Page 11 of Single Mom’s Mountain Men (Mountain Men Reverse Harem #1)

Patty

I try not to let Charlie’s attitude get to me but as I head back to the kitchen, irate questions pepper my thoughts.

What was his moodiness about? What on earth did I do to him?

I try to pinpoint any way I could have offended him unknowingly, maybe some social cue that I missed out on.

Maybe he was mad about me cooking? He seemed not to want me to do it yesterday, but I thought that was merely out of courtesy than anything else.

But maybe he’s a picky eater and doesn’t like trying out new cooks.

Or maybe he’s concerned that giving me a role like this will extend my stay beyond what he intends.

Maybe “Stay as long as you like” is polite Montana-talk for “Stay as long as you need to but please get the hell out of my hair as soon as you can.”

Charlie seems like a man who likes his solitude and maybe I am infringing on it in some way that I don’t even understand.

“Ugh.” I run a hand through my hair, coming to a stop three steps from the kitchen door, and taking deep breaths .

I’m doing it again, I realize, falling back into bad patterns.

This was how I was with Keegan when I first became infatuated with him.

I would treasure every smile he gave me, but I would also overthink every sigh or frown.

Every time he was mad I would wonder what I could do to make it better.

Every time he treated me less than pleasantly, I would internalize it, and try to figure out what I'd done wrong to trigger his anger.

My behavior helped Keegan tear down my self-worth enough for me to tolerate his bad behavior. Before I knew it, I was second-guessing every move I made and hanging onto his opinion for every damn thing. I stopped listening to my own sense of caution when it mattered.

And now I’m doing it again with a man I just met.

Thankfully, I have caught myself in the act, so I can set my mind right. I remind myself that it doesn’t matter if I did something to offend Charlie. It’s up to him to bring it up and communicate any issue he might have to me. And if he can’t do that, then that’s on him. Not on me.

I haven’t done anything wrong, and I’m not going to let Charlie ruin my day. Maybe later I’ll talk to him privately and ask if he wants me to leave. But for now, I need to go grocery shopping to get my girls something healthy for lunch.

When I walk in, Maddie is just finishing off her bacon and Katie is picking at what's left of her biscuits. I hear footsteps coming down the same hallway Charlie came from and within a second or two, Wes appears.

He runs his gaze around the room and a bright smile splits his face. “Well, hello pretty ladies. This is the kinda sight a man can get used to in the morning.”

“Hello,” my girls chorus politely.

“I’m Wes,” he says to them. “You can call me Wes, or Uncle Wes. ”

“Mr. Wes?” Katie suggests and he cringes.

“Nah. That was my ninth-grade science teacher and I hated him. Hated the fact that we had the same name too.”

Katie smiles and nods.

“And your names are?”

“Katie.”

“I’m Maddie!” Maddie parrots with her usual exuberance throwing her hands in the air. “I’m four years old and Katie is six.”

“Are you? I thought you were at least five and seven.”

Katie beams and says, “I’m mature for my age.” It’s something she’s probably heard from a bunch of adults and it's clearly a point of pride for her.

“I bet you are,” Wes grins, then he turns to me. “Hey, Patty Cake.”

“Hey.” My breath hitches, even though Wes says it in a different way than Keegan used to. I mean, for one thing, there’s no underlying threat.

Still, it’s not something I like hearing.

Wes seems to get that something’s up with the name, because he says, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing it’s just… that nickname…”

“Yeah, it’s pretty corny, huh?” He mock- winces. “Sorry, I’ll try not to make that joke again." He gestures to my daughters with his chin. “Have they met my brothers yet?”

“Yeah. Katie was with Mitch when I woke up. They got acquainted and he gave her cereal.”

"He did?" Wes' eyes widen as he turns to Katie. “What kind?”

“Cocoa Krispies,” she says.

“Wow, he must like you. You know that was his favorite cereal growing up? He would eat Cocoa Krispies at every meal for weeks straight. ”

“Really?”

Mitch nods. “We all had our own favorites. Charlie liked Lucky Charms the best, I preferred Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Mitch absolutely adored his Cocoa Krispies. Got very possessive about them too. Once I was out of my own cereal and tried to sneak some of his into my bowl while he wasn’t looking, but he caught me and nearly beat the stuffing out of me.

And then afterwards, he gave me a little so I wouldn’t tell Mom what he did.

But the joke’s on him, because I told her anyway. ”

“You tattled!” Maddie gasps like it’s the worst thing in the world and I laugh.

“I did." Wes sniffs defensively. "And you would have tattled too if someone stuffed your head in their armpits and held you down while giving you an atomic wedgie.”

I laugh. It’s hard to imagine the serious-faced Mitch doing something so childish but I suppose everyone was a kid once.

“Eventually, Mom punished him by making him share the rest of the box with me until we next went shopping. And he wasn’t allowed to have Cocoa Krispies for a whole week. That was the grumpiest I’ve ever seen him.”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Yeah, but he says he doesn’t eat breakfast now. So who are these Cocoa Krispies for now?"

"He still eats them, he just doesn’t have breakfast at the same time of day as the rest of us mortals. Instead, he eats all his meals in the evening, right after it gets dark." Wes shrugs. “And I suppose I still have a penchant for nabbing some when the mood strikes me.”

I grin. “You’re that incorrigible, huh?”

“I resemble that remark.” He winks and my heart flutters despite myself.

Wes is devastating for the senses. The man is way too attractive for his own good and what’s more he knows it, using his charm to its fullest extent.

I turn away to start cleaning up the dishes and he comes over to stand beside me, pulling out the dishwasher door to help.

“Sit,” I tell him. “Your breakfast is on the table. It’s the covered plate.”

“I’ll eat when I’m done,” he says. “So Patty, what’s on your agenda today?”

“Grocery shopping most likely. By the way, is there a list somewhere of what you guys like to eat weekly?”

He shakes his head. “No list. We like pretty much everything. We’re big on meat, carbs, and good old Southern cooking. Our mother was from Tennessee so we ate a lot of that growing up. But anything tasty works."

“Gotcha.” I’m already making a list in my head. “And is there a weekly budget?”

He shakes his head again. “Not a set amount, we just like to keep things reasonable. I mean we eat a lot, but we try to make sensible choices and buy stuff in bulk. It’s up to you if you want to shop for the week or the month though.

I’m sure Mitch won’t mind. And we’ll charge it up to the house debit card he keeps in his room. ”

“Alright.”

“I’ll take you grocery shopping today,” he continues. “I hope you don’t mind but Charlie was taking a look at your car yesterday and noted that your exhaust box was hanging on by a thread and your AC wasn’t working full blast. He’s fixing it, but I’m not sure exactly when he’ll be done.”

“Oh.” I blink at him surprised. It had been a long journey, and it hadn’t been exactly a well-maintained car before we started. I didn’t even think about getting the car looked at. “That’s…nice of him. ”

“Yeah. He’s a nice guy when he wants to be. Anyway, I don’t advise trying to drive that thing without AC in this heat. So I can take you to town in Charlie’s truck. Gasten’s only about a forty-five-minute drive away.”

“Alright, that sounds great.” I smile.

“And while we’re at it,” he continues. “There’s also a daycare and elementary school next to the grocery store that has a cool playground. The girls can play over there while we take our time with the shopping.”

“Oh I don’t think that’s necessary,” I say.

“Why not?” Maddie pipes up from her seat. “I wanna play. Don't you, Katie?"

Katie nods, and both my daughters seem eager for some playtime with kids their own age. I hate to break their heart, but I don’t know how I feel about leaving them in a strange place in a strange town, even just for a few minutes of shopping right next door.

“I’m sure you would love that guys, but unfortunately, Wes is too busy to wait for you to play. He’s only taking us to town as a favor but we need to shop quick and return so he can get back to work.”

“Aw.” Maddie deflates and Katie frowns. Despite their disappointment, I’m satisfied that I gave them the perfect excuse.

That is until Wes ruins it by saying, “I don’t need to work.” He grins at the girls as they perk back up. “On the contrary, they say 'slacking off' is my middle name.”