Page 10 of Sweet Beginnings (Honeysuckle, Texas #1)

“Mom, you should not be up. Especially not cooking.”

Alice Sweet waved a hand at her son. “What kind of mother would I be if I stayed in bed and let you fend for yourself on today of all days?”

“Today is no different than any other day.” Stepping around Brady perched comfortably at her feet, Preston sidled up beside his mom and carefully touching her arm, tried to ease the spatula out of her hand.

“No you don’t. Though the circumstances aren’t the best, I’m glad to have you back at the ranch. A little help in your spare time will be nice, but right now, your heart may be in the right place, but face it dear, you cook up better spreadsheets than pancakes.”

On both counts, his mom was spot on. Even though he knew his way around the kitchen well enough not to starve, he wasn’t going to win a home-cooking contest anytime soon, though living at the ranch would make helping easier.

With so many people displaced from one of the few apartment buildings in town, there was little hope of finding anywhere else to stay.

In terms of helping out his mother, that was great.

As for his and Sarah Sue’s little charade, this brought a whole new dilemma to the plans.

Still, that didn’t need to be solved right now and his mother overdoing it did.

“I’d really feel better if you went back to bed and let me—”

“Oh, I’m late.” Sarah Sue came in the back door with a large foil-covered tray in her hand. “I knew you had a house to feed this morning so I made extra sausage and hash browns.”

“That’s sweet of you. I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but I’m feeling much better today.”

Preston let his gaze meet Sarah Sue’s. He was pretty sure the doctor’s orders had not been feel free to go back to running a ranch in the morning . When Sarah gave the slightest shake of her head, he knew his mom was not being a good patient.

“Why does what’s cooking smell so good?” Rachel came bounding down the stairs. “Mom, you are not supposed to be up. Doc said you should take it easy for a few days.”

“I am. There’s nothing hard about flipping pancakes.”

His sister’s gaze met his. If she wanted answers from him on how to get their mother to hand over the spatula and go back to bed, his sister was plum out of luck.

“Ms. Alice, if I go home and my father finds out I let you cook breakfast, I may find my bags packed and set on the front porch.” Sarah set the foil-covered pan on the counter and leaned over to scratch the scruff of Brady’s neck.

His mom blinked. And she might even have winced when she turned at the waist without moving her feet.

“She’s right, Mom. Doc is always grumbling about patients who don’t take his advice.” Rachel came forward and gently reached for the spatula.

“It’s not like I had open heart surgery.” His mom tightened her grip on the spatula and flipped a row of pancakes before looking at her daughter. “If you want to help, you can save me a few steps and start cracking eggs.”

“I’ll set the table.” Preston turned toward the cupboard.

By the time Carson and Jillian had joined them in the kitchen and the pancakes were warming in the oven, they’d managed to convince their mother to at least sit while they finished cooking breakfast.

Sarah Sue had glanced more than once at Preston and smiled. Coincidentally at just the moment when his mom had been looking up. “I’d better get back home and let Dad know everything here is under control.”

“Of course it is.” His mom smiled. “Tell your dad I said thanks, and I’m fine.”

The door had hardly latched shut behind Sarah Sue when his mother shifted her attention to Preston. “Best neighbors a family could ever ask for.”

No one in the room could deny that.

“Mildred tells me you two were having dinner at the café.”

He knew Mildred worked fast, but it was only six o’clock in the morning and his mother had been sleeping soundly last night, both when he and Sarah Sue left and when he’d finally come home in the middle of the night.

“When did Mildred find the time to report my dinner plans with you?”

Reaching for a pancake, his mom shrugged. “Makes no never mind. You two seem to be rather cozy this morning.”

This would be the time when normally he or any of his siblings would redirect their mom, but he had to remind himself that there was a plan that needed to be put in place and this was exactly what they’d all hoped for.

For a split second he hated deceiving his mother, but this was one of those altruistic moments about the greater good.

“She followed the alarm with me. With doc delivering a baby across town, we thought she might be of help.”

His mom lifted one brow. It was the same look she’d give him when he was a kid making excuses for showing up late for supper, chores, or anything else that involved a little fast—or not so fast—thinking on his feet.

He wasn’t sure how she did it, but even though he was a full-grown adult, that look still made him as nervous as a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“That’s why she was with me when I learned the apartment was on fire.”

Her brow still arched high, his mom’s chin dipped, her gaze remained fixed with his and he swallowed hard. He could do this. Take it slow, play the part. “She’s a good friend.”

“Is everything a total loss?” Doing what the siblings normally did to help redirect their parents away from a brother or sister on the hot seat, Jillian stabbed at some eggs on her plate.

“No idea. Things have to cool down, then the engineers have to determine if it’s safe to even go near the building, never mind rummage through my apartment. But I’m doubtful whatever survived the fire will have survived the water soaking.”

Jillian sighed. “I’m really sorry about the fire, but look on the bright side, moving back here, you won’t have to pay rent.”

That seemed to make his mother come the closest to smiling she’d done all morning. “Good thing so many of your things are still here. Otherwise you’d be borrowing your brothers’ clothes this morning.”

Her attention successfully diverted to a safer—for now—topic, his mom gingerly cut at the edge of her pancake. He’d noticed she’d even been chewing slowly. Between the deliberate movements and lack of appetite, he had little doubt that his mom was hurting more than she was letting on.

All the kids had moved out, though none had had the heart to fully empty their rooms. Preston was no exception, and yet, he never thought there would come a day when whatever was left in his old room would be pretty much all he had.

Hopefully, the next part of the plan would easily unfold his mother’s natural suspicions.

However things progressed, they’d better do so quickly because with every tick of the clock, this family was running out of time.

“Are you ready?” Standing at the passenger door, Preston held his hand out for Sarah Sue.

She’d been settling into her new role all day.

Well, technically, most of the night too as visions of a pretend life with Preston filled both her waking thoughts and what little sleeping moments she’d had.

The silent communication first thing this morning had taken her by surprise at first, but by the time she’d returned home, she’d reminded herself that of all the brothers, she’d always somehow felt more connected to Preston.

Then she’d spent the rest of her day casually bringing Preston’s name up with every conversation she’d had, even folks who didn’t live in town or have a clue who he was.

What she hadn’t worked out was when to sit down with her father.

Sooner than later would probably be best, but for now, the second night of the big charade was on. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Her hand slid easily into his and without hesitation, their fingers intertwined. Somehow this felt more natural to Sarah than walking on her own, hands free.

Tonight, rather than the café, they’d chosen the Main Street Steakhouse for dinner. Though it was unlikely they’d run into Mildred or Iris here on a weeknight, there was no doubt their evening out would find its way onto the grapevine just as quickly nonetheless.

Preston leaned in as they reached the door. “I thought I’d ask for a booth. Implies a need for privacy.”

“Sit next to me too.”

His eyes widened a moment before his head tipped with questions.

“Friends sit across from each other, married people sit across from each other, but—”

“People dating sit side by side,” Preston finished her thought and nodded briefly. “Side by side it is.”

What she hadn’t given any thought to was how hard it might be sitting so close to Preston that she could feel the warmth of his thigh spreading through her slacks and inching its way through her system all the way to her fingertips and toes.

“How’d your day go?” Preston smiled at her before reaching for the menu.

“Fine except for a troubled K-9. I’m running out of options for him.”

“K-9?” It took a second for Preston to mull over her words. “That’s right. You work with a non-profit, don’t you?”

“I do. And I’m tasked with rehoming and retraining troubled service dogs to be able to be adopted by ordinary families, but it’s not easy finding interim places for them.”

“Admirable.” After a quick perusal, he set the menu on the table. “Brady had a hard time adjusting to ranch life after his stint as a military dog.”

“I know it put Kade at ease having your family take care of Brady. Your mom did a great job with him.”

“That she did. Mom is amazing.” His expression slipped. “I can’t imagine what we’d have done if yesterday had turned out differently, if we hadn’t found her so soon.”

“Well, don’t think about that. Your mom is tough and that attitude will help speed her recovery. I just wish it were in time for Samson.”

“Samson?”

“The latest K-9 with PTSD issues. I have to go check him out tomorrow. I was hoping I could get your mom to take him on, but I can’t ask in her condition.”

“Why not?”