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He thought of Smokey back in Savannah. Wondered if she was working or hanging out at her sweet little bungalow of a house.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and slid a finger across the screen.
The last text message from Tex had been a phone number. Just that. Nothing more.
And without asking, Ryder knew whose number it was.
Hers.
“You good, bro?” Lowe called out from the grill. “Need another beer?”
Ryder returned the phone to his pocket and tipped his beer in Lowe’s direction. “Doing great, man. Thanks for the hospitality.”
“Got some sweet young thing on the other end of that line?” Lowe asked.
“Nah, nothing like that,” Ryder answered.
“Not yet, you mean, if the look on your face is anything to go by,” Holly teased, carrying a pitcher of lemonade to the table. “Kids are gonna eat with us if that’s okay with you.”
“I don’t mind,” Ryder said, trying to imagine what kind of children these two would produce.
And then his question was answered when two boys and a girl tumbled out of the house and onto the deck, all nerf guns and tutus, cowboy hats and tiaras. With sequins. Of course.
The kids saw Ryder and stopped, three sets of big eyes staring him down.
“Luke, Ash, and Caroline,” Holly said, pointing to the children in turn. “Kids, this is Ryder. He’ll be staying with us a couple days.”
“Cool,” Luke, who appeared to be the oldest, said.
Caroline cocked her head, “You gone play with me?”
And with her dark curly hair streaming around her face, her tiara crooked on her head, and her tutu hanging in tufts where she’s apparently been in a fight with her brothers, Ryder couldn’t help but grin.
Lowe saved him from having to answer, “Probably not, sugar pie. Ryder’s gonna be busy. And you’ve got Luke and Ash to play with.”
The little girl jammed her hands on her hips and glared at her brothers. “They don’t ever wanna play what I wanna play.”
Ash curled his lip in disgust, “You always wanna play girl stuff.”
Holly directed the children to their seats and started assembling burgers on their plates. “Your sister is, in fact, a girl,” she pointed out.
“Well, she don’t have to act like one all the time,” Luke mumbled, sliding his chair under the table.
Lowe flipped another burger onto a plate. “Son, one day, you’ll be thankful for girl stuff.”
“Ugh,” Luke said, rolling his eyes while his mother set a plate in front of him.
Lowe brought a platter full of burgers to the table and wrapped an arm around Holly while he reached around her to put it down.
“Gross,” Ash said around a mouthful of chips.
“They’re like this all the time,” Luke half whispered to Ryder while he shook his head in his parents’ general direction.
And that began the first meal Ryder had ever eaten in the presence of a family who actually loved each other.
And the longer he sat, and the more he settled, the more he found that he really, really liked it.
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