The Silver Fox (Red's Tavern 3)

“Both of you are!” Dayna said, jumping up and down, a cherry blossom petal falling off of her shoulder. “Uncle Perry, did you tell them to make tenders for lunch?”

“I did,” I said. “I called ahead and made sure they had Dayna’s special tenders on the menu. And that’s what you’re going to have for lunch.”

“Yes,” she said. “I love this place.”

“I do, too.”

The three of them were off like rockets again in another minute, playing with the fire helmet under the trees. Mom, Cam, Rock, and I all sat down at the table in the center of the patio, enjoying the weather.

“There he is,” Cam said, nodding over at the man who must have been the groundskeeper. He was tall and built, walking around with a huge pair of garden shears in one hand, totally focused on the landscaping. “God, look at him. He looks like he was made to be outdoors.”

I watched Cam’s eyes linger on the man as he walked off, heading toward a tool shed far away. I was so glad Cam had that spark back. The spark of interest in other people, enough that it didn’t just make him sad, thinking about his past. I knew that Cam would find someone again, even if it took a long time.

“So you’ve worked out custody,” Mom said, eyeing Cameron.

“Geez, really cutting right to the meat of the conversation,” Cam said.

Mom shrugged. “You know I don’t bullshit. I want to know you’re happy.”

He nodded. “We did work out custody. And it’s… as good as it can be, I think. We switch off every week, and thank God, Rachel is staying local, so the kids won’t be uprooted from school.”

“I’m so glad to hear that, Cam,” Rock said.

When I looked back at Mom, I could see the glimmer of tears in her eyes even though she was smiling. “The kiddos are going to be just fine,” she said.

I reached over to pull her into a side hug.

“I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you all some news,” Rock said. My eyes snapped over to him, and he gave me a knowing look. I felt stupidly excited, like there were a dozen cheerleaders inside me, each of them rooting for Rock.

“You have news for us?” Cam asked.

Rock nodded, sitting up a little straighter in his chair as he adjusted his ball cap.

“Over the last two months I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. About my life, where it’s going, where it’s been. How much this person means to me,” he said, reaching out to squeeze my upper arm.

“Have Perry’s desserts finally won you over?” Cam joked.

“Oh, those won me over the first week I met him, to be sure,” Rock said. “But as of this week, I am officially going to be a member of the Amberfield-Bridgeview fire department. And next month, the lease on my place in the city is over. I’m going to be moving here.”

“Oh my God!” Mom shouted, immediately standing up from her chair and coming over to pull Rock into a hug. He laughed, standing up to hug her back.

And all of the damn cheerleaders inside me jumped for joy.

“Rock, that’s awesome,” Cam said. “We’re gonna get to see you more.”

“Not that I haven’t already been here every moment I could, anyway,” Rock said. “But it’s going to be amazing to be here all the time.”

“Now, I hope you’re ready for small-town life, hun,” Mom said, a warning look in her eyes. “And dinner at my house on Sundays, twice a month. Oh! Maybe you could help me with clearing out my shed in the backyard—”

“Mom,” I said. “You already have a to-do list for him?”

She shrugged. “Well, if he’s going to be part of the family, he’s going to be part of the family.”

She said it nonchalantly, without even thinking. But the words settled into my heart in a way that caught me off guard.

Part of the family.

Mom had never said that about anyone I’d dated before. I’d never thought it about anyone I’d dated before. And yet somehow, with Rock, it felt completely right.

“Life felt empty before I met Perry,” Rock said, staring off into the thick green of the trees. “I didn’t know it at the time, of course. I’m kind of always happy, but I didn’t know how lonely I was.”

“You definitely are always happy,” I said. “I’m envious of that.”

“But I was still lost,” Rock said. He bit his bottom lip. “I couldn’t even walk right, and yet I didn’t want to accept any help. And Perry helped me without even trying to.”

Cam smiled. “He’s kind of great at that.”

Even though all of this attention at once kind of made me want to melt into the ground, inside, I had fireworks going off. I knew Rock wasn’t the sentimental type, and the fact that he was telling me these things here, in front of my family, at the inn where everything had started… it was magical. And so much more than I would have ever known I could have.