Sweet (Landry Family 6)

“I love that he’s reading to her,” I say.

“I feel sorry for him.” Nate grins at Dani. “Long story. Go on.”

“Umm, let’s see. Where are the twins?” She looks around. “Okay. Vivian is in the kitchen with her grandma. And her brother, Julian, is over there at the table with the paper and crayons. He’s probably trying to figure out how to make his first million like his dad.” She turns to me. “His parents are Graham and Mallory.”

My eyes go wide. “Mallory Landry? The one who owns Stretch?”

She laughs. “That’s her.”

“Oh, my gosh. I go there. I know her. How weird is that?”

“It’s a small world. She married into the family like me.”

I give myself a minute to make the connections.

It’s fascinating how these people have come together and filled this house with so many people. It’s such a nice feeling to be surrounded by so much love.

“This will be what my parents’ house looks like one day,” I say, laughing. “I’ll have to warn them.”

“I was an only child,” Dani says. “My childhood was pretty cold. It wasn’t until I met Lincoln that I realized what a family could look like. And I wanted that for myself and my children someday.”

I get that.

“Dani! Can you help Vivi wash her hands? I have cookie dough all over my fingers!” a voice shouts from what must be the kitchen.

I start to put my hand in Nate’s back pocket but realize Ryder is watching.

“Hey, buddy. You ready?” Nate asks him.

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Go thank Mrs. Landry for letting you stay.”

“He already did! I’d come out and say hello, Nate, but I have a mess in here!”

I laugh.

“Thanks, Mrs. Landry,” Nate calls out.

“Oh, my gosh. Will you stop calling me that, Nate? There are too many Mrs. Landrys in here.”

He grins. “Let’s go, kid.”

Ryder says goodbye to Harrison and races over to us. He wraps one arm around his dad and the other around me.

My eyes meet Nate’s over the boy’s head.

“Did you have fun?” Nate asks as we head for the door.

Ryder rambles on about pizza and a movie they watched about cats and dogs all the way to the truck. Nate gets him buckled up in the back, and then we take off back to the road.

“What did you do while I was gone, Paige Stage?” he asks.

Nate smirks.

How do I answer this?

“Well,” I say, thinking fast. “I met my friend Kinsley, and we did some yoga. And then I came back home and worked out a little more.”

I grin triumphantly at Nate. He tries not to laugh.

“You know what I think we should do?” Ryder asks.

“What?” Nate replies.

“Do you have to go to work today?” he asks. “I need to know that first.”

“Not today. Maybe later, but not before bedtime. Why? What’s up?”

“Well, I think we should get hamburger buns and pizza sauce and cheese and pepperonis and the green strip things that I love and make those for lunch. Okay?”

I look at Nate. “Green strip things?”

“Green bell peppers. He likes them on his pizza burgers.”

“I love them!” Ryder says from the back seat.

I look at him over my shoulder. “I’ve never had a pizza on a hamburger bun before. Is that a real thing?”

“It is when you’re poor.” Nate chuckles. “We love them. It used to be our Sunday dinner every week before things started working out better for us, huh, Ryder?”

“It was so fun. I miss them. Can we do it today? Please?”

I can’t help but play along with him. “Yeah. Can we do it today? Please?”

It’s not until I’ve already said the words do I catch the innuendo. Man, I didn’t even try for that one.

Nate looks at me, his eyes darkening. “All you have to do is ask.”

“That means we can? Yay!” Ryder yells from the back.

Nate flips on the turn signal and pulls onto a side street. “Guess we need to stop at the grocery store then.”

“Turn it up. I love this song,” Ryder says.

I reach over and turn the volume up. But before I pull my hand back, Nate’s fingertip touches mine.

A flood of warmth cascades through my body as I look up at him.

I don’t know what’s happening here, but it feels nice.

TWENTY

PAIGE

“No one tells you when you go to college that your books are going to cost as much as your tuition,” I lament as Kinsley and I walk out of the campus bookstore. “Let’s drop these off in our cars and then grab a sandwich. I’m starving.”

“Deal.”

We cross the street and separate. I find my car, unload my books into the back seat, and lock it. Then I head up the sidewalk toward Kinsley’s car.

A gentle breeze brings scents of bread and spices from the nearby restaurants swirling around me. My stomach growls so loud that I don’t realize my phone has buzzed in my hand until I look down.