Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(6)

Satisfied I wasn’t the object of her anger, I rolled back to the table and returned to eating. When Reese appeared a few minutes later, she looked refreshed, as if her rant had actually helped.

Her smile was a lot happier when she grabbed her book bag off the floor and pulled it into her lap as she sat back down.

“Sorry about that. Eva’s letting me go to her next doctor’s appointment. They’re going to take another picture of the baby. I’ll sneak one away from her so I can show you. Anyway, where were we? Oh right. Since I got a new laptop, I don’t need my old one now, so I was wondering if you might want it.”

She yanked her old one from the depths of her bag with a flourish. I gaped at the magenta-covered computer as she sat it on the table and flipped up the lid. “I even changed the screen saver to a picture of you and Mason. What do you think?”

I thought I loved this woman!

“Are you sure?” I asked, itching to grab it and clutch it to my chest.

She laughed. “Of course. Lookie. I have the app for Facebook right here so you and I can message, like, all the time. And this icon is for the fashion design site that we like to visit.” As she showed me more features, tears prickled my eyes.

A few months ago, no one had topped my brother Mason in my book. But Reese was beginning to take his place. If he ever did anything to lose her, I might have to disown him.

Just as I brushed the moisture away so Reese wouldn’t notice my emotions, the back door opened and what do you know, Mason stepped into the kitchen.

“Hey, you.” Immediately lighting with pleasure, Reese hurried to him for a big hug. “What’re you doing here? I thought you had to work this evening.”

“I did, but Noel’s been begging for more hours lately. I let him take my shift so I could come watch one of Sarah’s sessions.”

“Oh, shoot. You missed it. Dr. Besby just left. But Sarah’s doing great. You should see her bicycle her legs. They hardly wobbled at all today.”

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she rested her cheek on Mason’s chest as she grinned my way. “He thinks someday she’ll be able to take a few steps at a time without any kind of help at all.”

“Really?” Mason’s eyebrows lifted with surprise as he kissed Reese’s hair. “That’s amazing. And I see you’ve already given her the laptop too. I missed everything.”

“You can still have some ice cream with us.” Reese batted her lashes temptingly right before she pressed her lips to his jaw.

He chuckled and smoothed a hand down her back. “Eat ice cream with my two favorite girls? How could I resist?”

So Mason pulled out the chair between me and Reese, and the three of us sat together.

I lived for moments like these. Nothing beat family time with Mason and Reese.

As my brother and I snarfed down our Neapolitan, Reese asked, “So how is everything with Noel going? If he’s asking for more hours at work, I guess that means Aspen hasn’t found another job yet, huh?”

“Nope.” Mason licked the last of his ice cream off his spoon. “She hasn’t. But Noel moved his brothers and sister into her place, so now they don’t have to worry about double rent each month.”

“Oh, wow. Noel and all three of his siblings moved in with Aspen? That’s moving their relationship along kind of fast, isn’t it? I hope everything goes okay.”

“Yeah, but they seem pretty resolved to the task of taking care of his younger siblings.” Mason glanced my way and murmured, “Gotta admire the guy for that.”

Reese suddenly brightened. “Oh, that reminds me! Sarah...” She turned to me, her blue eyes twinkling with excitement. “Noel brought his family over this past Saturday, and Aspen told me one of Noel’s younger brothers is your age. They just enrolled him and he’ll be starting at the middle school with you next week.”

I furrowed my brow, wondering why someone had transferred schools when there was literally like only one week left of classes. Hmm. Strange. They must’ve had to move in a hurry if they couldn’t have even waited a few more days.

“I can’t remember if it was Brandt or Colton who was your age,” Reese was saying. “You know, you should say hi to him on his first day. He doesn’t know anyone in town. He’d probably appreciate the welcome.”

“What?!” I gaped at her as if she were insane, because she was insane for even suggesting such a thing. “No way.”

I couldn’t get girls my own age to talk to me. No way was a boy going to give me the time of day. Besides, looking at cute boys lately made me feel all flushed and warm in my belly. It was strange and uncomfortable and no way would I be able to approach Colton, or Brandt, or whatever his name was if he was even remotely cute.

Mason chuckled at my reaction and ruffled my hair. “That’s it, kiddo. You stay away from boys altogether. I don’t want to have to threaten anyone to treat you right for at least ten more years.”

I almost snorted. It was very unlikely that any boy, ever, was going to show any kind of interest in me to even prompt half a threatening from my big brother. But it was sweet that he thought so. Made me love Mason even more.

I was still curious about this Colton-Brandt character, though. So after Reese and Mason left and Mom came home to feed me supper, through a straw, I retreated to my room with my new computer and opened it on my lap before clicking on the Facebook app.