“A team.” She grinned. “Team Hot Mess.”
“Let’s get my Scottish ancestry in there. Clan McHot Mess.”
She laughed, and the connection snapped and sparked between them—just like it had in the cabin.
“My coffee weady, Mister?”
Hellcat laughed. “Yeah, Mister. What’s the hold up?”
“Well, for starters…” He snatched the bag of marshmallows out of her hand. “We need more than one measly marshmallow.”
“Go for it.” She headed across the kitchen to a large whiteboard hanging on the wall. “Feel free to keep adding to this list. We’ll make daily supply runs into town.”
She added marshmallows to a list that included:
Phinny’s nice soaps
Coco’s hot chocolate mix
Those disc things for the skeet guns.
“They’re clay pigeons.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “What?”
“The discs. You’re going to need several cases of clay pigeons. Do you have the shotgun shells?”
“Shotgun?” She sounded appalled.
“What did you think skeet shooting was?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I never thought about it.”
“You shoot pellets at moving targets.”
“Oh. I don’t think…”
Both their gazes went to Stevie. If anything went wrong, if anyone didn’t know gun safety…all it took was a one-second mistake. “I’m definitely hiring my nanny to take care of the kids. Keep them busy and give the adults some playtime.”
“That’s a good idea. You do know archery uses actual bows and arrows, right?”
“Nope. We’re using Nerf arrows.”
He grinned. “Works for me.” He set Stevie down to pour the warm cocoa into her sippy cup. After screwing on the lid, he said, “You want to see if your grandparents want some coffee? I made enough.”
She took off like a rocket.
“What about the rest of the year? You said your nanny’s a teacher, but is she still around if you have meetings or…a date?” The skin at the back of his neck prickled, and he got a sour taste in his mouth. He’d never been jealous in his life, and he couldn’t believe he felt it now. He hardly knew this woman. They hadn’t seen each other in a couple of years.
Stevie came racing back. “Gamma gots coffee.”
“But I’ll take a marshmallow,” Margot called.
The delight in Stevie’s eyes as she waited for him to hand her the bag made him want to paint the sky with pink sparkles just to keep it there forever.
“What do you say, sweetie?” Hellcat called.
Stevie stopped so fast, she nearly toppled forward. “Fank you, Mister.”
