AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Roe smacked at his hand with a laugh. “Now you sound like Cain. He wants to move here, you know. He won’t admit it, but he misses his family and wants to be closer. I think if I wasn’t in trouble, he’d have put Jasper in charge and set up an office here.”
“You two are good friends, right?” Mack didn’t like the darksomethingwiggling around in his gut at the thought of Cain and Roe together.
“He’s my official best friend.” Roe nodded firmly. “My BFF. My brother by another. My best bro bud.”
“How would you feel if he moved here?”
Roe mused on it for a moment. “I’d talk to the kids about moving here permanently. There’s nothing in Georgia for me anymore. Even my grandparents’ home doesn’t feel like home, and my family’s gone now. Grandpa Ben passed about six years ago, and Grandpa Roland went quickly after him. My parents died in a car crash right before everything blew up with James. All my previous friends dropped me like a hot potato after the divorce.”
Mack pictured Roe and the kids living in town. Benji would likely be joined at the hip with Min and the other Wilson littles. Daphne would fit right in with a couple of teens he knew. Tris would have a welcoming home to come to on school breaks. Most importantly of all, Mack knew Roe would make more friends here in town. He didn’t think anyone could possibly resist Roe’s sweet smile and kind nature. Mack sure couldn’t.
“I think I need to have a talk with Cain’s parents.” Mack took Roe’s empty teacup and helped the other man to his feet. “It’s time all the Bensons lived in Hobson Hills.”
The next morningbrought in a summer thunderstorm. Mack was unusually reluctant to go into work. Breakfast with Roe and the kids had been fun. By the time he left, Roe and Benji were fingerpainting, Daphne was cuddling with Fergie and the guinea pigs, and Tris was video chatting with his friends.
Wally smirked from where he stood, leaning against the wall near the door. “With the way you drag your feet, I’d think you don’t trust me to keep them safe, except I see the way your eyes linger on Roe.”
Mack’s face warmed as he blushed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m too old for that, and Roe could do a lot better than me.”
Wally’s eyes softened. “What about what he thinks? You don’t give yourself enough credit, Mack. I’m ten years younger than Roe, and I’d be after you in a heartbeat if I thought it would do any good. There’s nothing hotter than a silver fox.”
Mack almost choked on his own spit, and Wally laughed at his reaction.
“I’m going to work before the bullshit gets any deeper.” Mack shook his head and left the house in a hurry. He was sure his face was beet red.
The morning passed quickly with two drug-related arrests and a few personnel meetings. Someone was stealing from an outdoor vending machine at a convenience store in town. It always happened after closing hours, so they made a plan to keep watch until they caught them.
After lunch, Mack visited with a few of the older citizens in town. Ms. Margaret lived in small older neighborhood at the edge of town. She didn’t have children of her own, and her sister was all the way in Portland. A few of the kids in the neighborhood did chores for her like weeding and keeping the tiny yard around her home mowed, but Mack liked to help out when he had the time.
“It shouldn’t take me long to fix these steps, ma’am.” Mack surveyed the wobbly steps leading to her front porch. “I have a few pieces of wood in the back of my car that should work.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.” Ms. Margaret pulled her shawl tighter around her thin shoulders. “Birdie’s going to paint the porch for me next week, but she didn’t know how to fix the steps.”
The teenager had just turned fourteen and had sprouted up like a weed during the summer. She stood next to him, shuffling from foot to foot, as she looked over the steps. She had warm-brown skin, jean shorts with a few trendy holes in them, and a too-big T-shirt that hung off one shoulder. She kept her long black hair in box braids pulled into a neat little bun on the top of her head.
Birdie’s parents worked long hours, so she and the other Harris kids spent a lot of time with Ms. Margaret. They were a tight-knit family and very nice.She’d make a good friend, he thought.
Birdie narrowed her eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m gonna watch you build the steps so I can repair it next time.”
“I was just thinking,” Mack said, shaking his head. “I have a friend with a daughter your age. She’s new to town. Think you might like to meet her?”
“Think she might like to help paint a porch?” Birdie asked with a smirk.
Mack snorted a laugh. “If it got her out of the house and away from her brothers, she just might.”
“I feel that in my soul.” Birdie patted her heart. “Right here.”
“I’ll ask her and bring her by next week.” Mack turned toward his car. “I’ll use the skill saw, but you can nail the boards together.”
“Gotcha.” Birdie followed behind him.
“I’ll make you two some lemonade,” Ms. Margaret said, smiling wide. “You’ll have earned it.”
Chapter 6
Two weeks later, Roe isolated himself in his studio and worked on a new sketch. Harper was working on their shadow box, and Roe had a damn image in his head that wouldn’t go away. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was Mack sitting across from him with that smile on his face. The slightly crooked one that meant he was amused, but trying not to show it. Crinkles at the corner of his blue eyes. A strong jaw begging to be kissed. Ears that poked out a little too much. Dark hair sprinkled liberally with silver and gray.
Roe groaned and knocked his head against his table a couple times.Wideshoulders that can carry the whole world, he thought.
