His Southern Sweetheart

The Southern drawl he spoke with turned her on when it shouldn’t. Amelia shook the sound of his deep twang out of her head. She preferred men with more of an international range, much like when he had rolled his R when they were in bed together. Mmm, bed together. Was it getting hot in here? Amelia’s fingers itched to fan her face. She hadn’t realized she’d been daydreaming as Nate explained what they were doing. When she came into focus, Grandmamma’s face was skewed with a frown.

“Think about the good they’re doing, Miss Helen,” Pastor Rivers said, stepping between Grandmamma and Nate. “They’re moving everything downstairs so you won’t have to climb those stairs every single night. Won’t that be better for you?”

* * *

“Tell me about your day, girls.” Nate pushed a plate of store-bought cookies in front of his two favorite nieces, who were now pouting. “Did Uncle Stephen get you off to school okay?”

Both girls widened their eyes at him. Philly’s mouth opened and she quickly covered her mouth to suppress her gasp. “Girls?”

Kimber folded her arms across her sparkled T-shirt. Her smirk, so much like her father’s, made him grin. With Stephen in town to help on a more permanent basis, Nate was able to enjoy more grown-up activity apart from the house. The love he had for the girls, however, never allowed him to spend more than a night or two away. He’d spent two nights away with Amelia—sort of. He’d still slept on the couch in the barn last night.

“I believe you did not use the correct pronunciation in my name,” said Stephen, coming down the kitchen stairs.

“Oh.” Nate laughed. “Did Tío Stephen get you off to school on time?”

“Why would you ask them such a question?” asked Stephen. He opened the fridge and grabbed the gallon-sized milk container.

“Uh, because the last time you were supposed to take the girls to school, you overslept and they stayed home for the day.”

“Not all of us.” Stephen cut his eyes at their oldest niece.

Kimber blinked her lashes innocently the same way Amelia had last night. “School was fine, Tío Nate.”

“Miss Brittany has more paperwork for you,” Philly said, shoveling a chocolate chip cookie in her mouth. “She said you should come by after school today.”

The back of his jaw twitched as he ground his molars together. Brittany should not be passing messages on through his niece. “What? I spent all last week filling everything out. You can handle it this time,” Nate said to his brother.

“But she loves it when you work with her.” Stephen set the milk on the table and pinched Nate’s cheeks. Nate swatted his hand away. “She might be the only person in the world willing to put up with you and your wrinkly ass.”

“Oooooh,” Philly exhaled. She sat on her knees to try and pour a cup of milk without everyone helping. Nate cringed at the idea of milk spilling everywhere, but she did it without making a mess. Did she learn this while he was gone? Why didn’t Stephen text him and let him know?

“Girls, thank Tío Stephen for funding our trip to Abuela’s next week,” said Nate. He rested his arms on the table and spun the cold jug around.

“Ugh,” Kimber moaned. “Labor Day can’t get here soon enough. I need a break.”

Nate shook his head. “I thought you said school was great.”

“Yes, I did. I saw my old friends and made new ones. I had to listen all day to everyone’s wonderful summer stories, the summer I wasted because you two grounded me.”

Nate pretended to be really interested in what Kimber said, resting his face in his hand and nodding when she went on about how her evil uncles had grounded her all because they did not understand her. “Tell me more.”

When Kimber realized he was making fun of her, she stormed off, Philly in tow. Stephen took the opportunity to sit in one of the unoccupied chairs and dig into the cookies. The plastic container crackled with his meaty hands cramming inside. “So what’s really going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t seen you since Saturday and I almost put out an APB on you.”

Half smiling and half nodding, Nate chuckled. “I am okay. I needed to stop in and grab my contracting contacts. And some clothes.” He wasn’t sure why he added the latter.

“So the auction girl is working you hard, huh?”

“Don’t read too much into it,” Nate groaned. “Amelia is more about revenge and the chick is taking her anger out on me.”

“What did you do?”

“Distracted her, and by doing so, made her mess up a work duty.”

Stephen ran a hand over his bald head. “What am I missing here?”