by Liv Brywood
“You’re the only man I’ve ever been with.”
“I know.” He grinned.
She couldn’t help but laugh. She rested her head on his chest.
“I don’t want you to go,” she said.
“I left Mason at Carl’s house. I don’t have to go.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” He swallowed. “It’s hard to let go of what happened.”
“You have to. You have to move on. I need you. Mason needs you.”
“I know.” He stroked her back. “I’m so far from perfect.”
“I don’t need perfect. No one is perfect. But you’re all I’ve ever wanted. You killed a part of me when you left. I want that part back. Stay.”
“I’ll stay.”
She wasn’t sure if he was just talking about staying for the night or staying forever. She wanted forever, but he had to want it too. She wasn’t going to beg him to stay. He’d have to make that decision on his own. She wanted him to stay, but she knew from experience that sometimes the thing you want the most is the one thing you can’t have.
14
Dusty dashed back and forth between the stove and the kitchen counter. Bacon sizzled in an iron skillet while he worked on mixing pancake batter. Although Dusty wasn’t completely sure that he was following the recipe correctly, he was giving it his best shot. Mason watched in amusement or amazement. Dusty wasn’t sure which, but he’d take either option right now.
The bacon popped, splashing grease on Dusty’s arm.
“Shi—oot.” He quickly stopped himself.
“That almost cost you a dollar,” Mason said.
“Why do I have to pay a dollar to the swear jar, but you only have to pay a penny?”
“Because you have a better job than me.”
“What’s your job?” Dusty asked with a grin.
“Supervising you.”
Dusty laughed as he used tongs to move perfectly crisp slices of bacon from the pan to a paper towel-covered plate.
He ran back to a bowl of pancake mix which he’d been stirring with a whisk earlier. He thought he had all the ingredients in it already, but he needed to double check.
He walked to where his cell phone sat out of the spray zone. The screen saver was on, so he couldn’t see the recipe. Since his hands were covered with grease and flour, he had no way to touch the screen except with his nose. This led to a great deal of amusement for Mason and a great deal of frustration for Dusty.
He scowled at his screen. His batter didn’t have the little air bubbles like the batter from the picture. It wasn’t the same color either. Something wasn’t right.
“Why doesn’t mine look like that?”
“Are you sure you don’t want any help?” Mason grinned. “I used to make pancakes with Mom all the time.”
“No, I’m fine. I’ve got this.” Dusty ignored the twinge of pain he felt when he thought about his sister. He wished he’d called her. He should have spent more time with her. They only way he could make it up to her now, was to take care of her son.
The coffeemaker chimed in that it needed more water.
“Shi—ester.” Dusty turned his gaze from the smoking bacon pan, to batter, to coffeemaker.
“Get the bacon pan before it catches on fire.” Mason got out of his seat and moved toward the coffeemaker. “I’ll handle the coffee. It looks like you’re going to need it.”
“Thanks.”
Dusty managed to remove the bacon pan before the grease could catch fire. As a reward, he snatched a piece of bacon from the pile. It was still hot enough to burn his fingers. Without thinking, he popped it into his mouth. He opened his mouth and blew out the steam. It wasn’t enough. It was still way too hot, so he ran to the sink and spit it out.
“Wow, that’s hot.”
“You’re supposed to wait five minutes.” Mason smirked.
“I’m definitely waiting five minutes, starting now.” He set the timer on the stove. “You can have some after the timer goes off.”
“Okay.”
Dusty poured the pancake batter into a glass measuring cup. He poured some into the skillet. He watched intently as little bubbles formed at the top.
“How will you know when it’s done?” Mason glanced up from where he was adding water to the coffeemaker.
“According to the recipe, there will be a signal that it’s fully cooked on one side. I’m just waiting for that signal.”
“A signal? Like an alarm?” Mason cocked his head to one side and looked at the pancake on the griddle.
“Just, you know, just… a signal.”
Dusty wiped his hands on a kitchen town. He grabbed his phone and swiped through pictures from people who’d tried the recipe. None of the pancakes looked exactly like his, but it was probably close enough. As long as it was edible, he could cover it in syrup and Mason wouldn’t care.
Dusty turned his attention back to the skillet.
So far, so good. The pancake seemed to be behaving exactly the way the recipe had said it would. When it was mostly covered with the bubbles, he jabbed the spatula beneath the pancake and pried it from the skillet. He flipped the pancake and smiled when he saw the golden-brown texture on the cooked side.
“You almost look like you know what you’re doing.” Mason finished filling the coffeemaker with tap water. He punched a button and it began its cycle.
“Almost?” Dusty smiled before flipping the pancake from the griddle to a plate. “How about that?”
“Breakfast and a show.” Mason sat down in his seat and smirked at Dusty. “Not a good, show, but...”
“I see that you’re not impressed.” Dusty poured two pancakes onto the griddle. After the telltale bubbles appeared, he grabbed a second spatula and shoved both spatulas beneath the pancaked. “Watch as I do two at once.”
He’d never tried flipping two pancakes at once, but he figured it wouldn’t be that hard. He gave his wrist a quick jerk and sent the pancakes into a twisting arc. One of the flying pancakes landed on the griddle. The other continued to spin in the air until it lost momentum and splattered onto the floor.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, for his next trick, he’ll attempt to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but it will be a gerbil instead,” Mason said in an announcer’s tone.
“You’re a barrel of laughs.”
“I’m not the one cooking.”
“That’s right. You’d better respect the chef!” Dusty tried to pat Mason on the head, but Mason ducked of the way.
“Ew, gross.” Mason put a protective hand over his head. “Don’t touch me with your yucky kitchen hands, dude.”
Dusty cocked his head to the side.
“Kitchen hands? Is that even a thing?”
“It’s a thing, and you have them, and don’t get that crap in my hair.”
Dusty chuckled and turned to add more batter to the grill.
“Okay, fair enough. Guess you’re pretty protective of your hairdo, huh?”
“How else am I gonna get the chicks?” Mason spread his hands wide, his face the picture of innocence. Mason couldn’t help but laugh.
“The ‘chicks?’”
“Yeah, the chicks. The girls. The hotties. The tail.”
“Whoa, slow down. Tail?” Dusty held up his hand to stop him. “Who taught you that? It sure as hell wasn’t me.”
“I dunno.”
“First of all, women really don’t like it when you talk about them like that. They especially don’t like being called things like ‘chicks’ or ‘hotties.’”
“But it’s all over Instagram.” Mason held up his phone, which displayed an image of a busty young woman in a skimpy bikini. “See? It says hashtag ‘hottie.’”
Dusty squinted at the picture and grinned ruefully.
“I don’t think that’s the kind of woman you should be interested in. She’s probably full of herself.”
“I know what I’d like her to be full of.” Mason winked.
>
Dusty sighed. Kids grew up so damn fast these days. But at least Mason was willing to talk to him about girls. That would come in handy when they had to have the big talk. Well, shit. They had to have the other big talk too, the one about being a shifter.
“You need to be respectful when you talk about women.” Dusty flipped a pancake, this time without theatrics. “If you’re respectful, they will enjoy being friends with you, and then one day when you’re really, really old, you might even get a girlfriend.”
“Oh.” Mason tapped his finger on his chin. He looked up at Dusty. “Does that mean you respect Laurie?”
“Of course I do.” Dusty frowned at the odd question. “I respect the heck out of Laurie.”
“So… you don’t think she’s hot?”
“What? Yeah, she’s—” Dusty stopped talking as a smug grin spread across Mason’s face. “Just because I think she’s beautiful doesn’t mean I don’t respect her. Don’t get it all twisted up in your head.”
“I’m just trying to understand this whole #hot thing. If I call a girl a hottie, it doesn’t mean I don’t respect them, right?”
“Um…” Dusty tried to unpack all the double negatives in that last sentence.
Mason looked at him expectantly. The neutral expression on his face was completely contradicted by the mischief in his eyes.
“Well…” The doorbell rang. Dusty perked up. He quickly turned about and busied himself with making more pancakes. “Can you get that?”
“Sure.” Mason leaped up from his seat and dashed over to the front door. He pulled it open. “Oh, hey. Dusty was just telling me about how you’re a hottie.”
“He was?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Dusty yelled from the kitchen.
Laurie laughed. She ruffled Mason’s hair as she walked in the door. Her nose twitched, and then a smile spread across her face. “It smells wonderful in here.”
“It should.” Dusty turned around. He held a stack of steaming pancakes on a platter. “Gordon Ramsey, eat your heart out.”
Mason rolled his eyes, but Laurie chuckled.
“Gordon Ramsey would scoff at your plain, milquetoast pancakes,” the boy asserted.
“Plain?” Dusty turned a comical frown on Mason.
“Milquetoast?” Laurie laughed. “Where did you even learn that word?”
Mason shrugged.
“I surf the net. And Gordon Ramsey would put some pecans or blueberries or something in the mix instead of plain-ass pancakes.”
“Mason, Dusty is working very hard right now.” Laurie’s tone was full of admonishment, but a lovely smile still stretched her face. “Don’t hurt his feelings.”
“And don’t say ass,” Dusty and Laurie said in unison, which made all three laugh.
“You owe a penny to the swear jar. Also, it’s fine if you don’t want to eat any of these.” Dusty shrugged as if it were no big deal. “More for us.”
“What? I want them!” Mason jumped into his seat at the kitchen table. He grabbed his fork and knife and sat at attention. “Bring on the pancakes!”
Dusty pretended that he was going to dump the fluffy pancakes into the trash.
“Wait! What are you doing?” Mason quickly set down the silverware. His eyes went wide. “I want them. I definitely want them.”
Grinning, Dusty served up him pancakes and bacon. Laurie sat next to Mason. After Dusty had served her, he settled into the seat next to her. He cocked an eyebrow at Mason who was in the process of drenching his entire breakfast in maple syrup.
“Syrup on bacon?” Dusty asked.
Mason grinned at him. Wet pancake dribbled from the corners of his mouth. Dusty laughed and grasped Lauri’s hand. She gave it a quick squeeze.
Mason stared intently at their clasped hands. He finished chewing, took a long swig of chocolate milk, and then deliberately wiped off the resulting brown mustache before speaking.
“Do you think if you and Dusty got married he could stay in town?”
Dusty spat out a mouthful of pancake, which fortunately wound up on his plate. Laurie coughed and sputtered as she choked on her coffee.
“Mason!” Dusty arched a brow.
“What?” Mason spread his palms out. “I’m just saying! I mean, it would be really weird if my teacher was my mom, but at least I could stay here and not move to Nebraska.”
As Laurie and Dusty turned toward each other, Mason took his plate in his hands and dashed upstairs.
“I’ll leave so the adults can talk,” he called from the stairwell.
Dusty chewed on his lip. He had no idea what to say.
“I’m sorry.” Dusty shook his head and laughed nervously. “Kids! I don’t know if I’m ready for a teenager.”
“Well...” Laurie gave his hand another soft squeeze. “Maybe Mason is right.”
“What?” Dusty’s heart skipped a beat. Suddenly his mouth went dry. Marry Laurie?
Inside, his bear pranced and leaped about with joy.
“Of course we should marry her. She’s our mate.”
“It does seem like it’s meant to be...”
“So ask her to marry us already. Ask her now.”
“I can’t just ask her something like that out of nowhere.”
“Ask her or I’ll make you hurt.”
“I can’t do that. I mean, I don’t even have a ring.”
“Then you better get one.”
The bear raked his claws against Dusty’s guts, not hard enough to hurt, but with enough force to let the man know he wasn’t playing around.
Dusty looked up at Laurie and smiled sheepishly.
“I…” He cleared his throat. “I’d go down on one knee and ask you to marry me, but... I don’t have a ring.”
Laurie’s jaw dropped.
“A ring?”
“Man, I’m really messing this up. I should be down on one knee and stuff.” He slid off his chair and got into the proper position.
At first Dusty thought he’d gone too far. Then, her mouth closed, and a sweet smile spread across her face. Her eyes were shining when she spoke.
“You don’t need a ring.”
“I don’t?” His heart dropped. “I just thought—”
Laurie stood and wiped her mouth. “Take me to the jewelry store.”
“What? Now?”
“They should be open by now. It’s after nine.”
“You want me to take you to get a ring?”
“He’s really dumb sometimes,” Mason yelled from the landing at the top of the stairs.
Dusty rubbed the back of his head.
“What’s wrong with now? Haven’t you made me wait long enough?” Laurie’s eyes narrowed, and she put her hands on her hips.
She maintained the stern posture for a long moment, and then her belly shook with unrestrained laughter. Soon Dusty gave into the absurdity of the moment and he laughed right along with her.
“If that’s what you really want, then there’s nothing wrong with doing it now,” he said.
“I want it if you want it.”
“I do.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s my line.”
“Don’t we both say it?” he asked.
“Yes.” She laughed. “Now let’s go before one of us changes our minds.”
“It won’t be me.” He grabbed her hand. “We’ll be back soon.”
“Yeah, yeah. So gross,” Mason muttered.
Hand in hand, they walked outside. Sunlight streamed through the trees. The day couldn’t have been any more perfect. It felt so good to be able to hold Laurie’s hand. This wasn’t exactly the way he’d pictured a proposal, but shit, nothing in his life had ever worked out the way he thought it would. But this time, he had a feeling things would work out perfectly.
Gravel crunched under their feet as they walked down the driveway. He tried to lead her past his car onto the road, but Laurie stopped by his car.
“Will you drive me into town?” She looked at him expectantly.
&nb
sp; “Drive you?” He glanced at the car. “Are you sure? I mean, you’d really be okay with riding in the car with me?”
“I’m sure.” Laurie smiled. “I trust you.”
“Of course I’ll drive you to town.” Dusty ran around and opened the car door for her. “I’d be honored.”
After she was settled, he closed the door. By the time he’d reached the other side, she had her seatbelt on, and she was tapping her fingers against her thigh.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. Her body language was definitely a bit stiff, but she still managed to smile at him.
“Yes.” Laurie patted his hand. “Or at least, I will be okay. Just take it slow, all right?”
“Baby, you know I always take it nice and slow.” He gave her a smile full of adolescent lust. Laurie laughed and rolled her eyes.
“Have you been taking advice from Mason on how to talk to girls?”
“What? No. I told him… I mean, I made it clear that he’s supposed to respect women.”
“I’m sure you did.” Laurie arched both her eyebrows. “And how did that go?”
“I, well, pretty good, I guess. I mean, I told him not to call them ‘chicks’ or ‘hotties.’”
“So you’re not going to call me a hottie?” Laurie held his gaze. She had the most serious look he’d ever seen on her face. She suddenly started laughing.
“Is it too late to take back this proposal thing?” He asked as he let out a huge breath of relief.
“Yes, it’s much too late. You’re buying the cow, buddy.”
Dusty leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“I’d say I’m buying the bear, actually.”
“I hope our marriage isn’t going to be full of bad puns. Just because you’re raising Mason doesn’t mean you get to tell dad jokes.”
“Dad jokes?” Dusty laughed, then gave her a meaningful grin. “Are you saying you want me to be a dad?”
“Put the car in drive and your hormones in neutral. You’re cut off until the wedding.”
“Cut off?” Dusty’s jaw gaped open. He stared at her in shock. “We’d better be getting married today because I can’t wait any longer.”
“Jewelry store—now—before you say something that makes me change my mind.”
“Cut off?” Dusty shook his head as turned on the car. He gave her a mock look of disapproval, but he couldn’t hold it. Her smile was infectious. They both enjoyed a good laugh before kissing.
