College is the fresh start Mackenna Baker is hoping for, but her past follows her from the small town she left behind like a ghost. She does her best to ignore them and no matter how hard she tries, she can never seem to actually let them go. Shovin...
I wait until I know she's in our bedroom to grab the cooler and place it on the counter, leaning against the cabinets in front of it, to partially hide it.
A few minutes later, the soft thud of bare feet descend the stairs and it's only seconds before the tan legs of my girlfriend catch my eyes. Her faded light blue washed denim shorts, a small bit of her waist is exposed before the knotted hemline of a soft coral button-down cap sleeve top covers the rest of her upper half.
"Damn, I'm lucky," I groan, closing my eyes to lock this to memory.
"It's just a shirt and shorts, baby," she chuckles, her soft steps coming to a half in front of me.
"Doesn't matter. You look so good in everything, Lemon Drop." I open my eyes and my hands come to rest on her bare waist, gently squeezing her hips in confirmation.
"Thanks baby," she says with a small smile. "Soooooo." She tries to peek over my shoulder. "Wanna tell me what you have planned?"
"I'm stealing you away for the afternoon. I packed us lunch and we're going to find a nice spot by the creek with some shade."
"You packed us a picnic?"
"I packed us lunch."
"That makes it a picnic."
"No, it's just lunch."
She stomps her foot. "Picnic or I'm not going.""
I shake my head through a sigh, a smile spreading across my face. "Yes, I packed a picnic."
"Aw, you're sweet," she returns the smile.
"I try," I kiss her forehead. "I figured we could take a quad, keep the horses safe from the heat."
"You plan on keeping me away from here for a long time?"
"As long as I can."
"Then I guess we better get going."
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"So, what really brought this on?" Mackenna asks me from where she's stretched out beside me on the blue and white checkered picnic blanket, our feet pointed at the creek in front of us.
We found a spot near the creek, far enough from where most of the ranch hands regularly ride that has a nice spot of shade from the summer sun.
"Can't I just do something nice for you without it being for some reason other than because I love you?"
She takes a bite of a piece of carrot stick I had peeled and cut for us. "Wes, you planned a whole picnic for me. I love you and you can be so sweet, but this isn't a normal thing for you."
I groan. "Talking about it breaks the reason I planned this."
