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“What’s a pronto pup?” Autumn asked, stretching to try to see more of what was up on the counter.
Lee scooped her up and lifted her onto a barstool. “It’s a corndog,” he said. “We make the batter from scratch and fry ‘em up fresh.”
“Oh, my gramma does that sometimes,” Autumn said. “She calls ‘em hush puppies.”
“That’s something else, honey,” Rose said, smiling at her daughter.
“Can I have a cookie?” Autumn asked, and Ford reached out to get her one.
“Sure,” he said. “Wait.” He pulled the cookie back. “You’re not…lergic?” He looked up at Lee. “Lartic? What’s the word, Dad?”
“Allergic,” Lee said.
“Allergic to peanuts or anything?” Ford asked.
Autumn looked at Rose, and so did Lee and Ford. She shook her head, and Ford handed over the cookie. “We can’t eat ‘em all. Dad says they’re for the picnic.”
“They are,” Lee said. “Aunt Rissa will fillet us and fry us up for dinner if we show up without any cookies.” He took in the dozens of them spread around every flat surface in the kitchen. “Although, we seem to have plenty.” He didn’t want to be on Rissa’s bad side today, he knew that.
She’d been working for two weeks to get this picnic and fireworks party put together. Spence had been put in charge of getting all the explosives, and Gary had invited everyone at the farm next door.
Jed Forrester was a friend of Lee’s, if he had any time for friends. Right now, he sure didn’t, because he spent all of his spare time with Rose. If she wasn’t available, Lee tried to make sure he talked to Trav and Will one-on-one often. They were all going to live here and work the farm, and Lee wanted them involved in as much as possible at Sweet Water Falls Farm.
Lee picked up a cookie and took a bite, the peanut butter and semi-sweet chocolate a match made in heaven for him. His eyes rolled back in his head, and a groan came out of his mouth. Rose giggled, and Lee smiled at her while he chewed. Maybe not the best option, as the cookies were a bit crumbly, and some spilled out of his mouth.
He started to laugh, and that wasn’t good either. He turned away from the island full of cookies before he sprayed crumbs everywhere, embarrassment shooting through him. He couldn’t stop laughing though, and when Ford joined in, Lee didn’t care.
“Sorry,” he said, still laughing with half a cookie in his hand.
“That’s why we take a smaller bite,” Rose said. “Okay, Autumn? Learn from Mister Cooper there.” She’d picked up a cookie too, and Lee watched as her pink-painted lips parted and she took a delicate bite. Mm, he wanted to do that too, but he contained his hormones for later, because he got to spend the rest of the day with Rose and Autumn.
“Come see the stream,” Rose said, extending her hand toward Autumn. “Can I take her back there? I’ve told her all about the fish.”
“I’ll go too,” Ford said, and Lee wondered if his son knew he would miss packing up all of the cookies if he went into the back yard with Rose and Autumn. Probably. He was eight, not stupid.
“I’ll pack these up,” Lee said loudly, thinking maybe someone would stay to help him. He got a swing and a miss on that one, and Ford led Rose and Autumn into the back yard. Lee sighed, still so dang happy, and started packing up the cookies to take to the homestead. In the end, he filled eight Tupperware containers before the back door opened again.
“Mister Lee,” Autumn said, a sniffle in her voice. “I falled and got bleeding.”
Lee abandoned his clean-up of the cookie mess he and Ford had created that morning and swept the tiny girl into his arms. His powerful protective instincts pressed in on him, and he took her down the hall as he shushed her. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s just a scrape.”
He cleaned it all up and put a Band-Aid on it. “There.” He looked at the robots on the bandage. “Well, Ford likes these ones. I’m afraid I don’t have any princess stuff.”
Autumn simply looked at him with the deepest, darkest eyes he’d ever seen on a person. Her father must’ve been dark-haired and eyed too, because she didn’t have an ounce of anything else in her. Lee had plenty of red, and his beard—when he let it grow out, which wasn’t often—definitely held gray.
“Say thank you,” Rose said, and Lee dang near jumped out of his skin.
“You scared me,” he said.
Rose rolled her eyes at him and said, “I don’t see how that’s possible.”
“It is,” he said, not daring to tell her what he was thinking about.
“Will’s here,” Rose said, reaching for Autumn. She balanced her on her hip as she turned to leave the tiny hallway bathroom. “He says we get him for five minutes if we have anything we want to haul out to the and I quote, ‘back forty.’” She continued down the hall. “I wasn’t sure what that meant or how far it is, but I figured we better take him up on it.”
“Yeah,” Lee said, following her and admiring her feminine shape. “We better.” He emerged into the front of the house, where Will stood with Gary and Mack. “Howdy, boys.” He smiled at them and gestured right back the way they’d come in. “I’ve got lawn chairs and blankets out by the garage.”
“You couldn’t get them in your truck?” Will grumped at him, already turning to leave.
