"Reba?" Melissa questioned softly, her voice straining as she tried desperately to grasp her determined friend's attention.

"Are you really going to Oklahoma, for good?" She asked, fearful of what her friend might answer.

"Yes..."

Three Days Earlier

"You're leaving?" Kelly whispered in question as she hazily looked over at her mother-in-law who was in the process of scootching off the couch cushion beside her.

"I was gonna head out and run a few errands before supper." She quickly stuttered back, trying to hide the fact that Kelly's voice had startled her.

"I thought we were hanging?" Kelly replied sadly as she smoothed out her son's navy onesie by rubbing his back gently, causing him to gurgle in his sleep.

"You're dozing off on the couch with a baby on top of you and I'm dozing off with a baby inside of me..." Reba laughed lightly as she tried to keep her tone low so that she wouldn't wake her grandson who was sound asleep on Kelly's chest.

"We're not really interacting with one another." She continued as she leaned back on the cushion.

"Yeah."

"So... hanging." Kelly reiterated with a small shrug as if to say this was what any normal girl time between new mothers looked like. Smiling at her daughter-in-law, Reba leaned in to kiss her softly on the forehead.

"I won't be long and I'll bring back muffins." Reba reasoned as she eased away from Kelly and smoothed out her baby blue shirt.

"Besides we'll be with Shawna and her bunch all day tomorrow," Reba added with a soft smile. She hated to cut one of the very few afternoons that she got to spend with Kelly short, but she'd had something she really wanted to do.

"When you bribe with muffins how can a Mama object?" Kelly laughed before yawning softly.

"Remy B and I promise not to party too hard without you." She teased with a tired smile.

"Mango Typhoon please." Reba politely stated as she squinted up at the menu board of the Groove N Smoothin' juice bar, silently cursing to herself about forgetting her reading glasses at home. The young bleach blond cashier smiled widely as he grabbed a clear cup in front of him and quickly jotted down her order.

"Groovy choice." He added before handing the cup to the brunette worker behind him.

"Is that all for you today Miss?" He questioned as he quickly typed away at the cash register, pausing a moment, while Reba nodded in response.

"Four twenty-six is your total today." He enthused as he gracefully took the ten dollar bill Reba went to hand him. Quickly opening the register, he counted her change aloud, placing the bills firmly in her hand, one by one, before placing the loose change and her receipt on the very top.

"It'll be right out!" He stated in a still very excitable voice as he watched Reba place all of the change he'd just given her in the light neon pink jar labeled 'tips'.

"Thank you." He added as she walked to the end of the bar, his voice breaking character a moment, showing his true appreciation. Standing at the very end of the counter, waiting for her order, Reba stared off into space, humming a small tune to herself, completely forgetting why she'd even come here in the first place.

"Boy or girl?" The petite woman, who was next in line, and now standing beside Reba at the end of the bar, mused softly, looking down at Reba's visible bump.

"Pardon me?" Reba muttered, breaking from her concentration to look dazedly over at the woman. She actually hadn't really heard what the woman said, too consumed with her thoughts.

"You are pregnant aren't you?" The brunette woman whispered in a slightly mortified tone, placing her hand on her chest.

"Oh! Yes! Yes, I am." Reba responded quickly with a laugh, immediately causing the woman to let out a relieved sigh.

"Girl." She breathed out a second later with a soft smile.

"That obvious huh?" She questioned with a small giggle, patting her belly a bit.

"Not at all actually."

"You carry so well, from the back you can't tell at all." She expressed with a warm sincere smile.

"I just have a three-month-old at home." She giggled back in explanation.

"Awe." Reba cooed softly, thinking about how soon, she too, would be caring for a newborn.

"Boy or girl?" She asked a moment later, returning the woman's question.

"A little girl named Jade." The woman beamed proudly before the young brunette worker cut their conversation short and set an orange smoothie on the counter in front of the two women.

"Mango Typhoon." She called out, setting a green straw on top of the cup and pushing it forward.

"I see you opted for something other than strawberry." Ezra teased laughingly, startling Reba from behind as he watched her collect her drink.

"Hey, you!" Reba jumped before returning his soft and friendly smile. Both Reba and Ezra stepped to the right so that the brunette woman could retrieve her own yellow smoothie that had just been called out as ready.

"Your wife is stunning."

"Good luck with the little one." The woman added softly before tossing her straw wrapper in the bin, to the left of Ezra, and patting Reba's shoulder in a sweet goodbye. Speechless from the woman's comment, both Ezra and Reba laughed softly just after she'd walked away, neither of them able to correct her in time.

"So you're here." Reba stuttered as she shifted her smoothie from one hand to the other, signifying that she remembered his Saturday recommendation to this place during her last appointment.

"Would it be terribly desperate of me if I admitted that I've actually been here for the last hour?" He laughed shyly with a soft shrug of his shoulders.

"Not if you don't tell me why." Reba quickly replied with a small chuckle, her cheeks visibly flushed from his confession.

"Well then 'stunning wife' how about you join me on the back patio then?" He questioned in a mocking waiter's voice as he waved his hand towards the back door of the shop, suggesting that she head in that direction. Following Ezra, Reba let him lead her to the back, which was located on the mall strip, and outside, to a conjoining patio area. Tables and chairs were neatly circled around the beautiful brown patio furniture. They continued until he had led her to the table in the far corner, next to the small black cherry tree, that he had obviously previously occupied. Sitting down in the chair south of the tree, she set her drink on the table, giggling a bit at the sight of his orange smoothie that still sat on the table.

"I see you went for the orange kind of strawberries as well, huh?" She teased as he went to take his seat in front of her, closing the Kindle app that he had been reading, which had 'Outlander' labeled across the top, and setting his phone off to the side.

"Only because I already had a strawberry one when I first got here." He replied shyly, causing her to laugh a little harder.

"I didn't know you liked the Outlander series." She stated quickly, feeling a little nervous and guilty knowing he had been waiting on her.

"Just started actually?"

"Kind of wished I hadn't because now I can't put it down." He reciprocated with an honest shrug.

"I suppose you care for the series?" He probed with another smile, not hiding the fact that he seemed to like her interest in something he thoroughly enjoyed.

"Don't even get me started." She said as her eyes went big.

"I've read all the books at least twice and the TV show..."

"Well let's just say, I watch that religiously." She admitted stopping herself after a moment as she noticed how eager her tone had become.

"You're cute when you're excited," Ezra observed aloud, biting his lip a bit when he saw her redden in reaction. He hadn't actually meant to say that out loud.

"I suppose I could say the same for you when you're nervous." Reba laughed, trying to ease her own nerves. It was painfully obvious how rusty they both were at this.

"Would you like to maybe head over to the rock bench by the falls?" Ezra asked nearly an hour later as he watched Reba take the final sip of her smoothie. Nodding in response, she quickly rose from her chair, grabbing both of their cups, and tossing them into the bin next to the tree behind them.

"This one's really blossomed beautifully," Reba commented, taking note of the tree's vibrant color from the fresh growing fruit, as she touched one of the longer branches that were extended in front of her.

"Blackberries - they're as delicious as they are beautiful." Ezra agreed, licking his lips a little.

"You know I really like how much you think about food." Reba laughed as they began to walk down the path that led and eventually extended next to a small stream of water on the far side of the mall strip.

"Really, most of the time people just find my appetite a little intimidating," Ezra mumbled wearily, afraid that his obsession with food might be a bit repulsive.

"I get that," Reba added quickly nodding her head.

"My eating habits range from supermodel pilates enthusiast to a hungry unsupervised child in a candy store..."

"But mostly the latter." She professed truthfully.

"How's it possible that you're so tiny then?" Ezra questioned back in amusement as he suddenly stopped in front of the stone bench, which sat perched along the walkway, hidden from the mall strip by bright vivacious trees. Eyeing him incredulously, she looked down at her growing stomach for a moment, before running her hand over it.

"Right... tiny you say." She repeated as she squinted back at him in teasing apprehension.

"Oh hush, you can hardly even tell she's there, and like I said..."

"I've seen some of your work, you weren't always in... this predicament." He pointed out with a laugh. How she could even begin to think her baby bump made her any less tiny was beyond him. Besides her height, there was nothing even remotely medium, let alone anything else about this woman.

"But seeing as we are both food fanatic's, maybe after baby McEntire is born, of course, we could do dinner or something." Ezra shyly mumbled as he looked off to his right, placing his hands in his khaki pockets, and rocking back and forth on his heels a bit, slightly avoiding her eye contact. Smiling a bit, Reba nodded softly.

"You know I'd like that, but we might have to make this 'dinner or something' at a restaurant..."

"My cooking is so fabulous even the smoke alarm cheers me on." She said as she shrugged her shoulders a bit. She was pretty sure by now it was a world renowned fact that cooking wasn't her strong suit. Laughing out loud at her comment, Ezra shook his head before finally sitting down on the stone bench, motioning for her to join him.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I like eating out."

"But if you and your smoke alarm ever need an extra cheerleader don't hesitate to ask." He added quickly as he watched her sit down on the bench, keeping a reasonable couple of inches between the two of them. Smiling back at her, he made no notion to inch closer, respecting her choice to sit on the other end of the bench.

"Finally! A man who's in touch with his femininity." She laughed over dramatically, hinting at the fact that he had just offered to become a cheerleader for her.

"Sweetheart I can't be an OBGYN specialist by being mister macho all the time." He said as he lifted his arm and flexed his toned biceps, his royal blue shirt tightening around them. Laughing at his antics, Reba scooted into the bench a bit more, her left leg now close enough to graze the side of his. Pushing his arm down, still in a small fit of laughter, she shook her head.

"What else do OBGYN's do in there mean time?" She questioned softly, her eyes capturing his.

"That's a tough question, most of them don't have much free time because the OBGYN SPECIALISTS are too busy putzing around mall strips and drinking too many fruit smoothies." He corrected playfully as he watched her try and shake the red baby hairs, that had fallen from the sudden breeze, out of her eyes. Reaching out he quickly tugged the loose piece behind her ear, brushing past her cheek ever so slightly.

"My apologies, I just didn't think your head bang there was going to do the trick." He explained as her timid eyes locked with his. Running her fingers over her chin, she shook her head softly, indicating that she wasn't upset with his actions. They held one another's gaze for a moment before they both realized how close to one another they had become. Her eyes began to suddenly feel heavy as they crept close and they both slowly began to lean in, so their foreheads could rest against one another. Both of their breaths began to shake. Ezra's head turning ever so slightly before he finally captured her lips in a sweet kiss. Reba's stomach did a flip-flop when they finally made contact, but she was still in a haze, as she felt his tongue run across her teeth, quickly granting him access, he deepened the kiss, his tongue beginning to explore the newly granted territory. It wasn't until his hand began to run up her side, causing her belly to flutter, that she came crashing back to reality, instantly pushing him away and breaking their kiss.

"Narvel I-" She stuttered before quickly closing her mouth, her mind going completely blank, and her face becoming hot from embarrassment.

"As far as I remember I don't think my name is quite that unique." He mumbled awkwardly as he tried to lighten the instantaneously tense mood. He felt as she slid further down the bench, putting more distance between them.

"I'm so sorry but I should go." She continued to mutter. The look of anguish that washed over her face, quickly caused Ezra's small smile to fade, his heart dropping to his stomach.

"Look, Reba, it was me, I shouldn't -"

"I have to go." She stated again, cutting him off and practically jumping to her feet. He quickly tried to reach out for her hand but she was already on her way back down the path towards the courtyard on the mall strip. Sitting there in shock, he watched her run off until she was merely a blur in the distance.