Page 22 of Just This Once (Stone Family #2)

Next, I park in the high school lot, waiting as the soccer team guys all file out, Jake hanging back with some other player, talking really close together. Could be nothing. Or could be something, and I resolve myself to let him know at some point, I’ll be in his corner.

Back at home, I raid the cabinets while Maddie does her homework and Jake splits upstairs for a shower.

I don’t consider myself much of a cook besides a few recipes my mother taught me, but seeing as Taryn doesn’t have any ingredients for homemade sauce or chicken parm, I find a couple of frozen pizzas, which I heat up like a pro.

And after we’ve all eaten, Maddie and I settle in the living room to watch more Gossip Girl as Jake disappears to his room.

Taryn gave me no instructions about if or when they have a bedtime, and I don’t have a lot of experience taking care of kids, but much to my appreciation, Jake and Maddie pretty much take care of themselves.

At nine, Maddie declares she’s going to go to bed, and I follow her upstairs, offering her a high five before knocking on Jake’s bedroom door.

I assume a lot of people dream about marriage and kids when they think what they want to be when they grow up.

Like it’s a package deal. A rite of passage.

But now that I’m thirty and no closer to marriage or children, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

Especially when I have my sights set on a woman, and I’m given the opportunity to hang out with her kids.

I don’t know where I fall on the responsible adult scale, but I suppose I’m doing okay in terms of my relationship with Jake and Maddie. We have fun, and Taryn trusts me with them. I would take care of them with everything I have, like I would take care of Taryn the same way.

They are my package deal.

Can’t have one without the other.

Which sounds pretty perfect to me.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jake asks when he opens his door to me, and I shrug, glancing behind me to make sure Maddie can’t hear.

“Your sister’s going to bed, and I just wanted to check in with you. I don’t know, uh, know what the procedure here is.”

He laughs. I like that he does so easily. He’s not jaded. “There is no procedure. I usually stay up later than I should, talking to friends and stuff.”

“You play video games at night?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes, we’re Snapping each other or whatever.”

I nod. “Yeah, well, I think at some point around, like, twenty-eight, your body starts to go, hey, whoa, you should go to bed now. I swear I used to be able to stay up until two in the morning all the time, and now, I’ll fall asleep in the middle of watching a game at nine. Pathetic.”

“Pathetic,” he echoes with a chuckle, and I slap my hand to his shoulder.

“All right. Well, I’ll be downstairs until your mom gets home.” When he nods, I try to slip in a little nuance. “But I also wanted to let you know if you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, whatever it is… I’m here, all right?”

He shifts his gaze around, and I remember high school. Being nervous and suspicious about everything and everyone. Even when I didn’t have much to be nervous or suspicious about .

“Yeah.” He clears his throat. “Cool. Thanks.”

Then I head back downstairs and make myself at home on the couch until Taryn arrives home an hour later. Frankie greets her with enthusiastic kisses, and I would like to be able to do the same, but I’m sure she’d still fight me on it.

I inform her of the evening’s events as she hangs up her coat and purse. “Thank you so much. You were a massive help.”

“It’s not a big deal. They take care of themselves.”

She flips on the dining room light and pauses. “It’s so bright in here.”

“Oh yeah. I changed out your lightbulbs. They were all dim and shitty.”

She turns to me, stunned. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It was nothing.”

She shakes her head at me, brows furrowed, her mouth open as if she wants to speak, but she doesn’t. Moments pass in silence, and I wonder if I maybe overstepped.

Then she’s really not going to like what else I have for her.

I follow her to the kitchen, where she washes a red apple before cutting it up into slices and placing them on a plate along with peanut butter and a few little pieces of cheese. It’s not a very good dinner for someone who worked over twelve hours, but I’ve got to pick my battles.

And I fear this might be a big one coming up.

I wait until she eats a few bites to point to the bottom corner. “I also fixed that baseboard. It was sticking out, and I didn’t want anybody to hurt themselves.”

She pauses mid-chew, staring at me in wonder again. She swallows her food, her voice barely above a whisper when she says, “I kept meaning to fix that.”

I wave her off. “Took me less than five minutes.”

“Yeah.” She puts her plate down with a thump. “You have to stop doing all these things for me.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“It’s really not that big of a deal.”

“It is, though,” she whines, facing me with a frown. “Don’t you get it?”

I mean…kinda. It took me no time at all to change a few lightbulbs and fix a baseboard when it might’ve been on her list for a long time, and maybe she’s mad at me for taking away her independence.

But also, maybe she’s happy for the help because she could use a little bit of it, whether she wants to admit it or not.

And for all of her previous experience she disclosed to me today, it’s clear she never had someone helping her with all this day-to-day stuff.

“Can I show you one more thing?” I ask with a playful wince, and she heaves a sigh, rolling her head back on her shoulders.

“I guess.”

I take her hand and lead her outside to the shed. “I finished it.”

“Great. How are you going to get it out of here?”

“It’s not going anywhere.”

She tips her head to me. “What do you mean?”

I open the door so she can see inside. “It’s yours.”

She gasps, covering her mouth with her hand as she steps inside, turning in a slow circle.

It’s not very big. I couldn’t make it as large as I would’ve liked with the size of her backyard, but it fits snugly in the corner, and I painted it a robin’s-egg blue at Maddie’s suggestion.

I hung the twinkle lights at Jake’s insistence since he thought she might want to come out at night and work.

Taryn’s eyes fill with tears as she takes in the wooden shelves with her pottery supplies, the space for her wheel, clay, and containers of glazes and paints, as well as the kiln in the corner so she doesn’t have to transport her pieces in her car to and from the studio. She can do everything right here.

She touches the hooks on the back wall for aprons and towels then tilts her head back to the skylight that’ll be perfect for sunny days. Hopefully inspiring whatever art she wants to create.

Finally, she meets my gaze, wiping the back of her hand over her cheek. “Dante, I…I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

I let out a huff. As if this isn’t the least I can do for her. “You deserve it. Whatever you want. A place to work. Help with the kids. The moon, the stars. Just tell me, and that’s what you’ll get.”

She parts her lips, blinking the wetness from her eyes until there is nothing left in them but fire. And I can’t breathe. Barely have time to do anything except brace myself when she launches at me, arms around my neck, legs around my waist, lips on mine.

“You,” she whispers. “I want you.”