Page 70 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats

“Morning, kiddo,” I tell her, hugging her tight.

“Good morning,” she says with her arms wrapped tightly around my neck.

I look across the room at Hadley over Evelyn’s shoulder. She gives me a small smile that I return, feeling the utter peace of having her here.

In our kitchen, first thing in the morning. In my clothes. With my daughter.

“Did she wake you up?” I ask Hadley.

She shakes her head. “No, I was already up making coffee.”

“And now we’re making waffles,” Evelyn says as I set her down. She slides back into the kitchen at Hadley’s side.

“It smells good,” I say, walking over to the coffee maker. I grab a mug from the cabinet, pouring myself a cup.

“Evelyn, can you go grab the broom so we can clean this up?” Hadley asks her. “I don’t know where it is.”

“Oh, sure. It’s in the garage. I’ll go grab it.”

As soon as Evelyn disappears out of view, I quickly pull Hadley into me.

“Good morning,” I rush out before kissing her. The door to the garage opens, and we both break away from each other.

“Morning,” she says, looking up at me with eyes filled with tenderness and just a hint of lust.

I shake my head, smirking at her as I grab my coffee from where I abandoned it on the counter. I’ve never had the urge to kidnap anyone, but if that’s what it took to keep Hadley here with us, I might just do it.

The twins appear at the entrance to the kitchen, both wearing their clothes from last night. “Good morning,” Brooks says, stretching his arms over his head with a big yawn.

Evelyn waves her hand in the air. “Yes, good morning. You’re finally here, so we can all eat,” she says dramatically, and I have to take another sip of coffee to keep from laughing.

She points at Brooks and Conrad. “You two set the table.” Her finger turns towards me. “You get all the butter and syrup and stuff.”

I can see Hadley stifling her laugh out of the corner of my eye. “Yes, ma’am, but maybe say please next time,” I tell her.

Evelyn exhales but adds in a “please” before turning back to the waffle maker.

Conrad walks in behind her, kissing the top of her head. “You’re going to give the boys a run for their money when you’re older. Aren’t you my little firecracker?”

She nods, smiling up at him.Lord help me.

“Just the way it should be,” Brooks says, grabbing plates from the cabinet.

We all settle in at the table with the mound of waffles they made. Nova makes her way over, lying below Evelyn’s chair just in case she drops any pieces of her meal.

Evelyn doesn’t even wait until we’re all sitting down before she starts piling food on her plate. For once, she seems contentto eat her food without bombarding us with a normal daily allotment of words in thirty minutes.

Until she turns to Hadley and shocks me.

“Are you dating my dad?” she asks around a mouthful of waffle and raspberry.I didn’t even know she knew what dating was.

Hadley’s fork freezes in mid-air, and her eyes nervously shoot to me. My own eyes blink several times as I try to process.

I don’t want to lie to Evelyn, though. I want her to know. I nod, letting Hadley know she can say yes if she wants to.

Hadley sets her fork back down on her plate, turning her attention to Evelyn. “Would you be okay with it if I was?”

Evelyn looks at me and then back at Hadley. Her small shoulders shrug. “Yeah, you’re awesome, and Daddy smiles a lot more now.”