Page 9

9

“ W e had pizza, and we played hide-and-seek with flashlights, and Uncle Rope has a movie room, and we watched movies and…”

Fox was trying to listen, to stay in the moment with Amelia, who was so happy and excited. He nodded and kept chopping up veggies for his and Trent’s omelets.

“Hide-and-seek with flashlights in that storm? That must have been cool.”

“ So cool.”

He’d actually woken up thinking he might offer to help Trent get dressed—that was quite a contraption the man had to get himself into—but he wasn’t sure he could be alone with Trent again yet. He wasn’t certain what they’d done was a good idea.

But if he was honest, he wasn’t sure he knew what a good idea was anymore, either.

“Can I have eggs too? I had a waffle at Silas’s house, but I’m still hungry.”

“Of course, honey. I’ll make yours scrambled. Why don’t you go brush your teeth and put on some clean clothes?”

“Okay!” Amelia ran off to change.

“Uncle Trent! Did you want to hear about my slumber party?”

He heard a low, soft chuckle. “I sure do, ladybug. I want to hear about every single second.”

“Okay. So we went to a movie first, and it was about these bugs that turned into people!”

Trent was great with her. It was adorable. He wondered if it was a funny movie or a scary one. It didn’t matter, she’d rarely been this animated and happy, even before they lost Xan.

Trent listened to every word, asking questions, paying attention. Making her feel a thousand feet tall. Fox was grateful for it. For Trent and his friendship. For this whole trip, really. He knew he needed to start thinking about when they needed to get back, but he didn’t want to yet.

Eventually, she went to change, and Trent wandered in. “Hey, darlin’. Smells good. She’s going to crash so hard…”

He grinned. “Yeah. I’ll feed her if she actually makes it back out here, and when she falls over, I’ll tuck her in. She had a great time. Did you see that smile?”

“I did. She’s very proud of herself. Good deal. She deserves it. You sleep good?”

“Yes.” I dreamed about your handsome face all night. And he was admiring that handsome face right now, as a matter of fact. “I did. Comfy bed, rain tapping on the window, a little buzz from that orgasm…” He winked at Trent.

It was a little overwhelming; he hadn’t had anyone’s hand but his in a long time.

“It was fine as frog’s hair, yessir.” Trent winked at him, and that smile was brilliant. “I think?—”

“Daddy! Daddy, I talked to all my friends last night, and they say we can move here!”

Shit. Well, that just moved their travel plans back to the top of his agenda. “Yeah? Well, that was very nice, but all your other friends are in New York, right? What about them? And school?”

“Those are people at school, and there’s school here. Just like at home, except that there’s Porch Aces and horses and they like me.”

Just people at school? “What’s a Porch Ace?”

“You have animals! And you take them to the fair.”

Trent cleared his throat. “4-H.”

He raised an eyebrow and bit his lips together so he didn’t laugh. Because that would be mean. And he didn’t dare even glance at Trent because he knew that would set him off.

“That sound like fun. And a lot of work too, right?”

“Everything’s work, right? But you’re in a good place to do it. And see how happy Silas is now?”

“Gonna grab a cup of coffee…” Trent didn’t look at him, but he was grinning.

Why was it so hard to argue with children? Everything they said was so honest. “Silas does seem happy.” But Rope had already had a ranch. He didn’t have anything here, and Trent was kind, but he was sure they’d wear out their welcome here if he wasn’t careful.

He ignored the voice reminding him that he had plenty of money to buy something if he wanted it, and a place to sell in New York too.

He sighed and tried changing the subject. “Do you want to scramble your own eggs?”

“Sure. I can. I have chickens! Daddy! I can scramble my OWN EGGS!”

Trent’s shoulders were shaking good and hard.

“Uncle Trent will let us sublet. We’ll be roommates. It will be so fun. We can read to him.”

His attempt at a subject change was a spectacular fail. Fox’s lips twitched as he tried not to laugh. “You have it all planned out, huh?”

“Well, duh. It’s easy .” She rolled her eyes at him. “It’s better here.”

He had no idea how to argue because he wasn’t convinced she was wrong. “We’ll see.”

“We’ll see always means no.” Amelia pouted and scrambled her eggs.

“Not always.” But it was pretty much always, she had a point.

“No. That means you aren’t going to try hard. I want to try hard to be here and have a new life.”

Damn .

Amelia had become so much like Xan. When had that happened?

To his credit, Trent didn’t make a sound, but his shoulders weren’t shaking anymore either.

“I will try hard to figure out what’s next for us. Is that fair? And I hear what you want. Okay? I hear you.”

“Thank you.” She kissed his cheek. “I will hear what you want, Daddy. We’re a set.”

He pulled her into a tight hug. He was so proud of her. “When I figure that out, I’ll let you know. Salt and pepper, you and me.” He winked at her.

“Peanut butter and jelly!” She kissed his cheek. “Jelly jelly jelly!”

She always made him smile. He laughed and let her go. “You all scrambled? Let’s get the pan hot.”

“Okay, Daddy. I’m scrambled all up.” She laughed, shaking her butt, and now Trent did crack up.

He laughed too, and Amelia giggled at them and it felt so good. So real and easy.

He put her eggs in first, and they cooked up fast while Trent made coffee and got her some orange juice. Trent’s fridge had some food in it, but he was going to have to make a list and stock it up again this afternoon.

“Did you have a good time yesterday, Uncle Trent?”

Trent nodded, only pinking a little. “We watched the rain and talked.”

“There was a lot of thunder. I had a lot of people around so I was okay. I’m glad he was here to keep you company.”

Fox grinned as he plated up her eggs. “We sat on the porch and watched the lightning.”

“Wow! You weren’t scared?”

“No, ma’am. I had your daddy here to keep me safe.”

“We kept each other distracted,” Fox said, maybe more for Trent than Amelia. He tossed all the veggies he’d chopped up into the hot pan.

“Yep. It was nice to have a friend.”

“Would you let us be roommates here until we found a house?”

“Amelia—” He sighed. He wasn’t ready for this conversation or for her to be pushing so hard. “Let it go for now, please.”

“Okay. Can I have toast too?”

“I think there’s bread in the freezer…” Trent didn’t look sure.

“I need to shop, but there is bread.” He pulled a loaf out of the fridge. “I wasn’t sure how you handle bread down here. At home, we just leave it on the counter but…”

“Well, I usually do, unless I’m traveling. Right now, I have a loaf in the freezer, so it doesn’t go bad.”

“I don’t think you’ll be traveling any time soon.”

“Mm garlic bread. Let’s have garlic bread for dinner! And spaghetti. And broccoli.”

“And meatballs?”

“Meatballs!”

That was one of their favorites. “Trent? Are you interested in spaghetti?”

“If y’all promise not to tease me as I try to eat the noodles, I am in.”

“Oh, Uncle Trent. Teasing is mean.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I usually end up wearing a stain from a meatball or a flappy piece of spaghetti. I won’t laugh if you don’t.”

Although… not laughing had been an easy promise before he came here. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“Well, if we all laugh together, it should be?—”

“Uncle Trent! Uncle Trent! I know! We can all only use one hand to eat! Then it’s all fair.”

He gave her a comically wide-eyed look. “But then who—who would cut our meatballs?”

Amelia frowned, then her eyes opened wide. “We stab them with our forks and eat on them!”

He looked at Trent, grinning. “I’m totally game.”

“Let’s do it!” Trent winked at him, obviously tickled to death. “I am so in, girl.”

“One-handed spaghetti night is on the books.” He shook his head. “But I’m warning you now, I’m not going to try one-handed steak night.”

“I’ll let you cut my steak up, darlin’. No worries.”

He’d been a lot of things to a lot of people in his time, but he’d never been anyone’s darlin’.

“Good. We can’t have you choking, now.”

“Nope. Do you like steak, Miss Amelia?” Butter wouldn’t melt in Trent’s mouth, but the look he got was wicked.

He snorted and flipped their omelets out onto plates.

“No, it’s too chewy.” Amelia shrugged. “I like chicken though.”

“Yeah. I got chicken in the freezer as well as steak and burgers, hot dogs. All that sort of stuff.”

“Yum.”

“Breakfast.” He set a plate down for Trent and a fork alongside it. “I didn’t buy bacon or anything. I’ll pick some up today.”

“Thank you. Do you like biscuits and gravy? There’s a diner in town that makes a great one. I’ll treat y’all one morning.” Trent picked up the fork and dug in, making the best yummy noises.

“I haven’t had them, but I’ll try anything.”

Amelia raised her fork with her mouth full. “I can make pancakes. Daddy showed me.”

Trent’s eyes went wide. “You can? Honest? Whoa. I can cook hot dogs on the grill…”

“Well, we won’t go hungry, will we?” He dug into his breakfast.

Amelia finished her eggs and slumped back in her chair and yawned. “I have to take care of the kittens.”

“They’re okay for now. How about a nap?”

“Maybe a little one.”

She was going to fall asleep where she sat. He got up and pulled her out of her chair. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you to bed.”

“Okay, but only for a little while. Okay? Kittens. Chickens. They need me.”

“I know. Come on.” He winked at Trent. “I’ll be right back.”

“It’s so cool. To have animals that love me. And you love me. And Silas and Uncle Jude and Rope and Trent love me.”

“You’re a lucky girl, right?” He half-carried her, holding her against his hip as they went to the room she was staying in. “And you had so much fun last night.”

“Uh-huh.” She yawned as he tucked her in. “Love you.”

“I love you, honey. So much.” He kissed her forehead and sat with her for a minute while she fell asleep. It didn’t take long.

He looked around the room and suddenly he could see it—a fresh coat of yellow paint, her white furniture, her big pink beanbag chair in the corner. For a second, all of that felt very real.

He didn’t know why he felt like they should go back, but until he could shake that feeling, he didn’t know what to do. Decisions were so hard right now.

Maybe he should just do what Amelia wanted. Maybe she was smarter than he was.