Just the beginning.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

GUNNER

Late May

I walked around on the slab and took notes. Ellie hadn’t been feeling good for the last two weeks, so she took a trip into Austin with Ari for a change of scenery and some shopping. The house was coming along nicely. Now, we just needed it to stop raining so damn much, so the framing could get going.

I looked up and saw Josh driving up in the Jeep. What the hell? This is a nice surprise.

He jumped out of the Jeep and came walking up to me, reaching to shake hands.

“Dude, what a nice surprise.”

Josh smiled and slapped me on the back. “You couldn’t have picked a better spot on the ranch to build y’all’s house. Nicely done, bro.”

I smiled as I looked around. Our tree, the same tree where it’d all started, was going to be in the back yard of our new house.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want it to be anywhere else. My dad is pushing the hell out of me to get this house done. He’s tired of living with Gramps and Grams. To be honest, I think that’s why they are traveling so much.” I said with a laugh.

“Where are they now?”

“Las Vegas!” I said with a chuckle.

My drill instructor father had turned into a carefree wild and crazy man ever since his heart attack last year.

“What brings you out here?” I asked.

“Jeff, needed some help taking care of some things, and I think a few of those mares are ready to pop. With Ari so close to the due date, he just wanted an extra hand around. I knew about a month ago, so I stopped taking in new orders, and my dad is covering for me. I sure needed the break from work.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You know Jeff is going to work your ass to the bone, and I might call on you as well.”

“Bring it, dude. The more work the better. You know I love it out here, and this shit is relaxing for me. Besides, I needed out of the city. If it wasn’t for Lynda, I think I would move out this way. I love Fredericksburg. I really think I could easily move the business out there and still be close enough to Austin to do work there.”

“Damn, dude, that would be awesome to have you closer.”

“Yeah, if only Lynda wanted the same thing I wanted, I’d be set.”

“How are things with y’all?”

Josh shrugged his shoulders.

“Have you seen Heather since Ari and Jeff’s wedding?” I asked.

“No, I heard some shit though that bothered me.”

Fuck. I knew where he was going with this. Ellie and Ari had tried to talk to Heather, but they couldn’t seem to get through to her. Heather had turned to going out and partying all the time, so much that even Amanda was worried about it.

“What did you hear?”

“Just that she’s been partying a lot. Do you remember Smitty from UT?”

“Yeah, I remember Smitty.”

“He said she goes out every weekend. Do you know if any of that’s true?”

“I hate to say this, but yeah, Ellie and Ari have been really worried about her. She seems to go after her school shit hard all week, and then ever Friday and Saturday night, she goes out and drinks with a few friends from school. When Ellie tried to talk to her about it, she said it’s the only way she could forget for a while.”

“Forget what?”

“Dude, that’s the million dollar question.”

Just then, I heard my truck driving up. I smiled when I saw Ellie jump out.

She ran over and hugged Josh. “It’s so great to see you.”

“Ellie, you look beautiful. Country air seems to agree with you rather well,” Josh said as he spun Ellie around.

“Josh, you can’t stay away for so long like that.”

“Josh is talking about moving out toward Fredericksburg maybe.”

“No kidding. Heather just interviewed with the elementary school out there. Did you know that?”

Josh looked surprised as shit.

“Um, no, I had no idea. I haven’t talked to or seen her since the wedding. Last I knew, she was going to interview with Mason.”

“Yep, she did, but she hasn’t heard back from them yet. She’ll be graduating this summer, so we plan on having a big party for her. You’ll come, right?”

“Of course, you can count on me being there. Alright, y’all, I’m gonna let ya go. I’m gonna head on back up to the house and say good-bye to Garrett and Emma. I’m sure Jeff has a laundry list of shit for me to do. Maybe we can all head out to dinner tonight?”

“Sounds good bud, I’ll give you or Jeff a ring later on.”

Ellie and I watched as Josh got back in the Jeep and headed back up the ranch house. I looked over at Ellie, who had a shit-eating grin on her face.

“What’s with the grin?”

She turned to look at me and winked. “Oh, nothing, it’s just that Josh is in for a little surprise when he gets to Jeff and Ari’s.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of surprise, Ellie Mathews?”

“Ari and I talked Heather into coming out and staying for a few weeks until summer classes start. She agreed and said she needed to get out of Austin to get away from the partying.”

“You little devils. Did Ari know Josh was coming out?”

Ellie looked at me like I was stupid. “Of course, she did, and she also knew that Lynda was going to Costa Rica with her parents for a few weeks.”

I let out a laugh.

“You know what else I found out from Heather that explains why she’s been acting the way she has?”

“What?”

“Lynda told her at the wedding that Josh asked her to marry him, but they just hadn’t made it public yet.”

“What the fuck? Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.” Ellie said, popping her p. “I hate to say this, Gunner, because Lynda is your cousin, but I don’t trust her one bit. She is jealous of Heather, and I think she’ll do or say anything to keep them apart. When Heather told us what Lynda said, all Ari had to do was look at me, and I knew what she was thinking. The Push-Josh-and-Heather-Together Plan has officially started,” Ellie said as she turned around and looked back in the direction where Josh had just left.

I pulled her into me and hugged her. “Be careful, Ells. Don’t push them too hard baby. Just let them find their way back to each other.”

Ellie turned and looked at me. “They are both so unhappy. Why can’t they see that Gunner?”

“It’s the same reason why Jeff and Ari couldn’t see it…or at least, Jeff couldn’t see. Come on, enough about them. I want to give you a tour of our house.”

We jumped up onto the slab, and I started pointing out where the kitchen. living room, and master bedroom would be.

“Did you keep the small little study, the one that’s in the master room, in the plans?”

“Yeah. Why? I thought you said it would make a great reading room. It’s too late to change it now, babe The slab is poured.”

Ellie started walking over to the area in the master bedroom that would eventually be the little study. Facing out toward our tree, it would be all solid windows.

“No, of course, I don’t want to change it.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. While unfolding it, she said,

“It’ll make a beautiful reading room and a great little nursery for the first few months after the baby comes home in December.”

“Yeah, it would make a great…wait, what?”

Ellie turned around holding up the piece of paper. I walked closer to her. The closer I got the slower I walked. That’s a picture of...

I looked up at her. “Is that a sonogram, Ellie?”

She turned the picture around and looked at it. When she looked back up at me, she smiled.

“Yes, it is, Drew. Say hello to our baby.”

I was standing in front of her, and then I slowly started to sink down to the cement floor until I landed on my ass.

“Baby, you’re pregnant?” I asked.

She sat down on the slab next to me and handed me the picture.

“Yep, looks like your little vacation in March to New Orleans did the trick. I’m due December ninth.”