Gunner nodded his head and then looked at me. His smile faded as he glanced down at the ground.

“Jeff, I’m sorry this shit is happening with you and Ari. I really want y’all to just be happy. I really think you need to talk to Ari and help her understand the position you are in. I’ve never seen Ari so emotional, and it really freaked out Ellie. She told me that since she’s known Ari, she has never seen her cry that much. Grams ended up taking Ari to her bedroom.

“Fuck. She’s been so emotional the last two weeks. I really fucked up when I told her she was being a bitch about it.”

“Oh, holy shit, Jeff.” Gunner pushed his hands through his hair as he stood up. He started to walk toward Big Roy’s stall. “Dude, you need to stop blaming this on Ari. Man up, asshole, and go talk to her before something else happens. If you keep your feelings in, Jeff…you’re gonna lose her. I’m pretty sure that if you do lose her again, you might not have another chance at getting her back.”

I grabbed a handful of oats and walked up next to Gunner. I knew he was right. I needed to talk to Ari, and I needed to do it soon.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ARI

It felt so damn good to just cry. I hadn’t wanted to fall apart in front of Gunner because I knew he would tell Jeff, but I couldn’t help myself. What the fuck is wrong with me? This whole Rebecca pregnancy thing was really throwing me for a loop. Emma brought me into her room, so we could be alone.

After I got my crying fit over and done with, I looked up at Emma, who was just sitting there, waiting for me to get my shit together.

“Ari, honey, I need to ask you something.”

“Of course Emma, ask me anything.” I said, trying to give her a smile.

“Arianna, are you pregnant?”

What the hell? Holy shit, where did that come from?

I had to laugh. “No, Emma. Rebecca is the one who was is pregnant.” I said as I looked down at my stomach. Wait. When was the last time I had my period? Holy fuck! I didn’t get it last month, but I thought that was just from the stress of Ellie’s wedding and thinking about Jeff asking me to marry him. I’m on the pill. I can’t be pregnant. Oh. My. God. I missed a few pills a month or so back.

I snapped my head back up at Emma. She was smiling at me like she knew already. Her powers seemed to know no bounds.

I gasped. “Oh. My. God.”

“Ari, I need you and the girls to go into town.”

“What for? Why now? Emma! You can’t plant that seed in my head and then expect me to just go buy you butter in town for Christ’s sake!”

Emma started to laugh as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder, holding me close.

“Ari, the moment you stepped out of that truck today, I knew. You have a glow about you, darlin’. Your skin looks beautiful. The fact that you are so emotional is another dead giveaway. I need you, Ellie, and Heather to go into town and buy a pregnancy test.”

Holy hell! My head was spinning. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Emma called out for whomever it was to come in. The door opened, and it was Jeff. Oh shit. I looked at Emma with a pleading look in my eyes. She smiled at me and nodded her head.

Standing up, Emma said, “I’ll leave you two to talk.”

As she walked out the door, she gave me one last look with a smile. I tried to smile back, but now, my whole body was shaking. I looked at Jeff. No, this is not happening. I still needed to be tested for the Fragile X gene. I couldn’t even think straight. How will Jeff feel about me being pregnant?

“Ari, baby, we need to talk.” Sitting down next to me, Jeff ran his hands through his hair and down his face. He was clearly frustrated.

His cell phone started ringing. That was weird because it was so damn hard to get a signal out here. He pulled it out, and I saw Rebecca’s name on the screen. I instantly felt sick. I stood up to leave but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down.

“Damn it, Ari! Please stop running away from me.” Jeff sent the call to voice mail and tossed his phone behind him onto the bed.

“I’m not running Jeff. I just don’t want to be in the same room when you talk to her.”

“Well, I’m talking to you, not her. I need you to understand something, Ari. You need to know the reason why I feel the need to be there for Rebecca.”

I started to laugh. “I didn’t realize you had a need to be there for her, Jeff. I thought you were doing it for the baby, and that’s all,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could.

“That’s not what I meant, Ari. I’m not there for her. I’m there for this baby. I don’t want to start off being a dead-beat father by not being there for this baby. I don’t want to be like my dad.”

“I get that, Jeff. I really do. But you don’t even know if this baby is yours! I mean, you drop everything for her, and it always turns out to be some excuse just for her to get you to be with her. The baby isn’t even born yet! What’s it going to be like when it is born?”

“When he is.”

“What?”

“The baby....you said it. It’s a boy, so I was just saying when he is born.”

I just rolled my eyes at him. “Fine, Jeff, you do what you feel like you need to do. I’m getting sick of talking about this. I have too many other things that I need to deal with. I can’t worry about Rebecca and her twisted ways.”

“Fuck, Ari, I don’t want you to just keep brushing this off. I need you to know that you’re my world. You’re my number one, baby. I only want to make you happy, Ari, and I feel like you’re so damn sad. I don’t know what to do to make it better. I don’t want this to hurt you, Ari.”

Oh shit, here came the tears. If I’m pregnant…and Rebecca’s baby turns out to be his…what if mine is.

“Jesus, Ari. Why are you crying? Baby, please talk to me.”

I was able to get myself under control. As I wiped the tears from eyes, I decided this was it. I needed to be stronger.

“It’s okay, Jeff. I understand. Really, I do. I’ll try to be more patient with everything. You’re going to the doctor’s appointment, right? So, you will be able to find out if August is her due date, right?”

“Yeah, I’m going with her in a week and a half. You still think she’s lying about her due date, Ari? I mean come on, that would be pretty hard to do.”

I shook my head at him. Stupid ass. I was so done talking about this.

“Well, I guess you’ll find out soon, won’t you? Listen I need to run into Mason with Ellie and Heather. We need to pick something up for Emma.”

“Do you want me to go with y’all?”

“No!”

Jeff let out laugh and pulled me onto his lap. “I take it you want to spend some time with the girls.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Ari, are you going to stay here at the ranch with me this summer? Or are you going back to Austin? I really want you to move out here with me. I know you still have school, but I don’t want to be apart from you, especially with me starting up this new business and all. I need you with me, baby. You know more about horses than anyone else I know.”

I smiled at the idea of living in the little ranch house on Jeff’s property. He wanted to tear it down and start on a new house from scratch. I thought the house that was there was perfect. It was a two-story white ranch house with a wraparound porch on the first floor. The views from the porch were amazing. Jeff had already remodeled the kitchen, and it was perfect.

“I want nothing more than to move out here with you, Jeff. I already signed up for online classes, and I was only planning on taking a few classes in Austin next semester. My mom and dad are somewhat pissed, but at least I’m still going to UT. I think I’ll only have to stay a few days a week in Austin, so I can go to class, but other than that, I was planning on just moving out here.”

Jeff smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. It quickly turned into a much more passionate kiss, and I had to pull away.

“Um, I’m not sure how Emma and Garrett would feel about us making out on their bed.”

“You just made me so happy, Ari! I love you, baby. Hey, don’t forget Mr. Reynolds is coming to take a look at the stables this week. I have a few things I need to take care of, but this guy’s visit is going to be big if hee agrees to breed with us. Well, shit, it will be huge if it all works out.”

I smiled because I knew how much Jeff wanted this. I knew that Jeff was already talking to Gunner about going into a partnership with his ranch. Ellie and I overheard them discussing it right before Gunner and Ellie left on their honeymoon.

“Listen, we better get back out there, so we can eat. I’m sure Ellie is wonders what the hell is wrong with me, and Emma…well, um…she needs that thing from town,” I said.

Jeff gave me a funny look and pulled me in for another kiss. I wasn’t sure why I did it, but I kissed him back like it was our last kiss. I poured so much love into that kiss that it left me breathless.

“Jesus, Ari….that was some fucking kiss, baby.” Jeff said with a laugh.

We walked back out into the kitchen, and I looked at Emma who was giving me a questioning look. I just shook my head to her, and she looked down.

After we ate, we cleaned up and put away everything.

Then, Ellie pulled me into the living room.

“Ari, what the hell is going on? You’re pale as a ghost. What’s with this we-have-to-run-into-town shit?”

“Can we talk about this when we get into the car, Ellie? Please just go along with me. It’s a code blue.”

“Alright. Well then, let’s get going.”

I walked back out into the kitchen and grabbed my purse. Heather was already outside on the porch with everyone else. After she grabbed her purse, Ellie followed right behind me.

“Okay, so come on, Heather. We need to run into town to pick up that thing for Emma,” I said as I gave Heather a pleading look. She wasn’t catching on, so I mouthed code blue to her.

“Oh! Oh yeah, um…let me grab my purse.” Heather jumped up and ran into the house.

I noticed Josh was watching her every move. After she came back out, Josh stood up.

“Do y’all want me to drive? I don’t mind taking you in. It’s getting kind of late,” Josh said.

“No!”

All three of us said at the same time. Shit.

Jeff started to laugh along with Gunner.

“Dude, they want their girl time. What do you need to get?” Jeff said. He looked at me first and then back at Emma.

I snapped my head at Emma, and she glanced at me with the most relaxed look on her face. “I need some mason jars for pickling in the morning.”

Garrett looked confused. He was about to say something, but then Emma gave him a smile that just made him no even open his mouth.

Fuck, I need to learn how she did that!

Jeff stood up and handed me his truck keys. “At least take my truck. It’s dark, and the deer will be out.”

I grabbed his keys and kissed him on the cheek.

“I love you, Jeff.”

He tilted his head and looked at me funny.