Page 12 of Peaches & Pistols

“Bright and early, Monday morning.” Fuck. That reminds me I haven’t picked up Harper’s school supplies yet. Dad of the year over here, you idiot.

“Wonderful, so it’s settled.” Cecelia claps.

“What’s settled?” I ask stupidly.

Olivia sharply boots me beneath the table and discreetly tips her head toward Mia and Everly.

“You can take these lovely girls to the elementary school tomorrow and get Everly enrolled in kindergarten. The staff should already be working, seeing as students return next week,” Walter interjects.

If Walter’s piping up, I really must not have been listening. I’d bet a hundred bucks Cecelia booted him under the table too, so he’d whip my ass into shape.

“Uh…sure. Yea. I can close the store for a bit. Where are you staying?” I ask my dinner plate, trying not to intimidate Mia.

Her cheeks flush deep pink, bewitching me further.

“That’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” Izzy pipes up. What stake she has in this, I don’t know.

Reid takes Izzy’s hand on the table with a reassuring squeeze. What the fuck’s going on? I don’t like secrets being kept from me; I’m accustomed to being the secret keeper and am far more comfortable on that side of the coin.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Greyson needs a nanny, and Mia needs a job, and is clearly an incredible mother.” She pauses for effect. “Mia and Everly need somewhere safe to stay, Greyson has a spare bedroom, and aside from the ranch, there’s nowhere safer than with him.”

“I’m sorry, what are you suggesting?” I ask through my teeth, my jaw aching from being clenched so tightly.

“That Mia be your live-in nanny.”

5

Iced tea shoots out of my nose, and I choke, leaving me coughing, sputtering, and with fire in my sinuses.

Delilah pats me on the back through my coughing fit. Izzy’s sister is just as kind and pretty as she is. How lucky they are to have each other. Their bond makes me miss Charlie worse than the usual crushing ache I walk around with.

“I’m sorry, you want me to what?” I finally ask, voice hoarse from iced tea nearly ending my life.

Delilah’s husband, Connor, I think, scoots his chair back from the table. “Harper, do you want to help me show Everly the garden?”

Pointed looks shoot across the table in all directions before the scraping of wood legs against the flooring fills the dining room.

“That’s a great idea. I think we should do some harvesting,” Delilah says. In a flurry of activity, people shuffle out of the dining room through the kitchen and out the back door.

“Be safe and listen, Everly!” I holler over the noise.

“Okay, Mama!” she shouts back, ecstatic to be doing literally anything with the group.

I’m left at the table with Izzy, Reid, Cecelia, and Greyson. The man’s eyes haven’t left me all evening. I’m too overwhelmed to feel any kind of way about it, but I have a strange sense of safety.

Perhaps it’s Lucky Spurs Ranch that gives me peace, or maybe it’s the man whose root-beer-colored eyes have painted heat across my entire body.

He’s alarmingly handsome. Copper brown hair is finger combed back from his rugged face, a bit longer on top than on the sides. He’s tan from time in the sun, presumably at the ranch.

I’m enamored with the small white scar hitching his top lip. I don’t know why but it’s the cherry on top of an already delectable sundae.

“Can we start from the beginning? It’s been a long day, and I’ve clearly missed some important details.” Greyson’s deep voice rumbles through the silence and a ripple of energy courses through me unexpectedly.

“Mia, do you want to explain, or should I share?” Izzy offers, her husband’s arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders.

“You, please.” It’s cowardly, but I’m too frazzled to remember what I have and haven’t shared today, and I don’t want to disclose anything new yet.

Speaking directly to Greyson, Izzy begins. “I was in town for my dirty chai, and I saw Mia and Everly sunning themselves on the library lawn. I invited them to join me at Bean & Brew and we had a lovely chat. I dropped them back by the library and went through town to run a couple of errands.”