With only a few words he stole my breath. I would never understand how I’d been so lucky to have this man come into my life, and I hated how badly I’d treated him at times. I vowed in that moment, to spend the rest of my life—or as much of it as he’d take—making it up to him.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“Not as much as I love you, Sunshine.”
***
“Does your mom ever stop baking?” Cade whispered in my ear, as we sat at the kitchen table watching her whip up more treats.
“Nope,” I laughed, “I’m pretty sure she even bakes in her sleep. Our house is always overflowing with sweets.”
“If we don’t leave soon I’m going to gain fifty pounds,” Cade warned, reaching for another cookie.
I lightly slapped his hand. “Lay off on the cookies. It’s not even noon.”
He grinned. “It’s not like they have alcohol.”
“True,” I agreed, “but I’ve also lost count of how many you’ve eaten.”
He frowned, lowering his head like a little boy in trouble. “Okay, no more cookies…until after dinner.”
I giggled, shaking my head at him. “I think I’m going to have to hide them.”
“No!” He cried.
My mom peered around her mountain of baking supplies and said, “Why don’t you two find something to do. Bundle up and go outside for a bit.”
I looked over at Cade and cracked a smile. “That’s code for she wants us out of her way and we’re getting on her nerves.”
“It is not!” She protested.
“It is,” I whispered. “Don’t worry mom, we’ll get out of here.” I started thinking about what my mom suggested, and said to Cade, “I’m going to grab my camera, I’ll be right back and then we’ll go outside.”
“Sure, I’ll be here,” he pointed to the table, eyeing the cookies.
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned, before running out of the room and up the stairs.
I grabbed my camera bag, and shrugged into a jacket, and bound back down the steps. I was surprised to find him standing at the bottom of the stairs tossing a football in the air. Noticing my look, he explained, “Your dad found it.”
“Don’t expect me to play football,” I warned, grabbing a blanket from off the back of the couch, “You know I can’t catch.”
“I said I’d teach you,” he winked.
I knew that Cade’s form of ‘teaching’ would involve lots of hands on activity. Not that I would mind.
“Besides,” he added, following me to the back door, “you’re probably better than you think you are.”
“Well, I guess you’ll have to actually teach me this time instead of rolling around in the grass,” I joked.
He grinned wickedly and winked. “Ah, but rolling around in the grass with you is so much fun.”
I laughed, shaking my head as a light wind stirred my hair around my shoulders.
For the time of the year it wasn’t that cold and luckily there was no snow, so we wouldn’t freeze to death.
Cade followed me down the deck steps and into the yard.
“I like it out here,” he said, staring beyond the yard to the field of tall grass.