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Ethan made a happy little hum at that. "Thanks. Really. I uh… Might take you up on it. Damn, but I wish things were — well, simpler right now, I guess. We never did get to finish our coffee."
Jakob chuckled, nervousness blooming in his chest all of a sudden at Ethan's words.
But, what the hell — you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take, right?
"Suppose I might just have to ask you out on our second date then, won't I?" Jakob asked, ducking his head a bit as he felt his ears heat. "Know a good little hole in the wall near La Calle. Ten bucks gets you a mountain of pupusas and a cafecito that'll keep you awake into next week. If — If you'd be interested, I mean."
And now the smile on Ethan's face could only be called brilliant, his eyes crinkling at the corners to match. It was a grin so infectious, Jakob couldn't help but smile back.
"Yeah, I uh… Yeah. Sounds good," Ethan answered — still beaming — and Jakob let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding until then. "Sounds real good."
Chapter 23
"What're those supposed to be?"
Jakob looked up from his phone as Alex slunk into the room in that way of teenagers everywhere who were curious about something, but didn't want to admit it. Rather like some of the old barn cats that hunted around the stables, really; the ones that resolutely didn't want to be petted at all, right up until suddenly they absolutelydid.
Following Alex's gaze, Jakob spotted what must have caught his attention; a row of five stockings hung halfway up the big bay window looking out over the ranch and the ocean beyond.
"Family stockings," Jakob answered him, smiling softly at the haphazard collection.
"They look like a craft store barfed on them."
Jakob tilted his head, watching the storm clouds gathering on Alex's face and recognizing all too well the signs of someone spoiling for a fight. Just as he recognized too, the hunched line of his shoulders, the way the kid's body language screamed he expected any conflict he might manage to get, he expected to lose.
Testingboundaries again,Jakob decided. He took a long, slow sip of his coffee, keeping his voice even as he said, "Cassie made those."
"Obviously," Alex snapped. "No one ever in a million years would choose to buy those things."
He'd leaned up against the kitchen door frame, Jakob noted. Braced, but with multiple options open for a quick exit; able to spot any threats that might be coming up from behind.
Jakob shrugged, glancing back at his phone screen, the utter picture of unconcerned. "Think they turned out pretty good, considering she made them when she was five."
"Who'sSofia?"
"Cassie's mom."
"AndReed?"
"Cassie's stepdad."
"You that much of a cuck that you let your wife's new husband have a stocking on your wall?"
Jakob frowned into his coffee, but didn't rise to the bait.
"Sofie hasn't remarried," Jakob explained, keeping his tone even. "Reed's my ex-husband."
He glanced up at the following silence, just in time to see a complicated look scuttle across Alex's face.
"Reed's a lame name," Alex finally huffed, though he unbent enough to drop into the chair opposite Jakob at the table. "AndGrampy?"
"Cassie's grandfather. My…" And here Jakob paused, unsure how to explain. "Frank's somewhere between my stepdad and… he adopted me when I was little, after my mom left."
"Sounds fucked up," Alex said, but… His tone had lost its bite, and when Jakob looked up, the look on the kid's face…
That was commiseration, not judgment.
"What's eating you?" Jakob asked, keeping his words as soft as he would with a skittish colt.
