Grace held up her hand. “No…it’s fine, Uncle Gunner. If Colt is afraid of being beaten by a few girls, then we are more than happy to sit this one out.”

“We are?” Libby, Alex, Lauren, and Taylor all said at once.

Maegan did a fist pump and started to walk away. “Yes! I hate football.”

Amanda busted out laughing. “God, it kills Brad that Maegan hates football…that she hates any sport really.”

“Oh, gesh, if Grace ever told Jeff no to football, I think he would curl up into a ball in the corner somewhere and cry his eyes out,” Ari said as she put cheese on some of the burgers.

Ellie and Heather both laughed.

“Same here. Gunner would resort to bribing Alex in some way or another,” Ells said.

Heather went back to cutting tomatoes. “I’m just glad I have a daughter who can throw a football, and she still stops to make sure her hair is pinned up to her expectations.”

As the day went on, more football was played, and more screaming girls ran by as Colt chased them with a garden snake in his hands.

I saw Scott standing off to the side, leaning against a tree. I walked up to him and put my arms around his waist.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked.

He looked down at me and smiled. “How blessed we are.”

I leaned my head against him. “Mmm…that we are. Very blessed indeed.”

I looked out to each of our friends and smiled. Jeff was attempting to talk Ari into sneaking off somewhere to make out. Gunner had Ellie on his back while Josh carried Heather on his back as they ran after the kids in a race around the barn. Brad and Amanda were lost in their own little world, talking to each other.

When Scott brushed his hand up and down my arm, I felt that familiar tingle. Even after all these years, his touch affected me still.

“What are you thinking about, baby?” Scott asked as he pulled me closer to him.

I looked around again. Nine beautiful kids were all running around, playing and laughing, and each one was healthy and happy. We had eight amazing friends who had been there for each other through the good times and the bad times. Not once had any of us ever turned our backs on each other or ever stopped to ask questions. I felt the tears building in my eyes as I looked at each of them. They were more than friends. They were family.

I turned and faced Scott as I smiled. “I’m thinking how we each got everything we’ve ever wanted.”

He smiled and nodded his head. He lifted my chin up and kissed me softly on the lips. He put his arm around me and led me back toward everyone. I watched Gunner and Josh attempt to grab a hold of Ellie and Heather.

Gunner yelled, “It’s tickle-the-moms minute! Grab a mom and tickle them for a minute!”

Scott held me tighter. “You have a thirty-second head start.”

I pushed him away as I began laughing, and then I took off running.

Nothing in this life made me happier than just being right where I was with the people I loved.

As I made my way to Ellie, Heather, Ari, and Amanda, we all formed a circle and tried to keep the rest of the crew away from us. The next thing I knew, we were all rolling around on the ground, laughing and tickling each other. When Ari threatened to pee on someone, the kids disappeared, and we all started laughing.

Ellie fell back and looked up at the sky, laughing. “Holy hell. I’ve never been so happy in my entire life.”

Ari let out a sigh. “Well, my mother would kill me if she knew I wasn’t quoting the great Katharine Hepburn, but I love this quote.”

We all turned and looked at her as she continued to look up at the sky with a smile.

“I believe it was Ben Sweetland who said, ‘Happiness is a journey…not a destination.’ ”

 

The End…almost.

“Will, if my father catches us in here, he is going to be really upset,” I said as I looked back at the barn door nervously.

“Lex, we’re both leaving for college in a few months. Don’t you think you need to let your dad know what school you picked?” Will asked as he reached for my hand.

My father had it all planned out. I was going to the University of Texas like he did and getting my degree in marketing, but I had other dreams. Will was going to Texas A&M to get his degree in agribusiness, so he could help Jeff and my father run the ranch. I’d been accepted into both schools, and my parents were just waiting on me to say yes to Texas.

It was Luke’s, Colt’s, and Will’s dreams to take over the ranch someday, and I had no doubt in my mind that they would be great at running it.

If only Luke and Will would stop fighting…about me.

Luke hated that Will and I were sneaking around, seeing each other, and he’d threatened to tell my father on more than one occasion. The fights that Luke and Will had been in always drove me insane. Each time, one or the other would end up with a black eye and then would blame it on a football game.

It wasn’t like my father didn’t like Will. He loved Will…like a son. Daddy had dreams for me though, and those dreams didn’t include a boy who would be working on a ranch. His dreams were of me moving to the city and getting to experience all that city-living would offer. Then, I could decide if I wanted to come back to Mason or not. Colt wasn’t being told what he should do, and Luke was already at Texas A&M.

I didn’t think it was fair. I wanted what my mother had. I wanted to live on the ranch, waking up every day to work in the garden. I wanted to see my husband off to work with a kiss every single morning. I wanted the life my parents had, and I couldn’t figure out why my father didn’t want me to have that life. He and my mother were so happy.

Will moved his lips to my neck, and his hot breath on my skin caused my stomach to drop.

God…just being around him makes my body do such crazy things.

Grace had said I was just horny and that Will and I needed to at least move on to a little bit more than kissing. She’d said we needed to cop feels here and there. Will was such a gentleman though, and he’d never once pushed me into doing anything I didn’t want to do. There had been so many times I’d wanted to tell him to touch me, to just ease the tingling between my legs, but I’d known that wasn’t what either one of us wanted…at least not yet.

I could hear Grace’s voice in my head.

My god, you’re eighteen. Stop piss-assing around about it, Alex. I swear, y’all have liked each other since, what…we were ten years old?

I was eighteen years old, and Will was seventeen. He would turn eighteen in August.

I had to smile though because Grace was all talk. She liked Michael Clark, but she was too damn afraid to even look at him.

“What are you smiling about, Lex?”

Will was the only one who called me Lex, and I liked it that way. It felt special, like it was something that was just between the two of us, something only we shared together, and we could do it in front of everyone. He had called me that since we were about ten years old.

“Us.”

He pulled away and looked at me. “Us? What about us?”

I felt my cheeks turning red, and I was almost positive Will could feel the heat coming from them.

“You’re blushing, Lex. Why, honey?”

I looked down and away, but he brought his finger up to my chin and forced me to look at him.

“Alex? What about us?”

“I’m tired of hiding. I want to tell our parents that we’ve been dating. I want to tell my dad that I’ve decided on A&M, and I want…I want…”

His smile was from ear to ear. “You want, what, sweetheart?”

Oh god. His voice alone sends me over the edge.