6 Mountain Brothers for Christmas

“It is,” Sarah said around a mouthful of french toast.

I laughed and looked at Sean. He was eating his breakfast in silence, watching the kids interact with me. I got the impression he was sizing me up, observing me to see whether he wanted to keep me on. It made sense, but still, I felt my skin burn whenever his eyes found mine. He was by far the most attractive man I’d ever met.

“All righty,” I said after we were all done eating. “Can you guys go get dressed please?”

Tommy and Sarah jumped out of their chairs and ran upstairs. I smiled as I listened to their footsteps.

“You’re good with them,” Sean said simply. His voice was flat, emotionless.

“Thank you,” I said. “They seem like great kids.”

“They fight a lot,” Sean said.

“That’s okay.” I shrugged. “I grew up with three older brothers. I can handle fighting.”

I piled all the plates together and carried them to the kitchen. While I washed them, Sean continued to sit at the table. He was sipping his coffee, but his eyes flickered over to me every so often. I wanted to say something, anything, to draw him into a conversation, but I wasn’t sure where to start.

When the kids reappeared, I quickly finished the dishes and ushered them back upstairs. Tommy gave me a quick tour of both their rooms, and I saw that there was still some unpacking to do.

“Can we go to the park?” Sarah asked eagerly. “It’s just down the street, but we’ve only been once since we moved here.”

“I think we can do that,” I said with a nod. “But first, let’s get these boxes unpacked. Then we’ll go.”

I expected an argument, but Sarah just nodded and moved immediately toward the first box. I smiled and opened it up. Sarah, Tommy, and I spent the morning unpacking boxes and organizing their rooms. When that was done, we had a quick lunch, and then, after getting Sean’s approval, we walked down the street to the park. They played hard for an hour before they were both winded and exhausted. Laughing, we made our way back to the house and spent the afternoon unpacking some things downstairs.

I didn’t see Sean much. He ate lunch with us and asked the kids what they thought of the park, but he didn’t speak to me often. He spent most of the day holed up in his study. I wondered what he was doing in there, but I didn’t ask the kids. Instead, we unpacked every box we could find, organized a few rooms, and then sat down to play a game together.

“Do you think your dad wants to play?” I asked as we set up the board.

“I’ll go ask!” Tommy said, running toward Sean’s office.

Two minutes later, Sean and Tommy walked into the living room. Sean looked down at Sarah with a smile. It was the first smile I’d seen cross his face all day and damn if it didn’t make him even more attractive.

“I’m going to grab some chinese food for dinner,” he said. “I suppose you can stay.”

When he looked at me, the smile vanished, and though it hadn’t really been a proper invitation, I decided to take it.

“That sounds great,” I said. “Thanks.”

“I’ll be back.”

With that, Sean left me with the kids and drove into town to get the food. Tommy, Sarah, and I spent twenty minutes playing our game before Sean made it back home. We all sat down around the kitchen table, and again, I helped the kids get their plates settled. Sarah needed help cutting her chicken and Tommy was excited to learn how to use chopsticks.

I placed the sticks in Tommy’s hand and showed him how to pinch them together. After a few failed attempts and a lot of giggles, he finally managed to take a successful bite.

“I did it!”

His joy was infectious, and soon, we were all laughing. Even Sarah cheered for her brother’s success. Throughout the day, I’d noticed what Sean mentioned about their fighting, but it never grew out of control. With a few words of warning and a bit of a distraction, their bickering always subsided quickly.

We ate dinner and everyone seemed happy. Even Sean was smiling and laughing at times along with us. For the first time all day, I felt like he was okay with my presence.

“So,” I said as the kids finished eating. “What do you do for a living?”

The look of suspicion returned to his eyes before he answered. “I was a lawyer back in San Diego,” Sean said slowly. “But I left the firm when we moved here.”

“What do you do now?” I asked.

“Nothing yet.” He shrugged, unwilling to offer more.