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I sigh. Fuck it. I pull it out of the drawer and put a little in my hand, rubbing them together before messing it around in my hair. It settles into a bit of a style, and eventually, I just give up.
“Let’s go!” I shout through the house.
* * *
The kids run ahead of me on our walk over. The sun is low in the sky, and it casts their shadows in the grass. God, they’re cute kids. I know I’m biased, but these kids have my heart.
I always knew I wanted kids. Growing up in such a tight-knit family can make you feel one of two ways: you strongly want that in your future, or you don’t. Dean never has, but the rest of us always did. I swallow the bad taste in my mouth when my thoughts turn to Dean.
We have given that boy so much…
So much time and so much money and so much help. And every time, he just throws it away, swallows whatever sorrows he has with a bottle of the cheapest liquor he can get his hands on.
“Hurry up! We’re gonna be late!” Wade shouts back at me.
I just laugh. “Go on, then. Run if you want! I’m comin’.”
We are not going to be late. We’re going to be early, but keeping these kids away from their grandparents is like pullin’ teeth. On their first day of kindergarten, I thought Momma was gonna have to sit with them all day at school. They were bawling and hiccoughing, tearing my heart right out of my chest with each breath.
I watch them run inside, and I’m not long after them. The kids are carrying on with their uncles in the living room while Pops takes up his normal seat at the table, paper in hand. And then I see the flash of pink hair, and my whole body reacts. My cock remembers what we did last night, and he’s ready for round two. And this time, he wants the real thing.
She’s got half of her hair pulled up, and the rest sits in waves at her shoulders. The oversized white T-shirt she’s wearing is almost see-through, and her jeans are so tight they make her damn ass look like an apple that I desperately want to take a bite out of. I run a hand through my hair, making sure the wind hasn’t messed it up too badly, but then I remember I’ve got that shit in it, and I’ve probably just made it stick up in ways it shouldn’t.
I regret the pomade.
“Alright,” Momma is saying to her. “So you’ve put in the cornmeal and flour. We just need an egg and a cup of buttermilk.”
Poppy moves over to the fridge and grabs what she needs. Momma supervises as she cracks the egg and pours the buttermilk. I haven’t seen Momma let anyone cook in this kitchen since Addie, and my heart is damn near tugged up through my throat. But the thing that hurts the most is when Poppy turns around to say something to Pops, and I see what she’s got tied around her waist.
Her eyes glance up and see me standing there like an idiot, just starin’ at her. My eyes flick from her pretty face down to her waist. And I’m torn. I’m torn between loving that image and hating it.
“Rhett?” she asks, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright. She’s blushing, probably thinking back to what happened between us last night. But my ears are ringing, and my heart is a drum beating in my chest.
“Hey, baby!” Momma’s voice breaks through the ringing. “We’re making your favorite. Homemade cornbread.”
“I was told to promise you it’s not from a Jiffy box.” Poppy’s lips turn up into a smirk, but when I don’t respond, she can tell something isn’t right. “Rhett?”
I swallow, trying to find my vocal cords.
“Everything okay, son?” Pops asks, turning in his chair to face me.
I blink. “Take that off.”
My voice has a bite to it, and no one but Poppy seems to notice. The color drains from her face, but she looks confused. Did no one tell her?
“The apron,” I grind out. “Take that fucking thing off.”
“Rhett Black!” Momma chides, her voice sounding genuinely shocked at how I’m acting. But both she and Pops should know better than anyone what this would do to me. Hell, they should care just as much as I do. And yet they don’t, which makes it sting even more.
Poppy is frozen. Only her eyes move between the three of us standing around her. I need her to move. I need her to take it off. I can’t stand to see her there, standing where Addie used to, wearing Addie’s favorite apron.
“I said take it off!”
I jump,startled at the new tone he’s taken with me. I’ve seen angry Rhett, but this is a whole new side of him. This Rhett is triggered by me wearing this apron, and I am more than happy to take it off to get that look to leave his face.
When I first noticed he was here, I saw him just standing in the hallway, staring at me. My first thought was how good he looked. He was dressed in nice jeans and boots that didn’t seem to be as worn as his other ones. And even his hair looked like he’d done something different to it.
But then the look changed and became something else entirely.
