“How about you just go over to the house, and we’ll meet you there?”
“How about, no? How about I go back upstairs and grab some more stuff so we can get this show on the road?”
“You’re not going to help us move boxes.”
I went silent as Shane’s friends moved up the stairs past us to grab another load, but continued glaring until they were out of earshot.
“You’re being kind of a dick right now.”
“Because I won’t let you carry boxes?” he asked flatly.
“No, because you’re speaking to me like I’m an idiot!” Oh no, the hormone-crazy was coming out.
“Shit, Katie,” he said quietly, stepping down a stair. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Can you please just supervise or something?”
“Whoa, complete one eighty. I’m impressed.”
“Sometimes I wonder if you’re deliberately trying to get a rise out of me,” he said in exasperation, shifting the bags in his hands.
“Maybe I need a spanking,” I replied seriously, before spinning around and moving back up the stairs while he stood there with his mouth open.
I wasn’t sure if I should be mortified at my lack of belongings or impressed that the guys packed up my things so quickly because, only thirty minutes later, the trucks were loaded and we were on the road to the Anderson house.
It was time to step into shoes that were not my own.
* * *
“Auntie Kate! We got a surprise for you!” Sage called as Megan walked her and the boys across the street.
“Thanks for keeping them, Megan,” I said as she handed a sleepy Gunner to me.
“No problem, neighbor. Eric was helping you guys anyway.”
“Oh, is your husband the super-tall one or the super-hot one?”
“Both?”
“Okay, the super-tall one then.”
We laughed, then grabbed ahold of little hands and shuffled to the lawn as the guys backed Shane’s truck into the driveway.
“Come see, Auntie!” Kell whined, pulling on my hand.
“See!”
“See!”
“Okay, okay, I’m going.” I turned to Megan, who was busy keeping her son from running to the back of the truck. “Thanks again, Megan.”
The kids babbled excitedly as we went into the house and I was pulled and shoved toward the spare bedroom. When Sage opened the bedroom door with a flourish I couldn’t stop the tears that came to my eyes.
“We thought you might need a better bed,” Shane said quietly from behind my shoulder. “It’s nothing great but the mattress is new, and—”
“I love it.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s the best bed ever in the history of beds.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he replied with a small smile. “We’ll put your old one in the garage in case you need it for a spare room or something later.”
“You did this for me?” I called out to the kids who were bouncing on the bed. “I love it!”
“We got you new sheets, too! ’Cause Daddy said your other sheets wouldn’t fit this bed,” Sage yelled over the noise her brothers were making. “But Daddy forgot to wash them until this morning, so they’re still in the dryer.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Shane to find him laughing softly. “Whoops,” he said, with a small shrug. “They’re probably done by now.”
“Sage and Keller,” I called out, getting their attention, “can you guys go get my brand-new sheets out of the dryer so you both can help me make my bed?”
“I’ll do it!” Keller announced, running past me.
“She said for both of us to do it, Keller!” Sage yelled in indignation.
I smiled at their bickering and watched as Gavin realized he no longer had anyone to play with and flopped down dramatically on the bed. By the amount of drool seeping into the shoulder of my T-shirt, I had a feeling that Gunner had already fallen asleep where I held him.
“All the boxes you need in the house are marked, right?” Shane asked as Keller and Sage came running back in, arguing about who could put their side of the sheets on faster.
“Yeah, they’re all marked. There’s eleven of them. I counted.”
“Okay, I’ll go grab those. You want me to take Gunner up to bed?” He reached out to slide his hand over the top of Gunner’s head.
“No, but do you think you could get the rest of the monsters out of here for a while?” I asked ruefully. “I kind of want to just crawl into my new bed with Gunner and take a nap.”
He smiled tenderly, the expression stealing my breath, and nodded.
“Sage! Keller! Gavin!” Shane called out. “Let’s let Kate lie down with the baby for a while, and you guys can help us unload the rest of the truck.”
Once everyone was out of my room, I crawled into the twisted sheets and curled around Gunner in the huge bed. My blankets and pillows hadn’t made it into the house yet, but I still fell asleep almost instantly when my head hit the mattress.