“Officer Flynn said that Benny wants to talk to me.” He took his own seat at the table. “I think I’ll go see him.”
“That would be terrific. I know Benny would love it. Ellen too.” And it wouldn’t hurt Brogan, either, to get a little more appreciation.
Fifteen minutes into the meal, she had to tell Brogan how impressed she was. He cut up his food first, then fed himself while also holding Shayna’s bottle. The man was a master, never missing a beat.
“You’re really good at that.” She’d only eaten half of her portion and Brogan was almost done. She got up to give him the rest, smiling when he gladly accepted. A man his size probably needed a lot of fuel.
“When I first got Shayna, everything was scary.” He reached out and wiped broccoli off Andy’s nose. “I had no idea what I was doing, so I spent half the time carrying her around and worrying while I researched everything I could. I held her in one arm and read on my phone at the same time. It was hard, I won’t lie.”
Pixie often thought it was still hard. There were days whenexhaustion caught up to her, but she was the only mother Andy had. The only parent. So she put on a happy face and did her best. Sometimes that meant the laundry wasn’t done and the house wasn’t anywhere near tidy.
Other times, she managed it all, and when that happened, she honestly felt like a superwoman. But when she fell short, she tried to cut herself some slack with a reminder of how far she’d come.
“Now,” he said, “it’s a little easier. Never been this easy, though.” He nodded at the food. “Thanks for getting everything together. This is really nice.”
“The Docker makes great food.”
“Agree, but I meant all of it. Getting the food ready for me and the kids. Setting the table. Watching them while I made my call. Usually, I’m trying to do all that at the same time. I can multitask when necessary, but it was nice that I didn’t have to.”
She was about to reply when a chunk of food came flying across the table. Somehow Brogan dropped his fork and caught it. Then he stared at her, and after two seconds, his incredulous gaze slowly swiveled toward Andy.
Andy grinned at him. Still speechless, Brogan opened his hand and saw that he’d caught a mishmash of vegetables and meat.
It took everything Pixie had not to laugh out loud. She pinched her lips together and got to her feet, going to the sink to wet a paper towel while saying, “Andy Nolan, that’s a no-no. We do not throw food.”
“No-no,” Andy said in his most serious voice, his face scrunched while he wagged a finger at Brogan. “No-no-no.”
Brogan made a choked sound that was halfway between a growl and a laugh. He took the wet towel from Pixie and cleaned the slimy food off his fingers. “Kid has one heck of an arm.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, still struggling with her own laughter.“That started when we were having dinner with Cort and Marlow. Cort teased Marlow, she threw a pea at him; and from then on, Andy has thought it’s a game.”
Brogan cleared his throat. Loudly. When he looked up, he’d managed to remove most of the humor from his expression.
Then Andy said, “Fend.”
And Brogan’s mouth lost the battle. Grinning, he said, “Your friend doesn’t want to wear your food, buddy.”
Andy offered another squished morsel from his pudgy little hand.
Brogan eyed it dubiously.
Pixie tried to help, saying, “Hey, Mama wants a bite.”
“Fend!”
Brogan gestured at her. “Ladies first.”
Frowning, Andy gave in and offered it to her. She bent to his hand—and without touching the food—made ridiculous “nom-nom” noises while pretending to chew.
Andy laughed.
“Ah,” Brogan said, catching on. He leaned forward. “Okay, then, let’s do this.”
Unfortunately, he got too close and Andy smashed the food against his mouth and chin.
The stunned look on Brogan’s face was so priceless, Pixie lost it. She laughed so hard that she couldn’t sit up straight. Bending over, her head on her knees, she tried to keep Andy from seeing her, but he surely heard her. Tears came to her eyes, and every time she tried to catch her breath, she ended up cackling with hilarity.
Soon Brogan was chuckling, too, but he managed to get out a “Mm-mmm,” just to appease Andy.
