My Summer In The Valley

08

"This food looks delicious, Claire." I exclaimed when we were called for dinner and Anna finally stopped to take a breath in her outflow of words that never seemed to stop.

"It better also taste good, or I will have spent two hours in the kitchen for nothing." Claire replied as she started to pour wine.

"Your food always tastes amazing, hon." Jerry said as he walked into the dining room and gave me a quick hug in greeting.

"Well, you have to say that. You're her husband." Leroy smirked and got a hit on the head by his elder sister.

"Never ever say anything against your wife's cooking. Or you probably won't ever have the pleasure of enjoying it again." Alan put in while he helped Lena into her chair. The old cowboy was caring for her as lovingly as he did for his horses. And that was saying something.

"Well, good thing Matt will be doing the cooking at home, then." Anna said while helping herself to some of the roast.

"I will?" Matt raised his brow at his fiancé.

"Of course. Why do you think I am marrying you?"

"Good point." He sighed and she grinned and pecked his lips.

"Ew!" Amy averted her eyes and scrunched her nose. "Why do you always kiss? It's disgusting!"

"We will talk about that in a couple of years, love." I patted her head over Serena's back that was stretching over the table to grab some salad.

Amy still did not seem convinced something like that would ever make her feel good but dropped the argument. I caught Lilly's eye across the table and we both suppressed our grins. Conversation flowed freely while we enjoyed the food. It really was good.

Claire was almost a professional cook, having run a B&B for several years and it was no wonder her husband was starting to show a bit of a belly after 25 years of marriage.

"So, how's the bread coming along?" I jumped when a deep voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at Logan who was sat across from me and smiled. His brown eyes were dancing as he looked back into my green ones, and I felt my heart flutter.

"Pretty good." I said to his question. "How are the horses?"

"Pretty good." He grinned and I playfully rolled my eyes but couldn't suppress the small laugh bubbling inside of me.

"Yeah, they do even better when they are sung to." He wriggled his brows, and I stuck out my tongue at him.

"Then maybe you should just do that from time to time." I suggested and he chuckled.

"Not sure if Socks would appreciate that."

"What would Socks not appreciate?" Alan called across the table and we both looked up in his direction. The old cowboy was looking back and forth between us with a smile that wrinkled the skin around his eyes.

"If you keep trying to put pink ribbons in his mane when no one was looking." Logan panned back and the whole table erupted in laughter. Logan caught my eye and winked, and I couldn't help the blush from creeping unto my face.

Jeez, stop it, hormones!

"More wine?" Claire asked and rose to grab another bottle.

"So, what's the latest about the pasture? Know anything new?" Jerry asked and my attention perked to the new conversation.

Leroy sighed. "Not really. If Andreas wants to keep us out from there, then we basically have no choice but to leave. It is his land after all."

"But it is unfair. We have had an agreement with that family for four generations that we could use the mountains for our cattle. There have never been problems before." Claire said while pouring us more wine.