Another side of Heartland

-Chapter 26-

******i apologize for the super long wait for the few of you that are invested in my story. I have currently moved half way across the country and my life has been a little upside down lately.******

-Mallory-

I quickly got dressed and scooted down the stairs and into the kitchen mixing up some pancake batter and heating up the frying pan. I was just putting the last pancakes on a plate when Caleb walked into the kitchen fully dressed. I handed him a plate of pancakes with strawberry's and he leaned down to kiss me quickly as a thank you. We sat across the kitchen bar from each other and quietly ate our pancakes. Once Caleb was done he looked up and me and smiled. "Thank you for breakfast baby, what movie do you want to go see?" I smiled at him and nodded thinking about movies I had seen advertised. 'I dunno babe. Something funny maybe?' Caleb nodded and gathered our dirty plates up, sat them in the sink and rinsed them off.
I grabbed my maroon coat out of the hall closet and headed for the front door with Caleb close behind. I headed out to the barn and he walked towards his truck. 'I was just going to check on everyone before we went to town.' I said looking at him. "Yeah I'll come with you. I just want the truck to be warm when we get back to it." I chuckled and waited for him to catch up with me and he threw his arm around me. "It's not going to be fun having to sneak into your room once everyone gets back" Caleb said squeezing me and I giggled. 'Yeah, we all know how Jack feels about the sleeping arrangements' I said smiling. "That's okay, as long as they accept that we will be together. I can live with only occasionally sleeping in your bed... for now." I smiled up at Caleb and let go of him to tug open the barn door. Only to find Sugarfoot standing in the middle of the barn alleyway eating an entire bag of treats. Caleb busted out laughing as I went to catch him. I tucked him into an empty stall with hay and water before returning back to Caleb who was holding a note.

Hello Children,
Ty and Amy told me I could leave sugarfoot here anytime I needed to. I have to go out of town with some family for some tests at a doctor who doesn't have a clue what he's talking about but my niece insisted that it would put her mind to ease. I put sugar foot in the empty stall right inside the door. Hope that was okay.

Love, Ms. Bell

Caleb chuckled and I looked up at him. "The latch has been broken on that stall since Pegasus has been gone, I put ghost in there but I have to tie it. Sugarfoot was making out like a bandit because Ms. Bell didn't know."

I laughed and nodded my head. 'Well everything is where it should be now' Caleb grabbed my hand and lead me outside and then closed the barn up tight to keep the warmth inside before we made a run for his nice toasty truck.

-Caleb-

I pulled up outside of the movie theater and parked, I was in no rush to get out and looked over at Mallory. She was intently reading the marquee sign to see what was playing and I was busy studying her. I looked at her neck, noticing the cross that I gave her for her birthday. I haven't seen her take it off since I gave it to her. Mallory looked over at me and caught me staring and I smiled guiltily. Her cheeks tinted pink realizing I was staring at her but she didn't look away from me or try to hide like she would have a month ago. I leaned over the center console and kissed her gently, she smiled against my lips and then she leaned in to kissed me back. I pulled back and grinned at her before opening my door and walking around to open hers for her. Mallory slid out of the truck and I grabbed her hand leading her to the theatre. "So babygirl, what movie did you decide on?" She made a humming noise and tilted her head. 'I want to watch -just go with it' I smiled and paid for our tickets before heading inside the theater.
To my great surprise Mallory headed for the snack counter and I quickly caught up to her 'I'll have a medium popcorn and a Dr. pepper and a box of milk duds' "make that a large popcorn and add a box of mike n Ike's and a coke" Mallory reaches for her card but I pushed her hand away and paid for the snacks. Mallory smiled up at me and I squeezed her elbow before gathering up our snacks and heading towards our theater room. Once we got settled in I looked over at Mallory to see her completely relaxed munching on her popcorn and I sudden thought hit me like a ton of bricks all at once and took my breath away.
I love her.
Mallory looked over and smiled at me and I caught the breath that has been stuck in my lungs. I smiled back and turned my focus back to the big screen before she noticed anything was wrong but my mind was reeling with my new discovery and I couldn't help the smile that had landed on my face.