Heart of Glass (Fostering Love 3)

I ran a hand over my face and hit the garage door opener as I followed them. I had a feeling none of us would be getting any rest for a while, even though it was already after midnight.

“Puppy!” Etta yelled over and over until I unlatched his gate.

“Jesus,” Morgan mumbled as Koda stumbled into the yard and Etta dropped to her hands and knees to copy him. “I shouldn’t have let her sleep for the last couple of hours.”

“Debatable,” I joked. “Listen to her whine in a confined space, or sit on the back porch and let her wear herself out with a puppy. I’d choose puppy.”

“You’re probably right,” she snickered, smiling as she glanced my way.

Since she’d agreed to come stay for a while, we’d been tiptoeing around each other. I’d sat on her bed and watched her pack, giving tips and generally making a nuisance of myself, but I’d barely touched her again before I’d left for my hotel last night. This morning I’d barely been able to say hello before we’d hit the road, and I hadn’t had a minute alone with her since.

She sat down on the back porch steps as Etta chased Koda across the grass, and I smiled at the picture she made. The back porch light was glinting off her blond hair but her face was in shadow, making her look like some sort of phantom.

“You look exhausted,” I said, stretching my arms above my head. “I’m going to go open up the house.”

As soon as she nodded, I hurried back around front and started carrying all of our bags onto the front porch. I only had the one suitcase, but Etta and Morgan had three, and they were big. I hoped that meant Morgan was planning on staying awhile, but I hadn’t asked her when I’d seen them in her car earlier. Part of me wanted to just get it out in the open and tell her that I wanted her to stay indefinitely, but the other part, the smarter part, knew that if I pushed her, she’d push back. I was picking my battles.

“They slowing down yet?” I asked, poking my head out the back door a few minutes later.

“You just scared the crap out of me!” Morgan hissed, laughing breathlessly. “Good grief, it’s dark out here in the boonies.”

“You’ve got the porch light,” I pointed out, teasing her a little.

“A single lightbulb isn’t exactly the same as streetlights every thirty feet,” she argued, walking into the yard. She picked up Koda and grabbed Etta’s hand, helping her walk up the stairs. “It’s franking quiet out here.”

“Oh, are we back to franking?”

“I’m trying, all right?” she said, shaking her head a little as she handed me the pup. “Sometimes the other ones slip out. It’s my dad’s influence.”

“I’ll have a talk with Stan.”

“Oh.” She laughed, ushering Etta into the house. “Please do. Let me watch.”

As soon as I’d shut the door behind them, I turned to see Etta’s face scrunched up in the cutest scowl I’d ever seen in my life.

“Me not tired,” she said conversationally.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.

“Me awake and me happy.” She grinned huge, showing off her mouthful of baby teeth.

“Is that right?” Morgan asked, tilting her head to the side in amusement.

“That right,” Etta replied, wrinkling her nose.

“Mama’s tired.”

Etta shrugged and looked at me.

“Uncle Trev’s tired, too,” I told her with a nod.

“Koda not tired.”

I coughed to cover the laugh that I couldn’t hold back. The puppy was already completely limp and snoring in my arms.

“M-O-V-I-E?” I asked Morgan out of the side of my mouth.

She nodded and followed me into the living room, where I was glad to see that Ani really had cleaned up. If I wasn’t mistaken, she’d even polished the coffee table.

“Trevor,” Morgan said, stopping short of the couch as she stared at the suitcases right inside the door. “You didn’t have to bring those in.”

“It took two seconds,” I replied with a shrug. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I was treating Stan’s words like gospel. Surprisingly, it felt really good to step in and help when the other person didn’t expect it. At some point Morgan was going to notice what I was doing, and I was sure she’d have plenty to say about it. Until that time came, I was just going to keep doing stuff for her whenever I saw an opportunity.

I sat down on the couch with Koda while Morgan changed Etta into a fresh diaper and some pajamas. A few minutes later, we were lined up on the couch with a princess movie on the TV, and Etta was scooting closer and closer into my side. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to get closer to me or to the puppy in my lap. Leaning back a little, I lifted my arm above her and laid it across the back of the couch so I could run my fingers over the back of Morgan’s neck.