Page 21 of Sweet Courage

“What I don’t understand,” Jackie stepped away from her husband, “is how can the county not already own enough land for a little fair?”

“Little?” Kat muttered. “Our fair is almost as big as the State Fair.”

Alice waved her hands. “Can we do it? Can we bail out the county?”

“Good catch, Mom.” Preston glanced at Carson before nodding. “That field is fallow this season.”

“So it won’t cost us anything?” Alice’s gaze remained fixed on her son.

Carson shrugged. “Depends on the damage. We might need an extra season, but since we’re going to build the new breeding barns anyhow, maybe…”

“Would that land be large enough?” Alice’s eyes lit with excitement.

Again, Preston and Carson’s gazes met before Carson spoke up. “We think so.”

Now Alice’s grin widened. “Then I think we have solved the county’s problem. At least for this year.”

Glancing from one face to the next, Hanson had never seen so many sincerely happy smiles, but the one that made him want to grin back was on Kat’s face. He really did like how her smile lit up her whole face. She was beautiful on her own, but smiling, she was irresistible. At least to him.

One of Kat’s favorite pastimes was dinner at the Sweet family ranch. Being here felt like the perfect episode of a 1950s television series. Plenty of banter, a little teasing, and a whole lot of love.

The county fair had dominated the conversation all through dinner and dessert. By the time the last plates were scraped and the serving bowls carried to the sink, the conversation had already stretched from livestock pens to parking, from funnel cakes to Ferris wheels, from where to set the vendor booths to anticipated blue ribbons. The transition from an animated meal to a spotless kitchen happened with the speed of practiced choreography that came from years of a large family working together.

Jess loaded the dishwasher while Carson gathered the last of the heavy serving platters. Jackie wiped down the long dining table, leaving the wood gleaming under the overhead lights. In no time at all, the clatter of silverware and running water faded, replaced by the low, comfortable murmur of conversation as the family naturally migrated toward the large family room at the front of the house.

Walking like a woman on a mission to the speaker parked on a shelf in the corner book case, Alice set her phone beside it and after a few taps, the soft melodies of popular country tunes began to fill the room.

Settled into his favorite leather armchair, Clint didn’t hesitate. Pushing himself right back up, the tall man clad in pressed jeans walked across the woven area rug and extended a hand toward his wife. “May I have this dance?”

A soft smile and a hint of pink touched Alice’s cheeks. “You certainly may.”

Stepping forward, Carson grabbed one end of the heavy square coffee table. Preston grabbed the other end, and together they hoisted it out of the way, sliding it against the far wall to open up the center of the room. Jess didn’t even have to ask. The moment the table was clear, she stepped into Carson’s waiting arms. Across the room, Garret pulled Jackie to her feet.

The couples circled the makeshift dance floor as though this had been a nightly event for decades. The whole scene put a smile on Kat’s face. Like she’d said before, the perfect family. A sudden, sharp realization pierced through the contented moment. Scanning the room from sofa to corner book case and back, Hanson was nowhere to be seen. Her gaze moved back through the kitchen. He stood by the sink, one hand braced lightly on the counter, looking out the window into the dark. The glass reflected the room behind him in faint pieces—moving bodies, soft lamplight, but his gaze was fixed on some distant point.

“Too much?” She approached quietly.

He didn’t startle, but the fingers on the counter flexed once before relaxing. “A little.” No joke. No quick smile. Just honesty.

She stepped beside him, leaving a few inches between them, and looked out the window too. There wasn’t much to see in the darkness beyond. “They can be a lot.”

“They’re good people.”

“The two are not mutually exclusive.”

That earned her the faintest curve at one corner of his mouth. Behind them, Garret whooped as Jackie made a successful turn under his arm. Hanson’s eyes flicked to the reflection in the window. “They make it look easy.”

“They’ve had practice.”

“I meant the family part.”

Hadn’t she been thinking something similar herself? Sucking in a slow breath, she turned slightly to face him. “The other day you made a comment about being fine fifty feet in the air rigging a bridge under fire.”

He nodded.

“I’ve been wondering what exactly you did in the military.”

His gaze turned back out the window. For a moment she thought he might dodge the question. Then his shoulders eased by a fraction. “Combat engineer. Twelve Bravo.” He paused, as if deciding how much that meant to someone outside his world. “Army Sapper. We handled mobility, counter-mobility, survivability. Built things. Blew things up. Cleared routes. Rigged bridges. Breached obstacles. Made roads where there weren’t roads and tried to make bad places passable.”