Phil, and he can come to Uncle Ames’s.” He looked at Gray with such hope in his eyes, and Ames was transported back to when he was almost fifteen years old. He’d have done anything to be with friends, as they were astronomically more important than his family.
Now, he only wanted to spend time with his brothers, their wives, and kids, and his parents. It was funny how time changed things.
“Sure,” Gray said. “Take Hutch. You’ll have to talk to Uncle Ames about having Phil over. It’s his house, and I think he wants you to help him work.” Gray raised his eyebrows at Ames, who nodded at his brother.
He put his arm around Hunter and said, “I’m sure you can have a friend over. Get Hutch, and let’s go.”
Hunter bustled off to do that, and Ames turned to find Sophia. She sat on the floor in the living room, Jane on her lap and Michael threading a shoelace through a card with an extreme look of concentration on his face.
Sophia had her finger right on the next hole, and Michael got his chubby fingers to get the lace in the right spot. The world narrowed to the three of them like a spotlight from heaven had shone down right on her. Everything else faded away, and Ames was really glad he’d taken Hunter’s advice.
He couldn’t imagine what saying goodbye to her would feel like, and thankfully, he didn’t have to do it until Monday.
“Hey,” he said gently. “We’re ready to go. Do you still want to come?”
“Yes.” She lifted Jane up to him, and he took the little girl. She looked at Ames with wide eyes, and he smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek while Sophia stood up.
Baby Jane smiled and reached for Ames’s cowboy hat. He pressed it on his head and said, “You can’t have that, baby,” before turning to find Gray or Elise. He didn’t see them, and Patsy said she’d take Jane, so Ames passed the girl to her.
“Have fun,” Cy said as Ames walked behind the couch. “We’re playing cornhole at seven. You should be back to defend your title, or you’ll have to forfeit.”
“Oh, jeez,” Ames said, and he walked out the front door with Sophia, the two of them laughing about defending a cornhole title. Things between them almost felt normal, and Ames started to consider that perhaps he could go to North Carolina and pause his relationship with Sophia and things would be fine.
Perhaps.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sophia’s heart pounded at the sight of the farmhouse. She’d loved her time in Colorado, and she regretted that she’d once said she wouldn’t leave Coral Canyon for this place. She loved the Hammond family, despite her earlier vows to not let them take over her life.
It just goes to show how wrong first impressions can be, she told herself.
“Well,” Ames said, bringing his truck to a stop behind a couple of others. “Here we are.”
“Mm,” she said, looking at the house. She was going back to Wyoming tomorrow. He wasn’t. She’d go back to her real life at Whiskey Mountain Lodge, and he wouldn’t be there.
He wasn’t leaving for North Carolina for another week or so, but he had to go through his house and get packed before then. She’d helped a little bit this weekend, but not much. In the end, Ames had opened a few kitchen cupboards and said, “Maybe I can buy new dishes to use there,” and Sophia had followed his lead.
They’d gone through his hall closet to pull out a few towels and sheets, and he’d half-heartedly put those in a box. Hunter’s friend, Phil, came over, and then Ames and Sophia had sat in the swing on the back porch and watched the two teenagers play with the four dogs. Ames had been quite different this weekend than he’d been in the several weeks leading up to the trip. He’d held her hand and asked her to dinner. He’d kissed her with more passion, and he’d told her about the things he’d been doing to get ready to go, about the house in Three Rivers, and about the construction on the dog facility in Coral Canyon.
He’d spoken to her the most about that, because she was going to help him with it while he was gone.
“I don’t want to say goodbye in a big group,” he said. “Tomorrow, at the airport.” He got out of the truck while Sophia was still trying to process