The Lemon Sisters (Wildstone #3)(34)

She managed to nod in agreement. Correct.

He nodded, too, then let out a rough breath before rising from the hot tub in one easy, graceful movement. “I think the best thing to do here is to say good night.” And then he walked away, no towel, water pooling in his footsteps.

Brooke let out a careful breath before getting out herself, wrapping herself in both of the towels hanging off hooks on the deck before heading across the yard to Mindy’s house.

Brittney was on the living room couch watching TV. She did a double take at Brooke dripping water all over the floor, but just said, “The kids are asleep.”

“Thanks. I’ve got it from here.”

Brittney handed her the kid monitor and left. And even though not a soul was stirring, not even a mouse, Brooke quickly stripped out of her wet things and put on sweats, and then went to check on the kids anyway.

She found Maddox awake in his bed, studying the ceiling. He looked over at her and smiled, and her heart melted. She stroked the hair from his forehead and whispered confidentially, “The next time I open up to someone will be at my autopsy.”

He softly barked his agreement.





Chapter 8


Dr. Linc wakes up.

Brooke woke to small, warm hands patting her cheeks. If the slightly sticky feel to them didn’t fill her in on her visitor’s identity, the sweet baby breath in her face did. “Maddox, my little man,” she murmured, and opened her eyes.

He grinned at her, and a line of drool slid out of his mouth and onto her arm. Poor guy was teething. “Your gums hurt?” she asked.

He climbed onto the couch with her and rubbed his jaw to hers. That’s when she realized it was morning, and she sat straight up with gasp. She’d only just managed to fall asleep sometime around four. “Are we late for camp?”

Maddox shrugged.

She glanced at the time—okay, they were good—kissed Maddox, and set him down so she could get up. He waddled off into the kitchen, and she sucked in a deep breath and took stock. She had a kink in her neck and a cramp in her ass. She staggered to the bathroom and found Princess Millie sitting on the throne reading Dr. Seuss, her cute little Wonder Woman pajama bottoms around her swinging ankles.

“‘One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish,’” she read, and smiled up at Brooke. “This book counts in fours!”

“It’s a great book.”

Millie nodded. “Adam at school says I’m a weirdo cuz I count in my head. And because when it’s my turn to turn off the lights, I like to do it four times.”

“You’re not a weirdo,” Brooke said fiercely, wanting to go have a little chat with this punk Adam. “Different is not weird.”

“I know that, Auntie Brooke.”

“Oh.” Some of Brooke’s ruffled feathers smoothed out at her niece’s easy acceptance of herself. “Okay, then. So why aren’t you using your bathroom upstairs?”

“Because Mason left the lid up and didn’t flush, and now the bathroom’s stinky. Why are boys so stinky?”

“One of life’s little mysteries.”

“If Mom was here, he’d be in trouble for the lid-up thing. She doesn’t like it when she has to go in the middle of the night and she falls in.”

“No one does.” Brooke looked in the mirror and grimaced at her pale, exhausted reflection. “You know what? How about we skip camp today and take a field trip instead?”

“Yay, a field trip!” Millie paused. “What’s a field trip?”

Thirty minutes later, Brooke had managed to shower and round up the kids in the kitchen. Brittney had shown up and was at the stove, calmly making breakfast. Millie was watching, dressed in jeans and her favorite Wonder Woman tee. Mason was on the floor in the laundry room, going through the basket of clean clothes that Brooke hadn’t folded yet. He was doing that with one hand, his other shoved into a box of Cheerios. He found his favorite pj’s—a one-piece pink T-rex number—and began to tug it on. Having learned to pick her battles, Brooke let it happen. Plus, she had bigger problems.

Maddox was naked and zooming around, barking like a crazy Chihuahua. He accidentally kicked over Mason’s box of cereal, which of course scattered the Cheerios from here to China. She reached for the hand vacuum attached to the pantry wall, turning it on just as Brittney said, “Watch out, Mason’s terrified of that thing.”

And sure enough, Mason leapt to his feet. Gaze glued to the vacuum, the whites of his eyes showing, he squeezed in between Brooke and the vacuum in a protective stance against the beast, every limb trembling as he held off the evil monster.

Heart. Melted. “Oh, baby.” Brooke picked Mason up and hugged him. “You’re my hero.”

Brittney pulled out a broom to sweep up the Cheerios.

“Best nanny on the planet,” Brooke said to Mason.

“Oh, I know,” Brittney said, not at all flustered by the chaos. “I’m pretty great.”

“Brittney’s girlfriend loves Brittney, too,” Millie said.

Brittney smiled in agreement at the little girl. “She does.”

Brooke kissed Mason and set him back down. She looked for peanut butter to spread on the pancakes Brittney had made. “I hope your girlfriend knows how lucky she is to have you,” she said, struggling to get the jar open.