just miss this.” My eyes stung because I knew everything was about to change, but I needed to remember we were together now, and neither of us was giving up that easily.
He pulled me close and kissed my temple. “Whatever happens, I just want you to know...” His voice became husky. “This was the best night of my life.”
“Me too.” I could unequivocally say I felt the same way.
He held me a bit longer, like he didn’t want to let me go, but he had to. We stood and began folding blankets, putting them into neat stacks on the couch.
“What time do you usually get up?” I asked.
“Five,” he answered simply, but my eyes bugged out.
“In the morning?”
He chuckled. “When else?”
I shook my head. “I’m a six thirty girl, myself.”
“What’s the first thing you do every morning?”
I held a blanket to my chest and carried it to the bed. “You mean besides check all of the notifications I totally got while I was sleeping?”
“Of course, after that,” he teased.
I smiled. “I go to the den and do my breathing treatment. It takes about fifteen minutes, and I usually watch videos while I sit there.”
“Do you need to do your treatment this morning?” he asked, concerned.
“Yes,” I answered simply. “But I do it every day. I’m sure getting to it a few hours late won’t hurt.”
He seemed skeptical, but he didn’t really have any choice but to trust me. I’d be here until the snow melted enough for me to drive home. And since he lived on a dirt road, I’d have to worry about mud too. I’d never driven through it before.
My eyes caught sight of something where the wall met the ceiling. “Hey,” I said, pointing to the small basement windows. “We got snowed in.”
He chuckled at the white buildup clouding our view. “Want to see how much we got?”
I nodded and followed him upstairs. His mom was up already, the coffee pot brewing.
“How’d you two sleep?” she asked.
“Great,” I answered. “It was really comfy downstairs.”
“Good,” she said, turning back to the food sizzling on the stove.
Ray smirked at me before walking to the back door, and I followed him, wanting to see the world transformed. It hardly snowed in California, so when it did, it was cause for celebration.
The land outside was coated in a thick blanket of snow. It had to be only a few inches, but I thought I could drive through it. That would be easier than getting over the roads when the snow melted and turned the dirt to mud.
“Do you know what the temperature’s supposed to be today?” I called to his mom.
“Upper forties to mid-fifties. The ground’s warm enough it should be gone soon,” she answered. “Once I’m done cooking breakfast, I’ll wake the others so they can get out and play in it for a little while. It’s Jonah’s first snow.”
I smiled as I followed Ray back into the kitchen.
“That means we get first dibs on the bacon,” he said, reaching for a piece.
She smacked his hand. “Ladies first.”
With a smirk, he turned to me. “Hurry up so I can get my food.”
“So impatient,” I said and took a couple of pieces, along with the toast and egg she offered me.
Eating “health” food all the time left me perpetually feeling like I was lacking, but this was delicious. By the time we finished eating, I was fully satisfied and ready to take on the day, whatever it brought.
We put our dishes in the sink, then went to the mudroom and put on winter gear. He loaned me some gloves, which were far too large on my hands, gave me a pair of muck boots, which I wore like clown shoes, and we started outside.
Just like the night before, he loaded feed into the tractor, then put it into the feed wagon. For the next half hour or so, he drove along the bunks, pouring blended hay and grain into them while driving. A rich smell rose from the substance, like sweet grass. The cattle came up, digging in, and I loved watching them brush their grayish-reddish noses into the mixture and then use their tongues to wrap it into their mouths.
We reached the edge of the bunks, and Ray pushed a button that closed the trailer and stopped the flow of feed.
He maneuvered the truck back to the shop, parked, and turned it off. “All done.”
“What’s next?” I asked.
He raised his eyebrows and scooted closer. “How about a little break?” he