Page 75 of Someone to Hold

“Mommy, Ian made chocolate chip pancakes,” my daughter reports as she and Luke take turns hugging me.

“Piper made homemade whipped cream,” my son reports. “It was delicioso.”

“That sounds like an Ian Barlowe description,” I say, ruffling his hair as I share a smile with Piper. “And you seem to be saving a bit of chip for later.” I rub the chocolate smear from the corner of his mouth.

“Look at my nails, Mommy.” Laurel holds out her hands for inspection. “Piper did nail art. I got flowers–you know, because we’re flower farmers.”

We’reflower farmers. Be still my heart. “I love that, sweetie.”

“Are you making muffins?” My daughter glances past me to the counter.

“Banana,” I confirm.

“I love banana.” Luke rubs his hands together. “We haven’t had muffins in forever.”

“It was like two weeks ago,” I say with a laugh. Tough crowd, these two.

“Can we go see Fancy?” my son asks, unaware that his simple muffin comment has launched me into a torrent of full-on mom guilt. “Where’s Chase?”

“He’s not here right now,” I tell the kids. “But Fancy’s out in the pasture. You can say hi, but stay on this side of the fence.”

“She’s not going to hurt us.” Laurel sounds affronted, like I’ve dissed the horse with my words of caution. “Fancy is nice.”

My stomach dips, and I don’t bother to tell them that nice things can hurt, too. It was nice spending the night in Chase’s arms, but his absence this morning hurts like hell.

Since I’m fully back in mom mode, I only smile. “She’s very nice and also huge. Stay on this side of the fence.”

Laurel rolls her eyes.

“Hey.” I touch a hand to her shoulder when she turns away. “You heard me, right?”

“I heard you,” she confirms. “Let’s go, Lukey.”

“Did you thank Piper for bringing you home?”

“Thank you, Piper,” they chorus as they rush past her out the front door.

“You’re welcome,” she calls to their retreating backs, then turns to me. “I need at least two cups of coffee to hit that energy level. Kind of jealous right now.”

“My little Energizer bunnies.” I gesture to the coffee pot. “Can I offer you a cup?”

“Raincheck,” she tells me. “I ended up spending the night at Ian and Sadie’s, so I need to get home.” She makes a face. “Sometimes being in Mom’s house, even with Max, is a little lonely. How was your night?” She inclines her head to study me. “Do single moms get lonely, too?”

I feel my eyes widen and my mouth drop open. I fix my expression, but it’s not quick enough.

“Hold up. You weren’t alone, were you? Was it Chase?” she asks with a delighted laugh. “Good on you, Molly.”

“I don’t know about that,” I mutter and wipe a spot of flour off the front of my shirt.

“That cowboy looks at you like you’re his favorite horse.”

I laugh. “Then you haven’t seen the way he looks at Fancy. It doesn’t mean anything. Chase and I want different things in life. Or more accurately, we both want the same thing, but only one of us will get it.”

“You,” she reminds me. “You’re going to get it.”

“Yeah.” I nod, wishing I felt so certain. “Thanks for being nice to my kids. Sometimes I’m so busy doing life that I forget having fun is just as important as the serious parts. It’s important that they feel like kids, not just little adults helping me survive. Laurel loves having her nails done.”

“I could do yours sometime,”Piper offers.