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He met the older gentleman’s eyes through the windshield, and Kyle wore a hint of resignation in his gaze. “Thank you, Tag,” he said as he opened the door. “I thought Carrie was going to come back out, but you’re better.”
“Maybe Opal could look at your ankle,” he said as he shored up the man’s arm with his hand and shoulder. “Lean on me, Kyle. Can you put weight on it?”
“Yes.” Kyle groaned. “A little, but not much.” He slid from the truck, and Tag absorbed all of his weight until he could get his good foot down.
“Okay,” Tag said a bit breathlessly. The wind kicked up and grabbed the brim of his cowboy hat. He let it fly off his head, because he didn’t want to drop Kyle. “Here we go.”
He helped Kyle the short distance to the steps and up into the house. “Let’s get you to the purple couch.” He spied it across the room, with only Mike on it, and both he and Opal seemed to notice Tag at the same time.
“What happened?” Opal asked, which drew everyone’s attention where neither Tag nor Kyle wanted it.
“Nothing,” Kyle said.
“He sprained his ankle this morning,” Carrie said from the kitchen. Tag met Opal’s eye, and they had a pretty significant conversation without him having to say anything. Since his accusation that she’d been flirting with Steele—and since finally kissing her again—Tag felt like he and Opal simply existed on a different plane than they had before.
He knew her better; she knew him.
“Let me look at it, Kyle,” she said smoothly. “I can at least wrap it so it’s stronger.”
“Sit down,” Mike said.
They got him to the couch, where Gerty sat next to him, West on her lap. “Gramps, you have to say something when something happens.”
“I’m okay,” he said, giving her a smile.
“Opal is a doctor,” she said. “She could’ve helped you this morning.”
“Let me have that baby,” Bree said, and she took West from Gerty. Tag didn’t need to hover, and he fell back to get out of the way. He stepped on a toy that squeaked, and he quickly lifted his boot as Violet giggled.
Max came over and nabbed the toy, and Tag scooped up the little girl. She was a pretty thing, with dark eyes and light hair, and he said, “Let’s get you a cookie, should we?” He retreated to the kitchen and picked up one of the smallest cookies—a Santa hat. He broke off the tip of it with the puffy white ball and handed it to Violet.
Then he popped the rest of it into his mouth while Opal tended to Kyle’s ankle. Activity went on around him, with Bree bringing West into the kitchen to get a cookie too. “And we better get these rolls formed and set for their final rise.”
“I’ll take the kids,” Tag said. “We can play on the bouncy couch with Grandpa.” He took West as Bree slid him into his other arm, and Tag headed for the other half of the couch where Kyle now sat with his ankle wrapped.
He settled down, feeling every eye on him as he did. “Wow, wow-ow-wee,” Opal whispered as she stood with the first aid kit.
“You’ve used that way too much this month,” he said to her.
“We have an announcement,” Easton said. “Opal? Can we do announcements right now? I don’t know what your plan is for tonight.”
“It’s—we’re going to do some visiting, dinner, games, and gifts.” She shot a look at Tag. “You can do an announcement now.” She seemed nervous, and Tag wished he could pull her onto his lap and comfort her too.
But Violet and West took up all of his current lap space, and the blow-up couch wasn’t as stable as he’d like. Still, he managed to reach up and touch Opal’s fingers on the hand that wasn’t gripping the first aid kit like a shield.
“Sit down, honeydew.”
She looked at him, then let herself fall back a step to perch on the arm of the couch. It moved a bit with her added weight, but didn’t shift too violently as to buck them all off it.
Easton glowed with the light of the full moon. “Well, Allison and I are pleased to announce that we’re going to have another baby next year.” He beamed at his wife, and Tag could not imagine two people more opposite than himself.
Opal could be quite refined too, a side of her Tag only saw when they went out to dinner. Otherwise, she seemed far more down-to-earth than Easton or Allison.
“That’s wonderful news,” Bree said, rushing into the living room to congratulate her son and daughter-in-law.
“Super great,” Mike said, laughing. He embraced his brother, and Wes engulfed them both with his impressive reach.
“Just great,” Opal said almost under her breath. Then Tag took the first aid kit from her; their eyes met; he nodded at Allison as she stepped away from Gerty’s light hug.
