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Six months later
I pulled down the tailgate. Sally ran around the bottom and Landon clambered in.
Avery appeared at my elbow. “Horses are fed.”
“Awesome, thanks. Once we get this off-loaded, that’s the last of it.”
Landon grabbed a box from the stack inside the bed of my pickup and jumped down. He ran into the house with Sally hot on his heels.
Avery hauled herself onto the tailgate. She didn’t go for a box. She leveled a solemn stare on me. “I think we should bring Tabby inside.”
“She got to you.”
“She didn’t have to,” Avery said like she won the argument. “You didn’t want a pet inside because you’re outside working all the time. But now you have us. I’m helping with the horses, and Landon feeds Sally. Afton can do litter boxes.”
I laughed. “You’re volunteering your sister for litter box duty?”
Avery chewed the inside of her lip and tried to act innocent. “No, but she needs a job like me and Landon.”
“It’s a tight fit with all of us.”
“But you’re adding on.” She grinned like she’d played the ultimate trump card. Construction on the house was starting the next week. Emery and I had contemplated waiting to move her and the kids in, but the kids swore they didn’t mind camping out under my roof until the addition was done.
“All right.” I stroked my chin like I was pretending to think. Emery and I had had the cat conversation when we discussed moving in together. “You agree to help oversee the work that needs to be done for an indoor cat?”
Avery nodded, her dark ponytail swinging. Emery’s car approached. She had finished cleaning the rental house and had picked Riley up from her mom’s. I’d never get tired of seeing them all at my place—our place. Home.
I grinned, more at Emery than at Avery. “Okay, then. It’s a deal.”
Avery squealed and crushed me in a surprisingly strong embrace for a twelve-year-old. She grabbed a box and ran into the house, yelling for her siblings.
As Emery got out, I said, “Tabby’s going to figure out she should beware what she wishes for.”
“Good thing I didn’t take Stetson up on his bet.” She unhooked Riley and helped her to the ground. The girl crossed to me, and I lifted her up to sit on the tailgate. I leaned against it with her. Emery closed the distance between us and gave me a kiss.
I held her close. “He’s trying to bet me about whether it’ll rain during our wedding.”
We’d wanted to wait until school was out. Then the kids would spend a few weeks in Arizona with their dad. I’d miss the shit out of them, but they needed time with their dad. Time to adjust to him living across the country.
My father had mediated the shit out of Henry. Emery hadn’t been the only reason Henry had been heavy handed. He’d had problems with Jenni, and she’d ended up leaving him. When it came out that he planned to leave the state, the trajectory of the case had changed, and Henry’s energy had dissolved.
The last time he talked to Emery, he’d said he was in counseling and that it was important to him to have a better relationship with his kids.
So, Emery and I waited for our intimate outdoor wedding. We’d moved everyone in together before the kids left for Arizona. We wanted them to be a part of the move, a part of the decision, essentially, but without the rush. We wanted the wedding to happen as naturally as everything else.
Emery rested her head on my shoulder until Riley wiggled to get down. Avery was walking out of the house, and Riley ran for her.
“Mind keeping an eye on Riley?” Emery called.
Avery squinted at us. “Do I have to help move boxes while I’m watching her?”
“She’s good,” I muttered.
Emery chuckled. “Not while you’re watching her,” she said to Avery. She sighed and put her head back on my shoulder. “I’m late.”
“For what?”
“Latelate.”
