Avery scrunched her face. “Salmon.”
“Ah. Typical fish to lure in a cat.”
Avery’s eyes fell to the box, like she hadn’t seen it at first. “What’s that?”
“It’s for you.” He knelt down so she had a better angle to open the lid on the box.
“For me?”
“Yep. It’s a gift.”
Avery swiveled her head to look at me. “Can I open it?”
“Of course.”
She turned back around and gently slid off the lid, then peeled away a piece of plastic wrapping. I peered over her shoulder, seeing something pink in the middle.
Avery reached in and pulled out a helmet, all pink with black straps. I didn’t have to look to know she had the biggest smile on her face.
“A pink helmet!” she exclaimed with a little jump.
“Now you don’t have to borrow any of the ones here,” Callan said, setting the lid back on the box.
“It’s all mine?” she asked.
Callan nodded. “All yours, Aves.”
I was already smiling, but it grew with the use of the nickname. Something about it felt more personal. I called her that all the time, along with a few other people, but Callan saying it felt different. It felt like another step into whatever this was between us.
“Can you help me move the strap thingies?” she asked.
He nodded. “Put it on.”
She did, then he reached up under her chin and adjusted the straps so it fit her nice and snug. “How’s that?”
She tossed her head back and forth to be sure. “It’s perfect,” she replied, and then threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck with such force that he almost fell back on his ass.
He looked at me, a few pieces of her hair clinging to the stubble on his jaw. He was…beaming.
“Thank you,” she murmured into his shoulder.
“You deserved to have one of your own,” he said.
She let him go and stepped back as he rose. “Can we ride now?”
He nodded, and fuck, I could truly watch the two of them interact all damn day.
“We can ride.”
***
Rain didn’t come for the entirety of Avery’s lesson, the looming storm having mercy on us before it decided to strike. I’d watched the entire time, only taking my eyes off of Avery to check the driveway behind me. Though no cars drove up it, my mind was playing tricks on me, making me imagine the sound of tires on gravel when there was none.
He hasn’t found me. We’re okay.
And even if he had somehow managed to figure out where Avery and I were, I had to believe that Callan wouldn’t let anything happen to us. I needed to tell him what was going on, but I was scared that it would make him run the other way.
The last thing I wanted to do was put all my baggage on his shoulders when we’d just started getting to know each other.
“Want to go for a ride?” Callan asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I turned to him. “What?”
“Just out in the field. Not far or anything,” he explained.
“I can’t ride,” I said. I’d never been on a horse before.
He and Avery must have decided on this plan before she untacked, because behind Callan, she came walking out of the barn with Red strolling behind her.
“I’ve got the perfect horse for you.” He took a step to the side as Avery came up beside him and gestured to Red.
My eyes widened slightly. “Him?”
Callan shrugged. “Avery is pretty confident that you’ll be a pro right off the bat.”
I eyed Avery. “Is that so?”
She nodded with way too much enthusiasm, the thought of throwing her mother on a horse way too appealing. “You’re good at everything you do, Mama.”
