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Kids… she wished she had their resiliency.
Opening the door, Addy ran a hand through her hair and squinted against the morning sun. She tried not to blush at being caught in the same clothes as last night with her hair knotted and her eyes swollen. She blinked and resisted the urge to wipe the sleep from her eyes. “Mrs. Finlay.”
“Good morning, dear, and call me Fran, please,” she said, pushing past Addy. Charlotte jumped up the steps, Creampie backpack slapping a rhythm. She held her hands up to Addy.
“Good morning, Brave Charlotte,” Addy murmured into the girl’s curls. The child smelled like clean cotton and sunshine. Addy set her down so she wasn’t tempted to huff the child like some nut ball, but the clean smell of innocence was addictive.
A balloon snagged around Addy’s neck and she pulled it free, turning to see Lucas’s head emerge over the back of the sofa. Seemed a shame the first time they’d literally slept together had been platonic and on his brother’s couch, but it hadn’t seemed right to share a bed with two impressionable boys in the house. “Mom? What are you doing here? What time is it?”
“I’m preparing for your brother to come home, of course. And it’s 9:30,” Fran trilled, bypassing Lucas and heading for the kitchen.
Lucas scrambled off the couch, kicking the fluffy throw in which they’d been wrapped to the floor. He rose, clad only in his plaid boxers and a T-shirt. Stretching, he turned to her with a sleepy smile. Something wonderful fluttered in her stomach when she realized this was the first of many smiles she’d wake up to. “Morning, Addy girl.”
Addy closed the front door and tugged her T-shirt around from where it had twisted under her arms. “Morning, babe.”
She heard him sigh, and that caused another flood of warmth. For a few precious seconds, they stood beaming at one another.
And then they heard the thump, thump, thump of not-so-little feet tromping down the stairs. Michael appeared first, hair sticking up, shoulders slumped. “I smell doughnuts.”
“It’s a cake your grandmother brought.”
Chris came next, sticking his head over the bannister as he took the stairs double-time. “Mom and Dad are coming home today!”
“Yes, they are.” Fran popped her head back into the foyer. “And we all need to get ready. Your grandfather is on his way to Belle Chase to pick them up, so we need to make our beds, pick up, and tack these balloons on the porch. Lucas, get some britches on and grab the banner out of the car. Aunt Camille made it.”
Addy moved toward Fran and the kitchen. “I’ll be glad to help, but first I need to go to my house to grab a shower.”
“I better go with her,” Lucas said solemnly.
His mother gave him a blank stare… but Addy saw the twinkle in her eye before she turned around. “Forget about it. I know last night was, well, traumatic, and you two need some time together, but it will have to be later. Today, we’re focusing on Benjamin’s welcome home. Snap to it, Mister.”
Addy looked about for her flip flops and slid a glance toward where Lucas stood still stretching. “I wouldn’t mind some company on my walk over. I know it’s silly, but the thought of taking a shower alone in that house after Robbie attacked me last night gives me the willies.”
Lucas dropped his arms. “Let me grab a few things for Mom and make sure the kids are set then I’ll walk over with you. I’ll wait for you.”
Minutes later, hand in hand, they headed silently toward her house.
She pulled the damaged back door open, punched in the code for the alarm and looked at her kitchen. The police had left it as it was, chairs scattered, table shoved out of its normal spot. The pan for cookies still sat on the counter, but thankfully, someone had turned the oven off. Addy felt as if she were having an out of body experience. It was her kitchen… yet a stranger’s kitchen.
Lucas slid his hands to her shoulders and she jumped. “Hey, it’s over.”
“The rational me knows that, but I still feel quivery in my skin. The only good thing is now I have you beside me.”
He wrapped his arms around her and calmed her soul. It had been that way from the beginning—Lucas soothing her fears with his touch, his smile, his very presence. She should have trusted that instinct.
Turning, she laid her head against his broad chest, whispering a prayer of thanks. “It’s over for me, but what about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ben and Courtney will be here in a few hours.”
He pulled away and glanced out the back window. “Yeah, there’s that.”
“You want to tell me about what really happened? The non-kid version?”
He shrugged those massive shoulders, his head tilting forward enough to give him vulnerability in the morning light slanting inside the café curtain. “Just a major screw up.”
Addy didn’t say anything, just hooked her foot around the same chair she’d crashed into the night before and pulled it to her. She sat… and waited.
