Page 10 of Lakeside Little (Pineberry Falls: Summer Daddies #2)

Jack filled me with confidence, which had waned after losing my job.

It wasn’t his responsibility to give me my confidence back, and I’m not even sure if he even knew that’s what he was doing when he sang my praises for fixing his doll house.

Anyone would’ve done it, but this was special because I saw something in him that I hadn’t seen for a while, and it reflected something back on me, again, unseen for a long time.

His designs were going to be a large undertaking, but I would never tell him that.

I knew that as a little, the last thing I would ever do as a Daddy is crush his dreams. I was going to do everything possible to bring his dreams to reality, and lucky for him, I wasn’t just a Daddy who was good with his hands, I was also committed and a little too strong willed sometimes.

Another early morning, another pancake breakfast ready on the table.

I’d finished one coffee before Jack’s sleepy head came wandering out of the bedroom.

He was pulled the entire comforter along with him, all the way out of the bedroom until he dropped it seeing me sat at the table, building a little something with all the popsicle sticks we’d gone through.

I’d fished them out of the recycling, and I was trying to see what I could do to bring his drawing to life. So far, it wasn’t looking great.

“I know, the proportions are off, but in my defense, I’m eyeballing it,” I said.

“Wow,” he said. “You’ve even got the roof on it.” He reached out.

“Don’t,” I said. “The wood glue is still drying, but it opens up. Or it should. I’m not sure if the hinge mechanism is working, but we’ll see.

I guess there’s only one way to find out.

Anway,” I said, rushing around the table, I pulled out a chair for him.

“You’re just in time. These are fresh off the griddle.

” I presented the fluffy pancakes in front of him and immediately was greeted by the gurgle of his belly.

“Wow. I don’t want you to leave,” he said, looking up at me with those big eyes. “I mean, I know you have to go home, but what if you left when I do.”

“I—I—”

“I mean, you can stay here with me until I’m supposed to leave, you’re barely using your cabin anyway,” he said, batting his lashes. “Only if you want to. I’m really ok if you want to go home early, but—”

“I don’t want to leave early, I’m more than happy to stay a couple extra days, besides, we still haven’t been to the petting zoo at the ranch yet, and I kinda wanted to see those alpacas,” I said.

Jack became giddy, shaking on the chair and clapping his hands. “Then it’s settled, you’ll stay here, and we can enjoy more time together.”

“And today, we can head to the ranch,” I said. “I searched them online and they make their own goat cheese, have you ever had goat cheese?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t know goats made cheese.”

“Well, it’s from their milk.”

“They make milk?”

“Yes, what did you think they did?” I asked.

He was adorable, rubbing at his sleepy eyes.

“I thought that people just ate them, or like they were used in goat yoga. I’ve heard about that before.

There’s this gym near my apartment which offers it, and I kinda always wondered if they were talking about real goats, or if it was a new type of yoga.

” He shrugged, grabbing his fork and tearing into the pancake stack.

“I don’t do yoga, so I couldn’t tell you, but maybe we’ll find out.”

Jack hummed in enjoyed and hopefully agreement as I got back to sticking wooden sticks to the miniature doll house I created in reference to Jack’s piece of art.

After breakfast, I headed back to my cabin to get dressed while Jack prepared himself and his videos for the morning. I sometimes felt like I was intruding on them when he was doing them, but he never said anything to agree with that.

Last night’s talk woke something in me that I wasn’t going to push away.

It was rearing a strong head of desire, and I was going to surf that wave for as long as it would take me.

Building houses or putting up furniture was fun, it came with instruction and guides, but creating something from imagination and a set of ideas had me ready to start a new chapter in my life.

I felt like I knew Jack better than some of the people I worked with for twenty years. Maybe it was because we were practically living on top of each other in the best possible way, or perhaps it was because I actually wanted to get to know him.

Every moment I caught him looking at me with that smile was another moment I snapped a photo of behind my eyes, hoping to find somewhere that would print them, and if they could, I would’ve been the luckiest man alive to see those glances whenever I wanted.

We’d agreed to head up to the ranch that afternoon, and Jack’s excited had grown massively as he looked online and talked about how he was going to use it as a photo op for his dolls.

He’d packed three of them for one of his ongoing storylines.

I was in awe he could keep all of that straight in his mind.

I got confused with how all the dolls were connected, but I’d listen to him for hours if I could, and I knew his mouth could go on for hours.

Wilde Ranch was located on the outskirts of the town. The gorgeous arched sign above the black iron gates had little metal chickens and horses intertwined with it. I drove a little slower, just to appreciate it.

“I wonder if we’ll get to pet the alpacas,” Jack said. “Are they the ones that spit?”

“I think that’s llamas.”

“Wait. Llamas, aren’t they alpacas but like another name for them.”

“No, I’m very sure they’re different. And I’m sure we’ll find out.

” I drove up and parked by a small bay of other cars.

It wasn’t too busy, which was nice, I still had reservations about holding hands and being together with Jack in such an intimate way that I kept thinking people would sneer at us if we acted like a couple.

Were we a couple? I didn’t need to spiral about this now.

Jack tucked his hand into mine as we sat in the parked car.

“I think I might buy one of those plushies they had on the craft stall,” he said.

“I was thinking about it, and I knew I should’ve then, but I didn’t know which one I would’ve wanted, but I totally think I could get one and introduce them as like a pet or something. ”

His touch was instant relief, and I almost forgot what I was fretting over. “I think that’s a great idea,” I said, pulling his hand to my mouth and kissing it. “But I want to buy it for you, that way you’ll always remember me when you cuddle it. Like that blanket you’ve got.”

“True. I do always think of my grams when I squeeze that. She was such a sweetie. I wish you could’ve met her. I bet she would’ve made you a blanket too. She made them for me at my major birthdays, when I turned sixteen and then twenty-one.”

I kissed his hand again. “And what happened to them?”

“Oh, they’re at home. I don’t want them to get into the same state as my baby blanket, but I cannot sleep without my baby blanket.”

“I’m worried what will happen when that is down to the last shred of fabric,” I said.

“Me too. I’ve been told I need to stop holding it so tight.”

I would never have said that, but I would’ve thought it, because he was very hard-handed with it. “Maybe you could get it framed.”

He nodded. “If it comes down to it.”

A car horn beeped behind us, pulling us back to our surroundings. They were asking if we were leaving, which immediately had me wanting to roll down the window and flip them off. It was rude of them to interrupt my sweet cherub while he was opening up to me.

The ranch was nicer than expected. I’d half-anticipated some rundown shacks and a couple of barns with tin roofs and a poorly constructed area made of chicken wire to keep all the animals behind, but this was incredibly well laid out and organized.

“It must be amazing to live here,” Jack said, keeping hold of my hand. “To be around chickens all day and chase them around.”

“So, you’d be a menace,” I laughed.

The ranch had a little map on a visitor’s board that signposted all the areas, from the owner’s nice, big fancy house to all the different animals kept on the land. As well as a swanky looking guest house.

We met Jace again who was giving the tours around the ranch, showing off the goats who were snatching oats right out of palms, going to town with their tongues. Jack took part and immediately rescinded his hand the moment the tongue touched his palm, recoiling and pretending to vomit.

“You gotta feed them, otherwise they’ll just headbutt ya,” Jace chuckled. “They’re the only real animals that will interact with people; all the others will give a wide berth.”

There were also ducks and rabbits around which we learned they hadn’t actively sought out, but they’d made their homes on the land and had become part of the ranch.

Jack pulled out his backpack to take his dolls and make content.

I sought out the store. It was a small building, centrally located that almost looked like a silo more than anything with a large chimney shape coming off it.

Inside the building, there was no sign that the chimney was connected to it.

Possibly a reconstruction with access to it removed.

It always fascinated me as to how people changed the buildings around them.

Shelves of yarn and eggs, and fridges stocked with milk, butter, and cheese. But there were no plushies.

“Hey, how are you finding Wilde Ranch?” the woman behind the counter asked. I recognized her as being with Jace at the event in town from the weekend “It’s been a busy one today.”

“It’s a beautiful place,” I told her. “But I saw you in Pineberry a couple days ago. I was wondering if you were selling any of those plushies, you know, the—”

She cooed, turning her back on me while holding her pointer finger out.

“I haven’t unpacked them, so give me just one moment.

” She dug into a large bag behind the counter.

“These are all made by hand from the alpaca fibers we collected here. Did you meet them? They’re adorable.

” She moved from behind the counter, dragging the bag.

“Yeah, they were being swarmed. Are they the ones that spit?” I asked.

“Yes,” she chuckled.

“So, it’s the llamas that don’t spit.”

“Oh no, they both spit, although we’ve never owned llamas,” she said. “Anyway, you can look through these if you like. Did you see anything in particular you wanted?”

Most of the plushies in the bag were alpacas of varying sizes and colors.

I picked one of the medium-sized ones out in a rainbow colorway.

I should’ve asked Jack beforehand, but I felt like this one spoke to me.

It was maybe even the first thing I’d ever bought that was rainbow colored.

There was a tingle, a thrill, it was exciting to buy it.

I also bought some goat cheese as well since Jack had pulled a face, I wanted to make something for him that would make him think again about it. It was my job, after all, to open him up to new things, especially things he was missing out on.

Jack was by the alpacas, his big eyes just glared at the grazing animals while little kids around him screamed, running around them like they were going to spit. The warning was up on the wooden fencing. He looked relieved to see me as I walked toward him.

“Where are you dolls?”

“The alpacas looked at them like they were going to eat them, so I got my pictures and then put them back in my bag,” he said, slowing down as he locked onto the plastic bag in my hand. “What’s in there?”

“A surprise,” I said, although technically it wasn’t.

“I like surprises.”

“Do you really?”

“Ok, no, not really. But I think I’ll like this one,” he said.

I reached in, passing the plushie and grabbed the container of goat’s cheese.

“I heard you can do so many things with these.”In the store, Martha, Jace’s mother had told me how they use the cheese to make pastries and tarts.

I told her I’d give it a go, but for me, I’d already planned on trying my hand at pizza, I knew it was good on pizza.

“No, no, not that,” he said. “The other thing.”

“I think I might have gotten the wrong thing now.” I put the cheese back and pulled the plushie out.

Jack gasped, grabbing it and squeezing it to his chest. If he wasn’t careful, this too would end up becoming scraps of fabric and fibers in his hand too. “Oh my god, I love it!” He rubbed it against his cheek. “This is the one I wanted.”

“Really?”

“It’s a rainbow!”

It was a rainbow, and like a rainbow after a storm, that’s just who Jack was in my life, bringing me color and joy. I was going to cling to him and give him whatever he needed as long as I was rewarded with those smiles and the just as intense full body embraces. It renewed me.