“I brought her some leftovers.” He holds up a plastic bag I hadn’t noticed before. He plasters on a goofy grin as he sets the bag onto the small table next to me.
“Are you trying to sneak her some sugar?” I question accusingly.
He widens his eyes innocently, but I know better. “I would never.” He proclaims.
My family thinks it’s funny to sneak Annabelle sugar behind my back. Now, don’t get me wrong, I let my kid enjoy treats from time to time. However, when Maggie was pregnant with Annabelle, she had gestational diabetes, and I started doing a ton of research. I became a bit of a health nut after that, maybe a tad bit protective.
Raising a tiny human on your own will do that to you.
That doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy junk food from time to time. There’s a time and place for it. I take pride in knowing what my child is ingesting. After all, food is medicine.
Zane loves to poke fun at me for it, but I’m the parent, not him. He just gets to be the fun uncle who sneaks my kid what looks to be a chocolate chip cookie in the bag. I reach inside and pull out the very large cookie and hold it up to my face for size reference. Zane shrugs his shoulders as he chuckles.
“Does a seven-year-old really need a cookie that is the size of a human skull?”
“Absolutely not,” he says, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back in the chair. “I intended for her to share it with you, unless you’re scared of gaining some weight and not being able to impress Raine. Newsflash, brother: your massive Santa beard will already do the trick. Might as well gain the jolly belly to go with it.”
“Don’t you know to never disrespect a man’s beard?” I roll my eyes and shove a piece of cookie into my mouth, not missing the way Zane’s eyes twinkle with glee when a piece falls into said Santa beard.
I run my hands through my long facial hair. Maybe I should shave? At least trim it a bit.
“I’m jealous that you can actually grow a thick one, is all.”He smiles, but it doesn’t touch his eyes. After a beat, he says, “So…”
I glance at him, raising a brow in question, but he doesn’t finish his sentence. “So…?”
He watches me for a moment, the smirk slowly dripping away from his face and is replaced with a hint of concern. I don’t like it. The pressure from his gaze has my skin buzzing.
“Are you doing alright? Really?”
It’s a loaded question, one I’m not sure how to answer. I exhale, hoping the knot in my chest will go away with the breath. I lean back in my chair and run my fingers over my beard again.
“I’ll be fine,” I manage to say, but with the way he tsks at me, I can tell it isn’t what he wants to hear.
“But—”
Just in the nick of time, Zane is interrupted by the sound of a police cruiser beeping in the driveway. I turn and see Luke’s large form moving out of the driver's seat and give him a wave.
“Hey.” Luke huffs as he stomps up the porch steps, swinging a paper bag in his left hand, and reaches out to shake my hand.
“Hey, bud,” I reply and gesture to the empty chair to my left.
He nods at Zane before sitting down. “Where were you this morning?” Zane cuts to the chase.
Luke lets out a breath and runs a hand through his jet-black hair. His dark eyes snap to mine, the look making my stomach do one of those back-flip things.
“I was at Olivia’s this morning, making sure Raine was getting settled. I ended up staying.”
Raine.
One word. One name. That’s all it takes to grasp every ounce of my attention and cause my chest to constrict.
“She’s still here?” I’m puzzled, shocked even, that she stayed.
“Yeah. Olivia and I had to remove her from the hotel she was at and talked her into staying with Olivia for the time being.”
Zane’s brows raise as he asks, “Remove?”
“Uh, yeah. It had been days since anyone had seen her, and we were worried. I literally had to pick her up and carry her out of the room and stick her into the back of my police cruiser.” Luke smirks and points behind him toward his car.
