The sound of a truck pulled my attention away from the fence I was mending. Jeff parked and jumped out, wearing a huge grin. I’d seen that look on his face before. He had an idea, one I was either going to love or hate.
“What’s up?” I asked going back to twisting the wire.
He handed me a beer and leaned against the pole. I reached for it and opened it. “What do you want, Johnson?”
Laughing, he tipped his hat and asked, “Now why do you think I want something?”
After taking a drink, I lifted my brow and held up the beer. “You showed up with beer. Let me also add you showed up right when we were done, asshole.”
Jeff slapped me on the side of my arm, knocking me off my balance. Dewey reached out to steady me on my feet.
“Camping.”
I gave Jeff a blank stare.
“What about it?”
“I think we should go on a couples camping trip. Me and Ari, you and Ellie, and Josh and Heather.”
Turning, I gathered up my tools. “I don’t think taking two kids under one on a camping trip would be my kind of fun, Jeff.”
“No. Leave the kids. I’m talking Friday to Monday morning. Three nights only. I’m almost positive Ari and Ellie would be up for a few nights away from Alex and Luke. And I’ve already talked to Josh. He thinks Heather would be down for it.”
Dewey and I both laughed. I shot a look at Dewey and we both shook our heads. “I think they would be up for a night away … in a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg.” Stopping what I was doing, I glanced back at him. “Have you forgotten, your wife is pregnant? And what’s Josh thinking. Heather is pregnant with twins.”
“So. They can’t camp because they’re pregnant? Besides, I’ve already mentioned it to Ari. She said as long as she has a cot or blow-up mattress and food, she’s in.”
Setting my tool bag in the back of my truck, I took my hat off and wiped away the evidence of my work. It was late April and already hot. This summer was going to be brutal.
“What about Brad and Amanda?”
“Brad said Amanda was too far along and would never be in the mood for camping.”
With a sigh, I met Jeff’s stare. He looked like a dog begging for food. “I’ll talk to Ellie about it.”
Jeff fist pumped. “Yes!”
“But … I’m not promising anything.”
Pointing to me, Jeff walked backward to his truck. “I’m telling you, dude. This camping trip is going to go down in fucking history as the best camping trip of all time. And I happen to know, Ellie is going to be on board.”
He opened the door to his truck. Clearly he and my wife had come up with this plan. Being married to my best friend’s little sister always seemed to keep me on my toes. When the two of them came up with a plan, they banned together until the end.
“Oh, I have no doubt it will go down in history,” I called out as he grinned and jumped into the truck. As he pulled off I turned to Dewey. “How do I get myself into this shit?”
He threw his head back and laughed his ass off. “Better you than me, Gunner. Better you than me.”
“You really want to go camping, Ells?”
Ellie quietly shut Alex’s door. She motioned for me to follow her downstairs.
Once we were in the kitchen, she pulled out an apple pie and cut a piece. “I think it would be fun, Gunner. Think about it, when was the last time we all got to hang out with no kids?” Glancing up at me, she gave me a sexy as hell look. “We can get drunk and have wild sex in our tent.”
She licked apple off of her fingers and raised her brows. My dick jumped in my pants.
“It has been awhile.”
A smile moved slowly across her face. “It has. Before Luke was born. Besides, after the girls have their babies, times like this will be gone. At least for a few years.”
I nodded and leaned against the counter.
“Where should we go?”
Her face lit up. “Garner State Park.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?”
“Come on, we’ve talked about camping there before and it’s an amazing state park.”
Jetting out her lower lip, she pouted. I couldn’t help but smile at her attempt to get what she wanted. “Come here, Ells.”
Her blue eyes lit up with desire. “Why, Mr. Mathews, are you wanting to mess around?”
“With my beautiful wife? Hell yeah I am.”
Ellie walked up to me and placed her hands on my chest. “I would so be stripping out of my clothes right now … but your parents are on their way over.”
My mouth dropped. “What? Why?”
Cocking her head to the side, Ellie shrugged. “Not sure. They mentioned wanting to stop by later this evening to talk to us.”
A sick feeling washed over me. Ellie noticed. “Don’t think like that, Gunner. I’m sure everything is fine.”
Cupping her face with my hands, I gazed into those blue eyes. “Have I told you how much I love you lately?”
“Not in the last few minutes.”
The left side of my mouth rose into a smile. “Let me fix that,” I whispered while I gently brushed my lips across hers.
Ellie’s hands grabbed onto my arms. Moving my lips to her ear, I softly repeated, “I love you.”
I ran my nose along her neck, eliciting a small moan from her. “Mmm … you’re tempting me, Mr. Mathews.”
“You always tempt me, sweetheart.”
A light knock on the back door had me pulling away. Ellie pouted then winked. “Later?”
“You better believe later.”
Ellie made her way to the back door and opened it with a huge grin on her face. “Hi, Jack and Grace!”
My parents walked in and each kissed Ellie on the cheek. “Hi, darling. How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling wonderful!” Ellie responded.
Reaching my hand out, my father and I shook hands first before he pulled me into a quick hug. One good slap on the back and he took a seat at the table.
“Hey, Mom,” I said with a smile and drew her in for a hug.
She sat next to my father and gazed up at me with a smile. “Hello, darling.”
Ellie put the apple pie in the middle of the table with a few plates. “Homemade apple pie if anyone wants a piece.”
Of course my father immediately dug in. “Well, I was raised to never turn down homemade apple pie.”
A smile tugged at Ellie’s mouth. “And it’s Gram’s recipe.”
With a laugh, my father responded, “Even better.” No one could ever pass up something that Grams had created in the kitchen. Not even her own son.
I took a seat and looked between my parents. “So, what brings the two of you over here, and after Alex is asleep?”
Folding her hands neatly across her lap, my adorable mother flashed a huge grin.
“Well, your father and I wanted to talk to you both about something.”
I lifted my brow. “Sounds serious.”
“Well no, it’s not really too serious.”
Ellie took the seat next to me. I reached for her hand and held it as I watched my father shovel in the apple pie as fast as he could. “That pie good, Dad?”
“Mmm hmm. Don’t tell, Mom, but I think you have mastered the recipe, Ellie.”
Ellie squeezed my hand. Glancing to her, I couldn’t help but smile as her eyes lit up with happiness. She was so damn beautiful.
And mine.
Dad sighed and pushed the plate away from him. “So anyway, kids, let’s get right to it.”
I motioned for him to keep talking.
“Grace, would you like me to be the one to ask?”
My mother nodded.
“Drew, Ellie, we love spending time with Alex. Beyond words love it. Now we know she is four months and that is young. But, we’d love to be able to have her spend some more time with us. Maybe spend the night again. We had so much fun with her.”
I couldn’t help notice how my mom was looking between Ellie and me. Waiting to see our reaction. There would be no way Ellie and I would ever deny my parents time with Alex. I wanted my daughter to have the same relationship with her grandparents as I did with Grams and Gramps.
With a huge grin, Ellie said, “There isn’t anyone I would trust our daughter to be with more than you two.”
My mother returned Ellie’s smile. “That makes me so happy! We thought maybe if y’all would like to get things caught up around the ranch, or the house.”
“How about for the weekend?” Ellie blurted out.
“What do you mean for the weekend? Keep Alex for a whole weekend?” My parents turned and gave each other goofy as hell smiles.
“Yes!” they both said at once.
I could hear the excitement in their voices.
Ellie turned to me and simply said, “No more excuses. We’re going camping.”