Page 15 of April is for Asher

Before continuing, he turns and kisses the top of my head.

"I felt this urge to take a look at it. So the day after the rodeo, I did. The guy gave me a tour and the entire time, my mind was whirling about how I could make this work. Though I knew nothing about the town other than what the guys had told me at the rodeo the day before. When they told me that this cabin came with it because it was on the back end of the property, I was sold. A business, a way to help people, and a place to live all in one sale. It was perfect. My first week here, Ruby introduced me to Jackson and he kind of took me under his wing. Now I couldn't be happier about the choice that I've made."

His story definitely sounds like one of those instances where everything just came together. I always had this theory that if you were working towards something and it all came together so organically, you had to be on the right track. Which meant you were doing what you were supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, my move to Billings has been anything but easy, and I have to wonder if I still believe that if it's easy, it's the right thing. Because that would mean that the opposite is also true. If something is causing one problem after another like this move to Billings, then maybe it's not the right thing to do.

Though, I would never admit that out loud because I can't give up on my career. I need to have a way to support this child and this raise with the promotion is the best way to do it. I can't even count how many times growing up I heard my mother complaining about how much she wished she had not given up her career for my father.

My mom was a successful real estate broker, which is how my parents met. But when she got pregnant with me, he asked her to stay home to take care of me. At first it was just for a year or two until I could go to school, but about the time I was going into preschool, she wound up pregnant with my sister. Then the clock started all over again.

Since my sister was so sick, she never did go to preschool. By the time my mom was ready to go back to work, my sister was in second grade. Unfortunately, Mom had been out of the workforce for way too long and she'd have to go back to school to get her license again. There just wasn't time anymore, so she decided to be a stay at home with me and my sister. My father was more than happy to let her do it.

"Well, I'll let you get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day with the Easter Egg Hunt and getting you settled here before you have to go to work ," he says. Standing in all his naked glory, he walks to the door before turning around to look at me, catching me staring at his firm and sculpted butt.

Even though I quickly jerk my eyes up to his face, he's already smirking because I've been caught.

"Get some sleep, sweetheart, but let me know if you need anything." He turns, closing the door behind him, leaving me there.

He’s doing exactly what we agreed on, satisfying each other's needs, but not anything more.

So why does this room feel so empty now? Why does the idea of sleeping alone not appeal to me?

CHAPTER8

ASHER

This year'sEaster egg hunt is even bigger than last year. The first year of the egg hunt, it was pretty small, with just the families of the people that worked and volunteered here. Some of the local families who Jackson and Miles were able to drum up took part.

Each year since it's been growing. People love coming out and spending time with the mustangs while they hunt for eggs. Not only do they have a great time, but the money that they spend helps the horses who are here. Now we have people coming from as far as several towns away and for the last few years, people from Billings have heard about and come for the event.

Taking a walk around, I make sure everything is in order, and that nobody needs anything. Emma, Luna, Kinley, and Jenna are all working the face painting booth and have a line of kids excited to get their faces done. The tents that they're using are heated, which all of us guys insisted on for our girls.

Since none of the girls are super skilled artists, we made sure there were other fun things for the kids. The tattoos we got were a huge hit. They would press them on and then add glitter and paint to really make them pop. Not surprisingly, the most popular tattoos seem to be the horse ones. Even though we feel for these poor parents who are going to go home and have glitter all over their house, we still include this event because the kids enjoy it.

"Hey girls doing, okay? Do you need anything?" I ask, looking at Jenna who, despite the line of kids, seems calm and relaxed.

"I'm good. I've been taking bathroom breaks as needed and that gives me a chance to refill my water. Ruby brought over some of the food to try out, so I have even eaten," she says.

When she answers my next few questions, it helps me to relax a bit, knowing that she's cared for by more than just me.

"Okay, well, if you need anything, I have my phone on me. Don't hesitate to call.”

"Shoot Asher, we can take care of her. You can go, we're having fun." Luna waves me off pretending to be irritated, but there's a big smile on her face too.

Next I head to the Easter bunny tents where there's a long line of kids waiting to get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny. This year, the girls were able to sweet talk Mack into dressing up as the Easter Bunny. Mostly he said yes because he'd be able to have the costume on and no one would see his scars. But the icing on the cake for him was that the girls promised him all kinds of home-cooked meals.

Though he was reluctant to do it, he seems to be doing really well with the kids and Donna is right there to help him out as needed. Because the mask hides his face and scar, he is a lot more relaxed and almost enjoying himself.

Right now, we have some volunteers going over the field that we used for the Easter egg hunt this morning making sure all the eggs were picked up. Also, that no candy spilled out and that there's no debris on the field so that we can reuse it for the horses next week. They're also getting set up for the toddler egg hunt. We learned pretty early on to do a separate one for the toddlers so that they weren't fighting with bigger kids for the eggs.

Once the toddler event is ready and the toddlers are on the field, pretty much everything stops, so everyone gets ready to cheer them on. I love that kind of unity that we get from Mustang Mountain.

Standing beside me, Jenna is watching and I know that we're both thinking next year it could be our little one out there as well. Maybe not walking, but at least enjoying picking up Easter eggs.

"Next year we'll be out there on the field ourselves helping little Wilbur pick up Easter eggs," I say, picturing it all in my head.

"We are so not naming our son after the pig inCharlotte's Web," Jenna says, sounding completely horrified.

"Wilbur was my grandfather's name, and I've always wanted to name my son after him. He was pretty much the only male figure in my life growing up," I tell her with all seriousness.

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