He felt her eyes on him and turned to see her looking at him with curiosity. “What are you up to?”
“What?” he said, laughing. A pickup truck came his way, and he waved to the driver as it passed. “I just thought we’d go get a beaver tail.”
“A beaver tail?”
“You do know what a beaver tail is, don’t you?” he teased.
“Of course I do. I am Canadian.”
“I’ve been craving a peanut butter and banana tail.” He cast her another glance as he drove along the back road to town. “You like them, right?”
“Fried pastry topped with all sorts of candy. What’s not to like? I guess I just never thought of you as a beaver tail kind of guy.”
“Not manly?” he questioned, giving her a half-cocked smile.
“How could it not be manly?” She laughed. “Every big strong guy I know eats peanut butter and banana pastry.”
“You think I’m big and strong.”
“Oh, my, God,” she said, laughing as she rolled her eyes.
He grinned. “What’s your favorite?”
“I’m kind of partial to the cinnamon and sugar.” She looked out her window. “I can’t believe there is a actually a franchise out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“There’s a town nearby, lots of shops and stores.”
“Oh?” Her eyes lit, and she probed, “Do you go often?”
“Not anymore. I don’t really have time, but I spent a lot of time there as a kid.”
Her brow crinkled. “You did?”
He waved a hand toward the pastures as they drove past. “I grew up around here.”
Her head jerked back. “You did? When did you move east?”
“Middle school.”
“I guess I just thought you’d always lived there.”
“Nope.” He drove a few more miles and then pulled off the road. He rolled the windows down, and a warm breeze scented with horses and hay drifted through the cab of the truck. “See that house?” he said, pointing to an old ranch in the distance. She nodded and he explained, “That’s where I grew up.”
She sat up, intrigued, and stuck her head out the window. “Really?”
“Yep.” He pointed to the corner room. “That was my bedroom. And you see that tree house?” He pointed to the big old maple at the side of the house.
“Yeah.”
“Dad and I built that.” At the mention of his dad he felt a little melancholy. He missed him so much. He gazed at Julia and smiled. His dad would have loved her. He’d have spent hours telling her about his childhood antics, and she would have laughed, loving every minute of it.
She pulled her head back in. “I remember your dad. He was always very nice when I went into the bank.” She looked a bit hesitant. “Is he…”
“No, he’s gone now,” he explained.
“I’m sorry.”
He reached out and squeezed her hand, taking comfort in her touch. “It’s okay. Are your folks still alive?”
“Yes. Dad retired from the service and is now puttering around the house fixing things.”
A truck sped by, kicking up dust. Coop rolled the windows up to protect her hair and clothes from getting soiled. “Fixing things?”
She laughed. “Okay, more like getting on Mom’s nerves. He needs a hobby.”
Coop laughed with her. “When I retire, I’m getting a motorcycle.” He held his hands out and rolled them, mimicking the action of riding.
“How about your mom, Coop?”
“She’s…okay,” he said and pulled back onto the highway. He could tell she wanted to ask more, and while he planned to tell her—to share everything with her—he wanted to do it later.
He drove toward town, and she squeezed his hand. “I liked seeing your childhood home.”
“Good, because I have more to show you.”
“Oh?” she said, her eyes moving over his body. “What exactly do you have in mind?”
He laughed at her playful side. “Hey, get your mind out of the gutter.”
She chuckled along with him, and they fell into easy conversation as he drove the rest of the way. A short while later he pulled into a parking spot along the town’s main street.
He shaded his eyes and glanced up and down the long street. “Nothing much has changed in twenty years. Except maybe the new beaver tail and ice cream store.”
She turned, taking it all in. “It’s so quaint. I love it.”
His heart warmed. It meant something to him that she liked where he’d grown up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I can see why you’d want to move back here.”
He captured her hand and pulled her to him as he led her down the sidewalk and into the store. They both ordered a pastry, and he guided her to the playground he hung out at when he was young. Kids bustled about around them, their parents talking on park benches as they played.
“Swing?” he asked.
“Sure.”
They grabbed the empty swings beside each other and dived into their pastries.
“This is where you hung out?” she asked.
He wiped cinnamon from her face, and when she gave him a sheepish look, his heart turned over. She was so sweet, and he was so fucking lucky to have her in his life. Now, just to keep her there. “This swing exactly,” he said.
“Cool.” The smile she gave him warmed his soul. He bit into his pastry, catching a big hunk of banana, and moaned with pleasure.
“It’s so good, isn’t it?” She took another big bite, chewed, and said, “I can’t remember the last time I had one.”
“You should have one every day,” he said.
“Yeah.” She scoffed. “Wouldn’t my hips love that?”
A hyper little girl in pigtails squealed and started to run by, then slowed when she saw their food. Her eyes went wide. “Mom,” she shrieked. “I want a beaver tail.”
Julia crinkled her nose. “Uh-oh. Look what we started.”
More kids started yelling, and he cringed. “I think the last thing any of them need is sugar.”
“You don’t like kids,” she said, a statement, not a question.
“Yes, I do.”
Her head came up with a start, surprise in her eyes. “Really?”
He dragged his feet though the dirt as he moved on the swing. “Yeah. Someday I’d like to have a couple.”
“Oh.”
“Oh what?”
“Nothing…I just…nothing.”
He kicked his leg out, to pick up momentum as he swung beside her. “I’ll teach them how to play soccer, hockey…ride a horse.”
She smiled at him. “I bet you’d be a great dad.”
“What about you? You want kids?”
“I haven’t given it too much thought. The last few years have been spent focusing on my career.”
“But you do want them?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Good.”
She gave him a strange look as they finished their last bites. Coop jumped off the swing, grabbed her hand, and hauled her to him.
“I thought we’d go for a spin.” He pointed to the merry-go-round. “I swear I could get that thing going a hundred miles an hour. I’ll teach my kids that, too.”
“I think I’m going to pass.”
“Seriously?”
She put her hand on her stomach. “Unless you want a second viewing of my dessert.”
He laughed, and she looked so adorable as she grinned up at him that he couldn’t help himself. He leaned in and put his lips on hers, tasting the sweet cinnamon on her tongue.
“You taste good,” he murmured. “I think they should only ever make peanut butter, banana, and cinnamon-flavored beaver tails.”
“Maybe I can get a law passed,” she teased. She broke the kiss and grabbed his hand, a new excitement in her eyes. “Show me where else you hung out.”