Come Back for Me (Arrowood Brothers #1)(65)

“Connor, Connor! Look, they have a huge pumpkin!” She points at what has to be the biggest thing I’ve ever seen. “Can we get it?”

“I’m strong, but I’m not that strong.”

Ellie snorts beside me. “Hadley, we can’t fit it in the car.”

Hadley’s eyes find another that is only marginally smaller than the other one. “Can we get a big one like this?”

“Did you bring the tractor?” I ask.

“Does it work?” Ellie says with a snort.

My eyes narrow. “Not yet. It apparently needs another part.”

Hadley grabs my hand and pulls me closer to it. “Then we can’t bring it because it is still broken.”

How does a seven-year-old master this level of sarcasm already?

“And we can’t get a pumpkin the size of the car.”

Hadley gives a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Can we get a pony?”

“Uhh,” I say, not understanding how we went from a pumpkin to a pony.

Ellie stands there with a grin as though this is the funniest thing, and an expression that says I can’t wait to see how Connor will handle the question. “I can’t promise that, Squirt. I can barely manage the cows.”

She looks off to the side, seeming to ponder that. “Okay.”

That was easy.

“Maybe soon,” she adds before taking my hand, stopping me from saying anything more. “Let’s go look at the pumpkins—you know, the ones that Connor can lift without a crane.”

We walk over to where there is a row of pumpkins, and she studies each one intently.

“Can you lift this one?” Hadley asks as she picks up one that’s the size of her hand.

I give her a pointed stare, and she giggles. “You’re just messing with me.”

“I think you could lift all the pumpkins.”

“You must really think I’m strong.”

She nods. “You have big muscles, doesn’t he, Mommy?”

I look to Ellie with a sly grin. “Yeah, Mommy, do I have big muscles?”

“You have a big ego.”

Hadley scratches her head. “What’s an ego?”

Ellie sighs. “It’s what you think about yourself. And it seems Connor thinks he’s super strong and handsome.”

“He is handsome. You told Sydney you thought he was,” Hadley informs us.

Ellie’s lips part, and I can’t avoid teasing her a bit. It’s way too fun. “You did, huh?”

“I might have mentioned it—once.”

Hadley puts her pumpkin down and comes over to take both our hands in hers. “I think you’re handsome.”

“Well thank you, Squirt,” I say as I squeeze her hand. “I think your mommy is very pretty.”

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

“I think you’re beautiful,” I tell her. “The most beautiful girl in all of the world.”

Hadley beams under my praise and then releases Ellie’s hand. Her arms wrap around my legs and she holds on tight. She gives the best hugs. They come from the center of her body, and it’s like tentacles wrapping around you.

“You don’t have to get me a pony, Connor.”

I laugh because her mind just bounces on a whim. “That’s good.”

“I’ll take a puppy instead.”

Ellie snorts. “Let’s start with a pumpkin and go from there.”





Chapter Thirty


Connor





Today was perfect. Everything went even better than I could’ve planned. Hadley had fun, we got a ton of apples, pumpkins, and some weird-looking things that Ellie called gourds.

Ellie is currently putting away the apples, and Hadley is waiting to head out to the tree house. Not only did we get pumpkins for the house but we also got them for the tree house because she explained that all places need decorations.

I may turn one of the cow pastures into a pumpkin patch to keep this kid happy.

“You ready?” Ellie asks as she comes out with the two pumpkins and a tablecloth.

“What’s that for?”

“Curtains.”

“Curtains?”

“Hadley needs to make the place a little homier, and curtains make a house a home.”

I never knew they were so important. I look back at the house, which is curtain-less. I think my father was drunk once and ripped all the curtain rods out of the walls. Not that I think curtains would’ve made this house a home. The only thing that did that was my father dying and no longer being here.

“I think the people inside it do that,” I tell her as I pull her to my chest. “You made this house a home.”

Ellie smiles softly and gives me a quick kiss. “I think we should tell her now.”

“Now?”

My heart begins to race and nerves hit me. I’m not a guy who feels fear. After my time in the military, I learned to breathe through it and not allow it in. In this moment, I can’t stop it. Once we tell Hadley, her world will change. Mine has already been tilted on its axis, but I’m an adult. She’s a child, and I worry about how she’ll handle the news.

“The longer we wait, the more I feel like we’re taking this from her. She should know that her father cared enough about her to give her a day like this. I want to give her this—you as her father.”