Chapter 48

• It started small — just Beau sayin’ “Busy today, Bug” when she brushed by him at the bakery counter, fresh tray balanced on her palm while he snuck a kiss behind her ear. She didn’t think much of it that first day — he always had somethin’ to fix, some scrap of old fence to mend or some tractor hummin’ wrong enough he’d curse at it ‘til it purred again.
• But then it was the next day too. Then the next.
• And every time she asked where you headed?, he’d press his mouth to her temple, palm warm and solid on her hip — “Nothin’ to worry on, Sadie Bug. Got it handled.”