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Thirty-One
DELILAH
Saturday morning I woke up alone, to a strangely silent house. I followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen, where the cold morning sunlight was filtering in through the windows. Right next to a half-filled, lukewarm pot I found a foil-wrapped breakfast sandwich and a cute little note.
Good morning, gorgeous!
Duncan got back a day early.
The three of us took the twins out,
so you could sleep late.
Be back later on with
much hotter coffee.
- Army guys
Crap.
A wave of fomo washed over me, which was strange because they were actually giving me the morning off. I already had the evening off, so I pretty much had the day to myself. I could do virtually anything I wanted.
And yet I found myself wanting to be with them.
I already knew I was getting dangerously attached to Jace and Courtney. I’d felt the same connection with my sister’s kids, but it was also a bit different. Even though those ties were thickened by blood, I only saw Rory and Luke for a few hours at a clip. In most cases I gave them back well before sundown, usually hopped up on sugar and ice cream. I didn’t go to sleep and wake up next to them, like I did with the twins.
Because of that, I was beginning to love the twins in a very motherly way. I was the only female figure in their lives right now. Taking the place of someone they unfortunately never knew.
I made a fresh pot of coffee, then ate and showered. After that I wandered the halls of the mansion, looking for things to do. I had the urge to go outside and work on one of the many landscape cleanup projects going on, if for no other reason than to enjoy the fresh fall air. But it was chillier than it looked. Plus, I didn’t know where the key to the garage was.
This is your day off, remember?
I didn’t care. I wanted to help. After learning the incredibly sad truth about the twins’ parents, I admired the guys even more for wanting to make this place into a home for them.
I tried telling myself I was getting too close. That I was an employee first and friend second.
And a lover, third.
I shoved all those thoughts away as I got busy on a project that took me through lunch, and well beyond. Sometime right before the sun went down I heard the smooth crunch of gravel that was the Audi pulling up. The front door opened and Liam walked in, trailing a very sleepy Jace in tow.
He looked up at me in horror, mainly because I was perched high in the foyer, on the top rung of a stepladder.
“Delilah!” Liam cried. “W—What are you doing?”
“Fixing your crappy ductwork,” I told them, a roll of aluminum tape dangling from between my teeth.
“Please get down! You’ll hurt yourself!”
“Are you kidding?” I snickered. “I’ll be just fine. Me and ladders go way back.”
“But—”
I shook the piece I was working on. It was much more securely-fastened to the next junction than when I’d first started. “Who did this by the way? And why in the world did they…”
My sentence trailed off as Duncan stepped inside, with a sleeping Courtney pinned to his shoulder. I set the tape down on the ladder’s shelf and shimmied down quickly.
“Welcome home!” I cried exuberantly but quietly, standing on my toes to hug them both.
