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“Ben.”

Colt’s authoritative tone caught Remi’s attention.

Ben sulked. “Do I have to?” Colt held out his hand, and Ben took it. “I’m too old to be holding hands.”

Abby reached for Remi’s hand. The gesture was second nature. At least one of the kids cooperated with the hold hands in parking lots rule.

“You’re eight and a flight risk. You’ll be holding my hand when you’re sixteen at this rate,” Colt said.

Abby skipped beside Remi. “I’ll hold your hand forever. And when I get old, I want to build another house beside ours and connect the porches.”

Remi held in a laugh. “I’m not sure your husband will agree to that.”

“I’m not sure I’ll agree to it,” Colt whispered.

Remi elbowed him in the side. They’d recently taken their marriage to the next level, and Colt had started pushing for more adult alone time. She understood exactly where he was coming from. She and Colt had settled into the newlywed stage, and they had a lot of lost time to make up for. The kids had spent more than a handful of evenings with Stella and Vera over the last month.

“If I have a husband, he can live in the old cabins like Mister Brett and Mister Lincoln and Mister Paul.”

Colt sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Maybe we need to table this conversation. I’m not ready to hear about you getting married.”

“Me either. Who do you think I’ll marry?” Abby asked.

Remi forced a smile and waved at Hudson, one of the teens who helped out at Grady’s Feed and Seed, as they walked in. “You probably haven’t met him yet.”

“How do I know when I meet him?”

What a question. If only God gave a clear sign for those kinds of things. Remi could have saved a few years of pushing Colt into a safe zone.

Before she could think of a good answer, Colt spoke up. “You’ll just know.”

“How did you know you wanted to marry Remi?”

Colt waved his hands in the air. “It was like lightning. Everything else stopped, and I knew she was the one as soon as I saw her.”

“What a load of…” Better to not finish that thought. “It wasn’t anything like that.”

“How do you know?” The confident tone in Colt’s question might have made her think twice.

“I was there.”

“Well, you’re a little dense about these things.”

“I am not!”

She definitely was, but she didn’t like being told so. And why was he telling the kids that the decision on who to marry was as cut and dry as lightning and time stopping? Maybe it had been for him, but it wasn’t like that for everyone, including her.

Colt stopped in front of the first aisle and turned to them. “Okay, let’s split up. Remi and Abby, you’re looking for a shovel and outdoor spout covers. Ben and I will get the horse feed.”

Ben stood tall and gave a dramatic salute. “Sir, yes, sir.”

“Can we get suckers too?” Abby asked.

“Those are at the checkout counter,” Remi reminded her.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Abby tugged on Remi’s hand.

Gently pulling Abby the opposite direction, Remi pointed toward the garden section. “We’ll meet you at the checkout counter.”