She tightened up her backpack and walked toward the office, strolling in. He looked up from behind the desk. “Come in,” he said dryly.

“Oh, I already did,” she said, grinning.

“Yes. You did. And you have a backpack on.”

“I do,” she said. “And that’s not all. In my truck I have a few other things.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What other things?”

“A tent,” she said.

“A tent,” he repeated.

“Yes. Because I thought that we would go camping.”

“You want to go camping?”

“Yes,” she said, speaking as if he were incredibly slow.

“And what brought this on?”

“I haven’t seen you in a few days,” she said.

“That’s not true. We see each other every day.”

“It is true. Because we might see each other every day, but we haven’t slept together. And we haven’t talked to each other. And it’s different. It’s been different. Anyway, I missed you.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Just a lot of stuff going on with...the ranch.”

The words that he spoke sounded so heavy that she knew there was more to it, but if he wasn’t going to tell her, there was no point badgering him.

She blinked. Well, usually she wanted to badger people endlessly. Whether there was a point or not. But with him, she knew it wouldn’t work. And he would only get annoyed. So she had to figure out another way.

“It’s my birthday,” she said.

“Is it?”

She grinned again. She could only hope that the slight alteration she made in her appearance today made her as adorable as she felt when she left the house this morning. She had put on mascara. She had put her hair into two braids, which she thought looked a little bit fancier. She had also put on ChapStick. Which she sometimes did before her makeover. But it did make her lips kind of shiny.

“Yes,” she confirmed, “it’s my birthday.”

“And the birthday girl wants to go camping?”

“Yes,” she said.

She could sense the moment he relented. She’d suspected he wouldn’t be able to be stubborn about her birthday. And she had been correct. “Okay. And what do you want for dinner?”

“Fish. And you have to catch them for me.”

He laughed. “I didn’t realize you were going to put me to work.”

“Yes. You have to prove that you’re man enough to take care of me. You have to catch me trout.”

“Okay,” he said. “I assume you have backups with you?”

“Peanut butter and jelly,” she said. “But if there’s trout, we can have Rice-A-Roni and salad. And rolls. And beer.”

“Okay. You convinced me. I think I can take time off work to go up into the mountains with a beautiful woman, go fishing and eat bread.”

“Excellent,” she said.

“We don’t even need to put in a full day here. Let me finish up what I’m doing in the office. There’s a spot on the property that will be ideal.”

By the time she and Gabe were headed up the mountain in his pickup truck, with all the camping supplies in the back—the ones that she had brought, and a few that he had rounded up—Jamie felt lighter than she had in days. More connected to that moment they had down by the river, which had been so perfect and wonderful. Except for the inner turmoil it had given her. But she supposed you couldn’t have everything.