately trying everything I could to make things work and get my business started, and then I connected with Austin and stuff just started happening.” I shrugged. “He believed in me, so then I felt like someone worth believing in.”

I felt myself starting to ramble a little bit, but with a baby cow next to me, holding a bottle in its mouth and talking to my best friend in a barn at Merrick Meadows, I couldn’t help it. It just felt like the good old days and I’d been missing those for over a decade.

“He’s been busting his ass to remove any obstacle that comes my way,” I explained, my voice dreamy, but I didn’t give a damn. “He believes in my vision like nobody else ever has. Besides Winrey, of course, but she’s got her own life and her own troubles, so she hasn’t been able to help me the way Austin has.”

“Good on him,” Jess murmured encouragingly. “I’m glad he’s being so supportive of you, Kenny. Maybe the city hasn’t corrupted him after all.”

“He makes me feel like I can do anything,” I said with a disbelieving smile on my face. “The more I’m with him, the more he’s becoming part of my dream, you know? I don’t really feel like I even want it anymore if he won’t be there to share it with me.”

“Whoa, that’s huge,” Jess said with excitement in her tone, her eyes shining as she stared at me. “From where I’m sitting, it sounds like there’s another wedding in our future. Crap, don’t make me wear a bridesmaid dress when I’m ready to burst. I don’t want to look like a beach ball in all your photos.”

I widened my eyes at her. “We’re a very long way from even thinking about a wedding. We haven’t even really talked about what we are.”

“Well, why not?” Jess looked ready to stomp her foot. “You guys looked so cozy at dinner that I just assumed it was all official and stuff. Plus, he brought you home with him at Thanksgiving and you were telling dinner party stories like an old married couple.”

“I know.” I groaned and used my hand not holding the bottle to cover my face. “I want to tell him this weekend, but I’m just waiting for the right moment. Things have been so crazy back in the city, and I told him a couple of weeks ago that I needed to take a step back.”

She snorted. “It doesn’t look like taking a step back is going very well for you.”

“It’s really not,” I said, scoffing down laughter as I looked at the incredulous expression on her face. “Don’t look at me like that. I thought I was doing the right thing. We’re working together and stuff. I didn’t want to complicate things and mess them up.”

“Sure, by all means. Just keep putting off your future happiness until you decide it’s the right time to tell him that you want to be with him. It’s not like you’re not together anyway.”

“Like you told Slate how you felt immediately,” I reminded her. “He left, remember? You let him leave, thinking it was over between you.”

“Oh, bring out the big guns, why don’t you?” she teased playfully, sighing as she held my gaze. “First, our situation was completely different. I didn’t want to move to the city and I didn’t know he wanted to move here to be with me and have a quiet life on the farm.”

“And second?”

“Second,” she continued without skipping a beat, her eyes suddenly taking on a faraway glimmer. “That’s how I know that you should just tell him. I’ve lived through the putting it off part of the story, Kenny. It’s not fun. Trust me. Austin is into you, too. I can tell that he is and he wouldn’t have brought you here if he wasn’t, so just say the damn thing already.”

I chuckled. “You know, I just had that exact same thought about him the other day, except I know that he’s not the one who has to say the damn thing. I am. He’s already said it.”

“He has?” she whisper-shrieked so as not to alarm the cows. “Then what are you waiting for? Just talk to the man. And speak clearly. Tell him what’s in your heart and you’ll be fine.”

“I will,” I promised, filled with a new sense of resolve as we finished feeding the rest of the babies and went back to the farmhouse.

As we approached it, I saw Jeannie and Doug sitting on the porch swing outside, cuddling under a blanket and laughing together about something. In my heart, I knew I wanted what they had. I wanted someone to grow old with, who would love me just as he had on our wedding day and vice versa.

Jess had found that in Slate, and maybe Austin was my happily ever after. Maybe my dream for a hotel was never supposed to have come true in the literal sense of the word. Maybe it’d all been my aunt’s way of guiding me to the love of my life all along.

As the thought occurred to me, I realized it might very well be true, and as much as I still desperately wanted a brick-and-mortar hotel and restaurant, it also wouldn’t be the very worst thing in the world if I never got it—as long as Austin Merrick turned out to be the love of my life for real.