by Erin Wright
“Of course,” Juan said with a little duh in his voice.
“But you speak English, too.”
“Yeah…” he said, his eyebrows creasing, obviously trying to figure out where Adam was going with this.
“Just because you speak Spanish doesn’t mean you can’t speak English, right? And the other way around. As soon as you speak English, your Spanish doesn’t just magically disappear. You have them both in your brain. Well, it’s the same with your culture – you can be white and Mexican. You can choose the parts you like, and ignore the rest. Anyone who says you have to choose one or the other just isn’t lucky like you are. Just because they’ve chosen one or the other doesn’t mean you have to.”
“Thanks, Dr. Whitaker!” Juan said, his face lighting up with understanding. “I’ll…I’ll tell my friend that.”
“Of course.” Adam stood, brushing the dirt off his knees studiously, struggling to hide his smile.
“What are you going to tell your friend?” Wyatt asked, walking up.
Dammit. Adam hadn’t heard him come in. Juan’s eyes shot to Adam, pleading for him to keep his secret.
“I was just asking Juan here if he’d be willing to be my assistant at the therapy camp,” Adam said smoothly. “He’s been with me almost from the beginning and he knows every horse I’ve got and how to take care of them. I’d love to have another set of hands on deck. I was thinking…five dollars per class?”
“Five dollars!” Juan repeated, his eyes round as saucers. He spun on his heel. “Can I, Dad? Please?”
“We’ll have to ask your mom, but I don’t see why not,” Wyatt said, patting his son on the back with pride. “I’m sure glad to hear that you’re doing so well at camp.”
Juan shot his father a huge grin. “It’s easy,” he told him. “I don’t know why people are scared of horses. Just move slowly, don’t stand in their blind spots, and don’t scream in their ear.”
Adam let out a roar of laughter. “Someone’s been listening to my lessons,” he said approvingly. He turned back towards Wyatt. “Maggie Mae is looking great. I think she’s good to go.”
Wyatt shook Adam’s hand, gripping his shoulder for a moment. “Thanks,” he said softly, just loud enough for Adam to hear. “For everything.”
Adam paused, searching his friend’s eyes. Had Wyatt heard what he and Juan were talking about? He couldn’t break Juan’s confidences, but he hoped Juan would choose to talk to his parents about this soon. Things were only going to get worse the older Juan got.
Finally, Adam nodded slowly and said, “Anytime,” just as softly. He turned to Juan. “Therapy camp starts up again on Monday. Come ready to work, okay?”
“Okay!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Thanks, Dr. Whitaker.”
“You bet.” He did a fist bump with Juan, and then headed out for the Cowell’s. The unexpected stop may’ve put him off his schedule, but it’d been worth it anyway. What Abby and Wyatt were trying to do for the foster children of the world was downright admirable, but that didn’t mean that it was easy.
As he drove to the Cowell’s, his mind skipped back to his childhood. His mom had loved South Pacific and Adam had been forced to watch it dozens of times growing up. The lyrics echoed in his mind…
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You’ve got to be carefully taught
How was it that a movie made so long ago, before color TV was even invented, was still so applicable today? Depressing, that’s what that was. Would humanity ever learn? He wasn’t sure, and wasn’t that just an awful thought.
That evening, he arrived at his mom’s house even later than normal. He dragged himself out of his truck and up to the front door, trying to stifle a yawn behind his hand as he went. Chasing cows, horses stepping on him, arguing with sheep…his discussion with Juan had ended up being the highlight of his day, and that was really saying something, considering that he still didn’t know if he’d said the right thing or not.
Hell, was there a “right thing” in that situation? Who knew.
“Hi, Adam,” his mom said, cutting into his thoughts. “Rough day at work?” she asked just as he let out another yawn.
He laughed a little. “That obvious, huh?” He pressed a kiss to his mom’s cheek and then headed into the kitchen for a glass of water. “How was your day?”
“Fine,” she said, in that tone of voice that meant anything but.
Adam went back into the dining room, glass of water in hand, and leaned up against the cool wall, not letting himself sit down at the table with his mom. He was afraid if he sat, he’d never get back up again.
Thanks to Kylie’s Keep Adam Fed project, he’d had a healthy breakfast and lunch that day, and for once, it didn’t feel like his stomach was eating his backbone. Actually, his stomach was just about the only part of him that didn’t ache at the moment.
“What’s going on?” he asked, trying to focus on his mom’s face through bleary eyes.
“I was wondering if you’ve called on that CNA yet,” his mom said, staring at the far wall, refusing to meet his eye, embarrassment from even mildly broaching a sensitive topic staining her cheeks red.
“No,” he said, the guilt washing over him. “I’m sorry, Mom. It totally slipped my mind. I’ll call tomorrow, I promise.”
She nodded, unhappy but not arguing the point. Adam felt the guilt pound through him as he kissed his mom goodnight on the cheek and headed to his bedroom. Even with Ollie and Kylie’s help, he was still behind on everything and disappointing everyone.
If he didn’t find a way to clone himself, and soon, the guilt would be the thing eating through his backbone. He had to make his mom more of a priority, starting right now.
He was damned if he knew how, though.
Chapter 30
Kylie
Kylie sliced the box open and pulled out every piece of soap-making equipment and ingredient for this project that a body could want, and then some. After her last paycheck from the clinic, she’d set aside what she’d absolutely need for gas, food, and utilities over the next two weeks, and then went online in a wild shopping spree, blowing the rest of the check on soap supplies.
She’d told herself that she had to spend money to make money, but honestly, it’d also been fun to just let loose a little. She’d always been frugal with her money – her roommate had once said that she was tighter than a clam with lockjaw, a phrase that’d caused her to shoot milk out of her nose with laughter when she’d heard it – but even for her, the last two months had been squeezing it pretty tight.
She wrinkled her nose, though, at some of the ingredients that she pulled out of the box. “Lye? Castor oil? Really?!” she muttered underneath her breath. “I know I live in Idaho, but dayum, this is the 21st century. I didn’t even know people used castor oil anymore.” She huffed out a breath of indignation. “I seriously thought there’d be more rose petals and less lye involved in this project.”
It was at this point, looking around her empty house, shadows creeping into the corners from the evening sun, that she regretted not adopting a pet. Adam had taken her to the county animal shelter a couple of times as he went to do check-ups on animals, and the last time, there’d been an adorable dog – a playful ball of white fur and pink tongue – that had been just begging for Kylie to take him home.
Now, she rather wished she had. If she had a pet as a companion, at least then talking out loud wouldn’t be quite so strange.
She put her hand over her belly. “Soon, I’ll have you to talk to,” she said down at the rapidly growing bump. “Even better, next week at my doctor’s appointment, I get to find out if you’re a girl or a boy, and really get to start in on picking out baby names and decorating your room. You already know what you are, but you’re not telling, are you?”
She felt a slight flutter underneath her hand in response and she grinned so
hard, her cheeks hurt. She’d just started being able to feel the baby kick a couple of days earlier, and honestly, it was an insanely strange and magical feeling that she wasn’t sure she’d ever really get used to.
Concentrating on the project again, she made herself get back to work. Once she had everything laid out and inspected for damage, she pulled her laptop over to her side.
“Let’s start working through the steps…” she muttered to herself. “Hmmm…frozen goat’s milk, coming right up.” She pushed herself up off the floor and headed for the freezer. Once she’d found out that to make handmade soap, she should start with frozen goat’s milk, she’d given a little cheer. It was perfect, really. Being able to stockpile the milk away without worrying about it going bad before she could get to it had been a load off her mind.
She pulled one of the many quart-sized Ziploc baggies out of the freezer and put it on the counter. She started to cut the bag open – reusing the plastic bag wasn’t going to be an option, she could already tell – when she heard Adam’s voice calling out. “You here?” he asked, his voice muffled, his boots echoing on the hardwood floors as he wandered through the house, looking for her.
She dropped the frozen block of milk on the counter and wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “Adam?” she called out, hurrying into the living room. “Hey darlin’, what are you doing here?” she asked, her heart skipping into overtime at just the sight of him.
Shhiiittttt. This was a gift she hadn’t expected to receive. She’d woken up that morning, depressed that it was Saturday and thus she probably wouldn’t get to see Adam. She had to be one of the few employees in the world who didn’t look forward to weekends. He was always so busy with projects, she felt bad for wanting a piece of his time outside of work.
Having him here in her living room? Best thing that’d happened all day.
He pushed his baseball cap up a little on his forehead, scratching at it, looking insanely tired and bemused at the same time. “I honestly don’t know,” he said as she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. He pulled her tight up against his chest and she felt just as much as she heard him say, “I just finished with a pig birthing out at Declan Miller’s place, and I should’ve gone home to take a shower and hit the sack since I didn’t get much sleep last night, but somehow, I found myself here.”
She pulled back just slightly and looked up at him. Close up, she could see the bone-deep tiredness etched across his face, a weariness that just a few hours of sleep wouldn’t remedy.
He needed a vacation or a clone, or both. “I’m really sorry to hear it, babe,” she said, pressing the palm of her hand to his cheek. “You look tired enough to fall over at any moment.”
“I feel tired enough to fall over at any moment,” he admitted wryly.
“You should go take a shower. My landlord is awesome, and he installed a tankless water heater,” she winked at him, “so your shower can be as long as you want it to be.”
“Hmmm…good idea.” He looked down at his filthy clothes and said thoughtfully, “I keep a spare set of clothing in the truck just in case a cow kicks me into a watering trough or something, so I could even put clean clothes on when I’m done. But, are you sure you don’t mind? I didn’t mean to barge in here just to use your shower.”
She laughed. “I’m pretty sure my shower doesn’t have a limited number of uses on it,” she told him. “Now, go grab your stuff from the truck and head upstairs. When you’re done, I just might have a meal on the table for you.”
His eyes lit up. “Now we’re talkin’,” he said with a huge grin, but the grin quickly fell away and he looked depressed for a moment. “Dammit, I really want to kiss you right now, but I have so much grit and dirt in my teeth, you could probably start row-croppin’ in there.” Kylie shuddered as she laughed, and he grinned again. Yup, she could see some dark spots between his teeth. “Let me clean up and then I’ll give you a proper kiss. I give you my word.” He winked at her, and then headed back out the front door to his truck.
With a happy grin of her own, Kylie headed into the kitchen and straight to the freezer to put the goat’s milk back in. She’d tackle that project another time.
Actually having Adam all to herself, without animals or clients or friends around?
Priceless.
She hummed happily as she dug through the fridge, deciding to make a shepherd’s pie. It was hearty and filling and not too complicated. As her hands flew over the ingredients, she began to get a quiver of anticipation in her gut…and lower. Adam hadn’t said that he’d come over to make love to her, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t happen, right?
They’d been taking it plenty slow, what with Adam’s past history with Wendy, Kylie’s sorry disaster of a relationship with Norm, and then of course, the pregnancy. They’d been restricting themselves to just kisses…okay, and one major make-out fest at his mom’s house that’d ended with them scrambling off the couch in record time when they’d heard Ruby stirring around in her bedroom.
Although Kylie applauded the reasons for Adam living with his mom, it did tend to make things…interesting.
Okay, fine, awkward as hell.
But if tonight was the night…
Kylie tried to remember the last time she’d shaved her legs and armpits. Shit. She’d gotten out of practice after moving back home to Idaho, because honestly, who was going to complain about hairy legs? The dogs as she helped wrap their legs up in a cast? Not bloody likely.
Maybe she could try slipping upstairs while Adam was otherwise occupied, and run a razor over her legs dry. Yeah, it’d hurt like a son of a bitch, but she could survive. Probably.
Oh, what a girl does for love…
Chapter 31
Adam
Adam came downstairs, smelling a little bit like roses but feeling about a million times better. Hell, if rose soap was what it took to feel good again, he’d take a bath in it every day.
Just taking a shower, knowing that Kylie was downstairs, making him dinner, no stress of places to go or other people to take care of…it was heaven on earth.
After his mom’s frustrated reminder to kick his ass in gear and make some phone calls a couple of weeks ago, he’d actually carved some time out (okay, okay, he made the calls while driving between appointments) to get his mom taken care of. The CNA had started showing up last week – it was the younger sister to Moose Garrett, actually. Zara was just a kid and originally, the idea of hiring a 16 year old to take care of his mom had seemed like a shitastic idea. What could a teenage girl possibly know about how to take care of an elderly woman?
But Zara and his mom hit it off almost instantly, which had been a huge load off his mind. He’d been able to breathe a huge sigh of relief – his mom was now taken care of.
…Except, if he was going to be honest with himself, she really wasn’t. She was still by herself pretty much 75% of the time, and cooking most of her own meals, and doing light household chores and even some heavy duty ones when she thought she could get away with it.
A CNA was only part of the solution, as much as he hated to admit it, no matter how much Zara and Mom liked each other.
“What’s wrong?” Kylie asked softly, jerking him out of his thoughts. He looked around the living room, dazed. When had he sat down on the couch?
“Wrong?” he echoed.
“Yeah. You just let out a huge sigh, like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.”
“That’s because it is,” he sniped back instantly. It had slipped out of him – cutting and mean and snarly – and he let out another groan. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so…negative. I’m just tired today.” And every day…But he managed to keep that one to himself by sheer willpower.
She was standing in front of him, his head about even with her chest, and with a mumble about too much stress for one soul to bear, she pulled him forward, cuddling his head against her tits as she rubbed his back and shoulders.
Well, today just got
a whole lot more interesting.
She was talking about taking time off work and not booking so many clients and…something something something, but his hearing shut off as he turned his head to nuzzle against her chest. “I know what I want for dinner,” he growled, cutting off some piece of advice that he was just sure was accurate, but he really didn’t care at the moment.
She let out a delicious giggle. “I worked really hard on this dinner,” she protested, even as she let out a happy sigh as he began working her shirt upwards, revealing her rounded belly to his mouth and hands. “We can’t let it…let it get cold.” She was breathless by the time she finished her sentence.
“I’m sure it’ll taste really amazing…later.” He pulled her down on top of his lap so he could get better access to all of her fun parts, her crotch rubbing against his fast-awakening dick as she settled down into place.
“Oh, hello,” she growled, her eyes lighting up as she began wiggling her ass back and forth intentionally. “What do we have here…”
He let out a shout of laughter as he yanked her shirt out of the way. “Some fun things to play with,” he told her, reaching behind her and unsnapping her bra, flipping it across the room. “My oh my,” he said softly, taking in her breasts. He reached up and cupped one and then the other, the heavy weight of them sending a shiver of desire through him. “You have no idea how horny I am right now,” he growled, and then leaned forward, wrapping his lips around a large pink nipple, just as oversized as the rest of her tits were. There were some definite perks to pregnancy…
“Oh, I think I do,” she said with a breathy laugh. “It’s been months for me, too.”
