Truth be told, I don’t know all that much about him and Violet’s parents, other than that they don’t live in town.
“Not really,” he offers. “We talk on the phone every so often, but I’ve never been close with them the way my sister is.
“Why not?” I ask.
Ash shrugs as I park in front of the house. “I don’t know. We don’t have much in common, I guess. It’s not like we have a bad relationship; we just aren’t as close as Violet and them are.”
I find myself wanting to ask more, though I’m not sure why. Deciding against it, I walk into the house, leaving Ash to follow as I kick off my boots and hang up my hat. “Was gonna grill some burgers for dinner. Want one?”
“Uh, sure. Can I do anything to help?”
“If you want to get some fries going in the air fryer, that’d be great.”
“I can do that,” he says, gaze holding mine for a little longer than comfortable before he walks over to the freezer. His fresh, clean scent wafts over to me as he passes by, and the smell makes my pulse speed up, which makes no sense.
There’s this thick, awkward tension in the air, and I wonder if Ash can feel it too. I chalk it up to not being used to him in the house yet. Other than the fact that he’s Violet’s brother, I don’t really know much about him, so naturally, it’s going to feel a bit weird until we get used to each other. It doesn’t help that Tuck is out of the house this evening. Having him here would probably make things feel less tense.
“Thanks for the riding lesson today,” Ash says once the food is finished and he’s handing me a plate to dish up. Like before, he holds eye contact with me, and something about it makes my heart race.
Giving him one of those obnoxious looks people make fun of southern folks for—the nod with the pinched lip smile—I drop my gaze to the burger on my plate as I load it up with toppings. “It was no problem.”
After that, all the awkward tension I thought I felt earlier seems to vanish as he launches into some strong opinion he has about pickles on burgers, but I tune him out as I dish up a serving of fries before taking a seat at the table.
Here we fucking go.He’s going to talk my ear off, isn’t he?
It’s going to be a long night.
Chapter 8
Finn
I’m fucking beat by the time I bound up the steps to my house. It’s a little after six, the sun is still blazing in the sky, and I’m in desperate need of a shower and a cold beer. It’s Ash’s first day watching Tucker, so I’m also eager to get inside and find out how everything went.
As I open the front door, the first thing I notice is the smell. My stomach grumbles as I breathe in the delicious scent of…something. I’m not sure what. Pot roast, maybe. Kicking off my shoes, I wander deeper into the house. The next thing I notice is the music. It’s not coming from the record player in the living room and it’s not anything I would ever listen to—some sort of rock or metal song—but as I step into the kitchen, my gaze lands on my son, and a smile cracks wide on my face. He’s holding on to Bubba’s front paws as they dance around the space, head thrown back as he giggles. Bubba’s tongue hangs out the side of his mouth as he, too, smiles.
A calming sense of ease washes over me as I watch them for a moment. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about howtoday was going to go. No matter how good somebody sounds on paper, there’s always a chance something could go wrong. But as I take in the contagious smile on my son’s face and the carefree way he’s moving around the kitchen, all those nerves from earlier dissipate.
Ash is pulling what looks to be biscuits out of the oven, and when he places them down on a potholder, he glances back at Tucker and Bubba, but his eyes immediately lift to meet mine.
“Oh, hey.” His cheeks turn a shade of pink as his smile crinkles the lines around his eyes. “Didn’t hear you come in.”
Tossing my hat on the counter, I say, “Your taste in music sucks.”
He snorts, gesturing toward my son and the dog. “Pretty sure you’re the only one who thinks that.”
I bite back a grin as I watch the two of them still dancing around the kitchen. Gaze finding Ash’s, I notice his eyes are two different colors. One’s blue, the other green. I don’t think his sisters are like that. “How’d today go?” I ask him, forcing myself to look away from his two-toned eyes.
“We had a great day,” he says. “Didn’t we, T?”
Tucker jumps up, letting go of Bubba’s paws as he throws his arms in the air. “Yeah!”
“Are you hungry?” Ash asks. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
“You didn’t have to cook dinner.”
“I know, but I enjoy cooking.” He shrugs. “And it’s nice to cook for more than just myself. Really, I don’t mind.” Then he freezes. “Unless you don’t want me to.”
I wave him off before running my fingers through the sweaty strands atop my head. “I don’t mind. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to.”
