Mark (Mallick Brothers 3)

What kind of man did such a huge, grand gesture like that and didn't stick around to see your reaction to it?

I put the daisy down on the counter as I reached for the note.S-Told you I'd get you flowers.

Work until six.

Late dinner? On the town?- MPS: Look out back.He left his cell too, and I plugged that in and sent him a thank-you text as I reached to pour myself coffee.

I had barely gotten the sugar in my cup before my phone was ringing. And, expecting him, I didn't even check the screen.

"Hello?"

"This fucking weeding thing is for the birds," Nixon greeted me, bringing a smile to my face. Sure, he was surly, as Nixon often was, but I hadn't seen him in almost two full days. I had literally never been away from them for so long before. I might have been enjoying some peace, some normalcy, some relaxation and fun. But I did actually miss them. It was going to be a slow transition, I think for all of us, to be able to live fully independent lives.

"You got in the dirt? I thought you would throw that all on King."

"Fucker is being stubborn about us all taking turns."

"Heaven forbid we do the fair thing, huh?"

"Yeah, you're off getting your jollies off, and we're stuck doing the work."

"Right because me doing it every other day..." I trailed off.

"Yeah yeah yeah," he cut me off, sounding like he was smiling. "Anyway, we're calling because we want to come down there and check out a few apartments. You gonna spare us a couple hours?"

I smiled down at my coffee, feeling a warmth move through my system.

Again, it just felt... right.

It felt right to be in Mark's kitchen, looking down at a note, breathing in the scent of flowers he bought me, living a life that didn't revolve around planning and running from crimes. It felt right to be talking to my brother about spending time, not our entire lives together. It felt right to know that they would be closer, would be moving forward with their own lives, would be soon feeling the kind of rightness I was feeling.

"What about the farm?" I asked, thinking of the chickens that would need to be let out, the eggs that would need collecting.

Which reminded me... where the hell was Nugget?

I froze, belly tightening, realizing he wasn't in the tub or the deep plastic container we used for him when we needed the shower.

"Atlas rigged up a cover for the garden with extra chicken wire left around. We figured since that closes them in completely, that we would be okay for one day to come down."

"Yeah, I don't see a problem with that," I said, only half paying attention as I moved around the house, looking in all the nooks and crannies, hoping the little trouble maker didn't get lost under all the flowers somewhere.

"Alright, so tomorrow at ten. Meet us near the shack."

"Sounds... okay then," I said to the dead end of the phone. Nixon wasn't one for being overly wordy. "Nugget. Nuggy-Nuggy-Nugget," I called into the house as I moved around.

It wasn't until I moved past the doors to the backyard and saw something odd that Mark's note came back to me.

He told me to check the back yard.

Why was that, you might wonder?

Because apparently, Mark was some freak who rose at like 5 AM and got right to work ordering flowers and then went out into the backyard and built me an epic chicken coop for Nugget.

And was it some cheap little rectangle stapled with chicken wire? No, it sure as hell was not. Because Mark Mallick, the loanshark enforcer, was also a contractor. As proven with his home, when he did things, he did them well.

So Nugget's new home was a five-star hotel for a chicken.

There were two parts to the coop. The first look like a mini little barn. It was red with windows, fake barn doors, and a pitched roof. The other part was a triangle-shaped run, half of it covered, the other half open, blocked with chicken wire.

Nugget was living large in space enough for ten chickens.

I could see him happily pecking around in the grass that looked to be littered with some kind of feed.

Mark had even set a couple of the pink roses from inside out front of it, another unbelievable little present that showed the undeniable sweetness that he had to offer.

And commitment, I realized as I walked over to see Nugget.

Why would he build a coop for my pet chick, let alone a huge, elaborate chicken coop, unless he had plans to keep me around for a while, right?

That realization, for reasons I was choosing not to analyze, made tears sting at the backs of my eyes. Maybe it was simply that he was proving so thoughtful. Or maybe it was because it was the first time in my life that I could be happy and excited about the future.