Page 2 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)

“ N ow watch as air and water work together.”

Releasing his grip on the balloon’s neck, Devon let the air whoosh into the plastic bottle. CeCe and Annabeth clapped as water trickled from the straw sticking out of its side.

“The air pressure builds and forces water out.” He waved the kids over. “What you’re seeing is the applied theory of potential energy and atmospheric pressure.”

Clamoring around the table he’d set up on the lawn, eight pairs of eyes squinted against the sunlight slanting through the oak branches. It was blazing hot, but with nothing except rain forecasted for the rest of the week, they needed this breath of fresh air before being cooped up indoors.

Simone glided in a rocking chair on the side porch while Laura Jean painted the scene with Jamison strapped to her front.

Their argument over what to listen to on Laura Jean’s coral pink portable CD player occasionally interrupted the lesson, but Devon didn’t mind.

It distracted the kids when things became a little too technical.

Catching him watching her, Simone’s red lips curved. “Wrapping up soon?”

Devon shook his head and turned back to the kids. “As I was saying, air can move objects.”

Swiping a brush across the canvas, Laura Jean shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, “Did you guys know the Greeks thought the wind and air were people? The entire sky had different gods that controlled it.”

The crowd turned together.

Again.

“What kind of people?” Evie asked her mother.

“Fake people. Fairytale people,” Samuel snickered. “The kind of people weirdos like you believe in.”

Evie plowed her fist directly into Samuel’s stomach, and Devon winced. You would think by now, the kid would have learned to keep his guard up. Sammy might be an only child running around Parkland Grounds, but at Haven House, you had to hold your own.

“Evangeline Renee Eddins!” Laura Jean hustled over to the side porch steps before Evie could land another blow. She marched across the yard, wagging her finger. “What did I say about hitting Samuel?”

“I’m fine.” Bent in half and gasping, Samuel coughed through the pain. “She doesn’t hit that hard.”

Devon grinned at Selah, who was holding back his laughter. Come hell or high water, Samuel Fairweather was never going to let Evangeline Eddins get the better of him.

“I’m hot,” CeCe whined while Laura Jean scolded Evie. “There’s no air conditioning out here.”

“Me, too,” Annabeth chimed in. “I want to go inside.”

The two leaned on one another, fanning their faces dramatically. “Can we be done?” they begged together. “Please.”

And there went the lesson, which was fine. The temperature had reached hotter-than-hell levels, and Devon half expected the water he was using for the experiment to start boiling soon.

“Girls, come sit with me in the shade.” Simone patted the rocking chair next to her. “We can listen from here.”

Hand in hand, Annabeth and CeCe ran over. The girls were as close as sisters, forever together. Reaching the house, they bypassed the side steps and flopped onto the porch in an awkward belly-roll move.

Finished with lecturing her daughter, Laura Jean spun Evie around. “She’s sorry for the disruption, Devon. Please continue. ”

“As I was saying, air can move objects.” He silently counted those left. It was easy to lose a kid or two in this group. “Where’s Abe?”

“Here.” Abe’s voice came from above, and all eyes rolled upward to the branches of the cypress tree. “Waiting was boring.”

Wondering how in the hell his son got up there so fast, Devon schooled his features. He had to be stern with Abe, but it was hard. “Abraham, come down.”

Abe continued to climb. “I think I can make it to the top.”

The higher Abe climbed, the higher Devon’s heart hitched in his throat. “I was about to break out the popsicles, but if you’re up there, you won’t get one.”

Ruled by his love of sugar, Abe scurried down and was on the ground in seconds. “Can I have grape?”

Devon grinned. “Only if I can have the cherry.”

“Mama!” Abe sprinted toward Simone. “Popsicles!”

Simone stood, ushering CeCe, Annabeth, and Abe inside to grab them for everyone.

“I want a blue one.” Evie raised her hand, the squabble with Samuel forgotten. Taking Toby by the wrist, she raised his hand too. “And Toby wants a green one.”

“Oh, I want a purple one,” Livy said. “Or maybe green. Or maybe both?”

“I’m so hot. I want two.” Selah wiped some sweat from his brow. “And I don’t care what color they are.”

“I want a blue one.” Samuel sneered at Evie. “And I’m taller, so I can reach the box and eat them all first.”

Evie took a step in Samuel’s direction, but Jamison let out a blood-curdling scream, stopping her in her tracks.

“Oh, she’s so hot in this thing.” Laura Jean fumbled with the latches on the carrier. “Selah, will you help me get her out?”

Selah tried one side. Laura Jean, the other. When neither succeeded, Samuel stepped in and popped the carrier’s latch, freeing Jamison from her baby prison.

“Thank you, Sammy.” Laura Jean held Jamison high, making her youngest coo in delight. “Jamison is lucky to have big brothers like you two.”

“Selah and I are definitely the superior older siblings here.” Samuel propped an arm on Selah’s shoulder. “Wouldn’t you agree, Evie?”

“What are you doing?” Selah whispered out the side of his mouth. “Trying to get hit?”

Turning red, Evie stayed next to Toby while Livy diffused the situation. Haven House’s own little mama knew how to handle every kid here. “Samuel, you might be the tallest, but I’m the fastest.”

“Samuel is not the tallest!” Selah gasped at the insinuation. “I am.”

Devon shook his head and flattened down his stepson’s curls. The poor kid had yet to figure out how he wanted to wear it, and it stuck up in every direction. “Now, you’re the same height.”

“The fastest?” Samuel arched an eyebrow at Livy, unable to resist a challenge. “Ready?”

Smug like every other Fairweather out there, Livy stuck her chin in the air. “Set.”

“Whoever makes it to the graveyard first wins,” Samuel rushed out.

“The graveyard?” Livy scoffed, getting in position to sprint. “Afraid you can’t make it as far as the mill?”

Samuel’s eyes went wide directly before they narrowed on Livy. “Oh, you’re on!”

“Go,” Evie shouted, hoping to catch Samuel off guard.

Livy shot off toward the forest with Samuel right on her heels. The pair quickly disappeared beyond the trees, and Evie released a sinister giggle.

“What’s so funny?” Devon asked, wrangling Selah into helping him clean up.

Evie shrugged and took Toby by the hand. “Livy will keep him busy while I eat all the blue popsicles.”

Shoulders slumped, Laura Jean watched as Evie led Toby inside. “Is my daughter evil?”

“No more than Samuel is,” Devon assured her. “They’re a match made in… well, you know.”

Jamison let out a shrieking giggle over some squirrels, fisting Laura Jean’s shirt to bounce with excitement.

“What do you see, my baby?” Laura Jean pointed to the branches where the squirrels darted in a frenzied chase. “ Do you see the squirrels?”

“Da! Da! Da!” Jamison whooped, arms outstretched, her chubby fingers opening and closing like she could catch them.

“That’s not our dad, Jamison,” Selah said as he dumped the leftover experiment water onto the grass. “He’s not coming till tomorrow.”

Laura Jean paused, her smile faltering.

“Da! Da! Da!” Jamison kept chanting and squealing the sound as if it meant something more.

Concerned by the distant look in Laura Jean’s eyes, Devon stepped in front of her. “You okay?”

Laura Jean’s small hand landed on his chest as if to steady herself. “Ben’s here.”

“Uh?” They were in the side yard and could partially see the front parking spots. Devon leaned around her to look, but Ben’s car wasn’t there. “Ben isn’t her—”

A puff of dust lifted off the drive, and the sound of an engine could be heard. Seconds later, Ben’s Rover appeared, sunlight glinting off the windshield like a signal flare.

“Well, alrighty then,” Devon mumbled as Laura Jean took off with Jamison on her hip to greet Ben. “Weird.”

There was no other word or explanation for that relationship. He would admit that Laura Jean was intuitive, but sometimes the bond between her and Ben could only be described as just plain odd.

And he meant that in a purely scientific way.

“Go see your dad,” he told Selah, knowing how much coming home to his kids meant to Ben. “You haven’t seen him in five days.”

Selah placed the last beaker in the box and took off while Devon continued cleaning. Bringing all this crap outside had been a mistake, and next time, they would keep the experiments indoors where there was air conditioning.

He was almost finished when Simone’s perfume hit his nostrils. “Here’s your cherry popsicle.”

Grinning, he turned to his wife, wondering if she’d ever figured out that he only liked cherry because it reminded him of the cherry red lipstick she always wore.

“Thank you.” He took the popsicle and peeled back the wrapper. “Did you already eat one? ”

Her slender shoulders shrugged, all innocent until you noticed that mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “Not yet, but I’m hoping you can feed me something bigger later.”

Devon paused, the popsicle halfway to his mouth. “You are one dirty, dirty woman.”

“Are you complaining?”

“No, ma’am.”

She leaned in and dropped a kiss on his lips. “Didn’t think so.”

If someone were to ask him how much he loved his wife, Devon would readily confess he couldn’t answer the question.

He was a numbers man, so confessing there was no limit made his brain go crazy.

The data gathered is what told the story.

It laid out the details, giving him a path and plan that was easy for him to understand.

But Simone…she was an enigma. His enigma. Perfect in every imaginable way.