The scent of fireworks still lingers in the air. I smell it before I even open my eyes. I let the memories of last night flash in my head over and over again, popping up in my vision like fireworks.

When I finally do open my eyes, they instantly fall to the blonde angel lying beside me. Kimber sleeps with her head resting on the crook of her elbow nestled beneath her head. Her chest rises and falls and I hope that scent of fireworks brings the same pleasant memories to her head as well.

I lean in close to kiss her right shoulder. Her skin is soft and warm like fresh milk. I run the tip of my nose up her shoulder toward her neck, taking in the sweet scent of her as it mixes with the faint burn in the air.

Kimber lets out a soft hum, just barely stirring from sleep. I won’t force her out of it but I’ll sure as hell nudge her just so I can look into those eyes again. I purse my lips against her forehead and inhale the scent of her hair.

Her eyelids flutter open on my face, followed quickly by the gentle curve of her smile.

“Hey,” I whisper.

She licks her lips. “Hey.”

She moves to rise but I lay my hand on her side. “No, wait... don’t move.”

“Why?” she asks, growing concerned.

“I don’t want you to yet.” I push her hair back behind her ear. “I want this moment to go on just a little bit longer.”

She smiles and settles back onto her arm. “What time is it?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” I answer. “I don’t care. Do you?”

She rolls over onto her back. “Not really.”

I ease closer, propping myself onto my elbow and resting my other hand on her cheek. I gaze at her for moments, maybe minutes. Kimber. My beautiful Kimber. Everything I’ve ever wanted is lying beside me right now, smiling back at me.

Why would I ever let this go?

Why would I ever leave... if this is what I would leave behind?

Leave him.

I rehearse the words in my head first, taking a moment to appreciate the full weight of the request. Leave him. Leave your husband. Leave your big house on First Street. Leave your whole life behind to start a new one with me.

I inhale, ready to say it.

“Stay with me,” she says before I can.

I pause. “What?”

She swallows. “Stay with me,” she says again. She rests her hand on mine over her cheek. “Don’t go away again.”

My heart jolts in my chest. “You want me to stay?”

She nods with tears in her blue eyes. “Please.”

I exhale a shaking breath. “Leave him,” I say. “Leave him for me.”

Kimber leans upward and kisses me. “I already have,” she says, her lips quivering on mine. “Please stay with me, Nate—”

I crush my mouth on hers, holding her tightly as her arms wrap around me. I kiss her until I can’t breathe and my lungs beg for air.

“I’ll stay,” I whisper. I rest my forehead on hers. “I’ll stay for you.”

She laughs, shaking a tear from her eyes. It falls down her cheek but I quickly banish it away with my thumb.

“I love you, too,” she says.

I close my eyes. “Say that again.”

“I love you—”

I kiss her hard, unable to hold back the joy in me. She kisses me back with everything she has, wrapping her arms around me to pull me against her. I ease between her legs as morning blood pounds south. Her thighs rest on my sides and her breasts press into my chest as I guide my cock inside of her.

“Moo-OOOOOO!”

Kimber startles and slaps a hand over her mouth as Gertie’s big snout pokes in through the open window above our heads.

I groan. “Dammit, Gertie!”

She takes a step back and I swear I see a literal grin on her big, damn face.

“Is she supposed to be out like that?” Kimber asks.

I twist to look out the window. “No. No, she’s not.”

“You should go get her.”

I sigh, my eyes lingering on Kimber’s naked body in front of me and the tip of my cock already very comfortable inside of her.

She chuckles and lays her palms on my chest, playfully shoving me off her. “Go,” she says. “I’ll wait here.”

I reluctantly turn and put my feet on the floor. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I won’t.”

“And don’t put anything on.”

“I won’t!” She laughs.

She pulls the blanket up to conceal her breasts and watches on a propped elbow while I throw on my pants from last night and the first random blue t-shirt I find on the floor.

Before leaving, I lean over to kiss her again. “I’ll be right back,” I whisper.

Kimber hums behind her smile. “I’ll be right here.”

My heart bursts, sending sparks throughout my entire body. I kiss her again, easing a leg onto the bed again, but she just shoves me away.

“Go!” she says. “Before she makes it to the highway.”

“Okay, okay.”

I step back, quickly memorizing the image so I can make it through the next few minutes alive.

I close my bedroom door behind me and step into a pair of work boots by the back door before rushing outside to catch up with Gertie.

The air is even thicker out here with that firework scent. A thin cloud of smoke lingers above the fields, mixing with a cool morning fog.

I hook Gertie’s collar. “You think you’re real funny, don’t you, girl?”

She walks with me, head down.

“One of these days, I’m gonna have to shackle you. What do you think about that?”

“Moo-OOO!”

“Oh, you don’t like that, do you?” I tease. “Well, I don’t like having a cow watch me have morning sex, either. So, I guess we’re both shit out of luck, eh?”

She says nothing.

I give her a scratch behind the ears. “You’re all right,” I say, patting her head. “I’m in a good mood.”

I secure her inside the barn, once again checking for clues as to how the hell she gets out in the first place, and close it up. Flashes of memory come right back as I picture Kimber waiting for me. Naked. In my bed.

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in Kansas.

I skip up to the house and pause by the back door, turning once to look out across the fields again.

Goddamn beautiful.

“Good morning!”

My face drops.

My mother sits at the table with her coffee mug and a few slices of buttered toast on a saucer in front of her. She smiles wide, but it’s not her normal morning smile. It’s her we-have-company smile.

Kimber sits beside her with a mug of her own. Fully-clothed in her dress from last night and hair down, gently draped over her right shoulder though she takes no effort in hiding the scars on her face.

I swallow hard.

“Good morning,” I say, glancing between them.

“I was just talking to Kimber here,” my mother says. “Sounds like the hoedown was quite the shindig last night.”

I nod, easing closer. “Yeah, it certainly was.”

She smiles, looking upward. “Ugh, I remember going to the hoedown all those years ago. In fact, I met Nate’s father at the hoedown of ‘85.”

Kimber tilts her head. “Oh, that’s sweet.”

“We went every year up until he started having troubles with his knee.” My mother sighs. “Good memories through and through.” Her eyes sweep toward me again. “Want some coffee?”

“Sure,” I answer.

She rises out of her chair and I sit down next to Kimber, silently giving her the best what the fuck gesture I can. She winces and raises her hands in such a way to explain herself but I’m left with nothing but theories as to how this happened.

Mom plops a mug down in front of me and pours a healthy bit of coffee inside.

“Thanks,” I say.

“Help yourself to some toast.”

I don’t. “Okay.”

She scratches my arm. “You’ve got some dirt on you.”

“Yeah, I must have brushed up against Gertie. She got out again and—”

“Come with me.” She starts toward the laundry room just off the kitchen. “We’ll get you a clean shirt.”

“No, it’s okay—”

“Now, Nathaniel,” she says, not stopping.

I clear my throat and look at Kimber across the table. “Guess I’m getting a new shirt.”

Kimber cringes and silently mouths, “I’m sorry.”

I stand up and follow my mother into the laundry room. I pass through the doorway and she softly closes the door behind us, her polite smile still plastered on her face until the latch clicks in place.

Mom grabs a dish towel from the basket on the dryer and smacks me in the arm with it.

“Ow! Hey!” I raise my hands. “What the hell, Mom?”

“A married woman?” She snaps it on my blocking arm. “I wake up to find a married woman in your bed! You slept with a married woman in my house?!”

“It’s not what you think!”

“Oh, yeah?” She hits me again. “Are they divorced?”

“Ow! No.”

“Separated?”

“No, but—”

“Do they swing?”

“What? No! Where did you learn this stuff?!”

“I wasn’t always your mother,” she says.

I cringe. “Ew. No, Mom—”

“Nathaniel Timothy Scott Jr.” She whips my leg with the towel. “Explain to me why I found a married woman in your bed.”

I flinch backward. “Mom, it’s not what it looks like, okay? I’m falling for her.”

She scowls and lifts the towel over her head to whack me again.

I raise my hands to block my face. “And I’m staying to be with her!”

My mother pauses. “What’s that now?”

I lower my hands an inch. “I love Kimber,” I say. “She’s leaving her husband. I’m staying in Clover to be with her.”

“You’re staying?” she repeats.

“Yes.”

“On the farm?”

I nod. “Yes.”

“You’re gonna help me run it?”

I drop my hands to my sides. “Yes.”

She cocks her head, her lips twisting upward in thought. “All right, then,” she says as she tosses the dish rag back into the laundry basket.

“Oh, so now you’re cool with it?” I ask.

“I didn’t say that,” she says, pointing at me. “Good help is hard to find. I’ll take what I can get. The rest of it is between you and Jesus.”

I shrug. “Fair enough, I suppose.”

The doorbell rings. We look at each other with furrowed brows, she no doubt wondering what on earth I’ve done now.

Mom turns around, throws on her smile again, and opens the laundry room door. “I’ll get it,” she announces as she passes through the kitchen and down the hallway.

I go to Kimber at the table. She sits there with a stiff back and a sour, apologetic face. I smile and bend over to kiss her forehead.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I whisper.

“Is it?” she asks.

I nod, meaning it.

“Nate.”

I turn toward my mother’s voice and any blissful feeling I have disappears.

Three police officers stand behind her in the hall, Sheriff Thompson and his epic mustache leading the pack. He steps forward and removes his hat, respectfully nodding at the ladies present in the room.

“Nathaniel Scott,” he says, “you need to come with us.”

I stand up tall. “Why?”

He gestures at Kimber. “Mrs. VanHouten. You, too.”

I lay a hand on Kimber’s shoulder. “What’s this about?”

Thompson glances back, too nervous to speak of it in front of my mother. “Just come with us, son.”

My mother steps forward. “Now, hold on. I let you into my house to talk, not to drag my son away. You tell us what this is about right now.”

He hesitates, flexing his jaw and looking at his hat in his hands. “Well, you see... Mr. Scott and Mrs. VanHouten have been charged with a crime... and we’re here to arrest them.”

Kimber turns in her chair. “What crime?”

He shifts on his toes along with the other officers who refuse to make eye contact with me.

“Adultery, ma’am,” he says.

My mother’s jaw drops and she raises a hand to cover her gasp.

Kimber looks up at me, her face twisted in suspense.

I snort. “I’m sorry, what?”