The Lemon Sisters (Wildstone #3)(40)

Progress.

She got home to a quiet house and took a long shower, thinking, damn, she was proud of herself.

Linc and the kids came home a bit later. No Garrett.

“He’s taking his team home,” Linc said. “He’ll feed them first, since most of them are without any adult supervision or authority figures.”

Brooke tried to not let that into her heart and failed. Of course Garrett would take care of kids who had no one. Because he’d once been that kid himself.

“It’s bedtime,” Linc said. “Right?”

“Right,” Brooke said. “And you’re up at bat.”

He nodded. “Sure,” he said, but didn’t move.

“Are you kidding?” she asked. “You don’t know what to do?”

He sighed. “Okay, I get it. I’m an asshole. But I know there’s a binder around here somewhere. Maybe you could get me the notes.”

“No,” she said. “Pretend I’m not here. Consider it practice.”

She stayed downstairs with a glass of wine—a big one. It wasn’t quiet, but Linc did the job, running the kids through a bath assembly line, getting them into pj’s with minimal meltdowns, supervising their teeth brushing, and tucking them into bed with somewhat decent efficiency. Which she knew because she tiptoed upstairs and snuck a peek. The house looked like a tornado had hit, but everyone was in their beds.

“Impressive,” she said a few minutes later when she met him in the kitchen. He was looking like he’d been through a car wash. Without a car.

“I bribed them,” he said. “With another trip to the park, God help me.”

She laughed.

Not Linc. He stumbled into the laundry room, stripping off his shirt as he went. Balling it up, he lifted the washing machine lid and tossed it in. Then he stared at the digital display.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to use a washing machine,” Brooke said.

“Okay, I won’t tell you.” He touched the display and it lit up like the Fourth of July. “Want to know the things a guy doesn’t know he’s bad at until he’s married? Making the bed, laundry, being correct, and breathing.”

“If you think I’m going to feel sorry for you—”

“No. I needed my ass kicked, especially if it’s like this every night.” He shuddered. “Holy shit.”

“It’s usually worse.”

He looked sick. “I really fucked up.”

“Yeah.” She clapped him on the shoulder. “But you’re going to fix it.”

He slid her a look. “You think I can?”

“Let’s put it this way—if you don’t, I’m going to kill you, so it doesn’t matter.”

He nodded grimly. “And I’ll deserve it.”

Dammit, it was no fun to kick a man when he was down. “I’m sorry it was so horrible today,” she said.

“It wasn’t horrible. Not even close.” He gave what looked like a reluctant smile, flashing a sexy dimple that told her Maddox was going to kill it in the charm department someday. “You were right. I’ve been missing a lot.”

“Yes,” she said. And because he was actually going to try, she pointed out the right settings on the washer.

“Thanks.” They moved back to the living room. Linc headed straight to the couch and collapsed into it, looking a little shell-shocked. “So how did you potty train Maddox? We’ve been after him for a while now.”

“‘We’?” she asked.

“Fine. Mindy. Mindy’s been trying to potty train him for a while.”

She shrugged. “I mentioned a few times how going without a diaper would make him a little man instead of a baby. And then the other day, he did his thing right before camp and brought me a diaper to change him. I told him he was going to have to wait a few minutes because I was helping Mason build a fort, and that only potty-trained kiddos could get inside it.”

Linc stared at her. “You’re a little scary.”

“And smart.”

“And smart,” he agreed. “Smarter than Mindy and I put together. And we’ve got three degrees between the two of us.”

Feeling a little sorry for him—a very little—she poured him a glass of wine, handed it over, and laughed as he gulped it like it was her lemonade.

“Did you know that Maddox could talk?” he asked after a few moments of blessed silence.

“I just learned that today, in fact.”

He shook his head. “I thought we were still in the barking stage.”

“What did he say?”

“He told a lady in the park with two infant twins that she had nice puppies. Right after that, Millie kicked sand on a kid twice her size for making fun of Mason for wearing a girl’s dinosaur costume. The kid’s mother wanted me to make her apologize.”

“Did you?”

“Hell no. I told her my kid would apologize right after hers did the same for being a little asshole.”

Brooke grinned. “You’ve got really great kids, you know.”

“I know.” He sighed and closed his eyes, head back. “We went to McDonald’s on the way home. Even though Millie told me that Maddox always throws up McDonald’s. And guess what? Maddox threw up his McDonald’s. In my Mercedes. Everywhere.”