Page 86 of Edge of Steele
Would do this.
“Let me go get Avery from the kid’s program, and we’ll meet you in the fellowship hall,” he said and turned to leave, greeting the pastor and the few people he’d connected with in his short time there on the way out.
By the time he reached the gathering room, the kids had finished their worship, and Avery skipped his way. He’d never seen her skip, but then he’d not seen her often in her first seven years. Just occasional visits. More when she’d been a baby when Felicia needed more support, and he’d tried to provide it on his leave.
He smiled at the sweet child. “Looks like you had a good time.”
“It was okay, but let’s go. I promised Gran I would help serve the food.” She thrust her hand into his and tugged him down the hallway toward the fellowship hall.
When she’d gotten so comfortable touching him, he didn’t know, but he liked the feel of her tiny hand in his.
Chatter spilled from the room, and the aromas of freshly cooked bacon and onions, coffee, and toasted bread each fought for his attention. His stomach grumbled.
Inside the room, he found two long tables set up in a buffet line and loaded with warming dishes, a large coffee pot, stacks of paper products. Positioned near the food were round tables with white tablecloths, napkins wrapped around disposable silverware, pitchers filled with juice, and chairs butted up to them. Barbie and Eloise had gone to a lot of trouble and must have gotten up at the crack of dawn to pull off such a nice spread on such short notice, if they’d slept at all.
Ryleigh was standing near the front of the line with Colin, Ryan, and Russ, smiling at Colin. Finn didn’t like her attention to the man, but they were just friends. That had become obvious. Still, Finn wanted her smiles but had no right to them.
Avery let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around Eloise, who stood at the buffet table lifting off warming lids. “You said I could help.”
“And you can, sweetheart.” She smiled down at Avery. “I have a very important job for you. I need someone to make sure the juice pitchers on the tables never run out of juice.”
Avery let go and lifted her shoulders. “I can do that.”
“Maybe you should eat before you start,” Finn suggested. “So you’ll be ready when your babysitter gets here to take you home.”
Avery’s lip trembled. “I want to stay here with Gran.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Eloise said. “We’ll be heading back to Portland as soon as we clean up after the meal.”
“But why?”
“That’s where we live.” She smoothed a hand over Avery’s hair and bent lower. “But I have a secret for you if you can keep it.”
Avery’s eyes widened. “I can. Tell me.”
“Grandad and I have reserved all of the Maddox cabins for Labor Day so the whole family can come down for the weekend and then you can meet Ryleigh’s sisters and cousins. If Finn says it’s okay to join us.”
Avery’s gaze flashed up to his. “Can we?”
“I hope so, Peanut,” he said, being purposefully vague until he talked to Ryleigh about it.
Plus, it probably wasn’t a good idea to encourage this relationship between Avery and Ryleigh’s grandparents. Maybe as a seven-year-old she would forget all about them a day or so after they left. He could only hope he would too.
Ryleigh avoided Finn as she chewed the last of her perfectly browned bacon—crisp and crunchy in a way that her gran had perfected, but Ryleigh never seemed to achieve on her own. Finn had been ignoring her, too, until he came to the table where she sat with the rest of the task force team.
She was glad to see he wore the bracelet from Avery. They hadn’t talked about it, but Ryleigh knew it meant a great deal to him just by the look on his face when he’d received it.
Russ cast a frustrated look at Finn. “Eat up, man. We’ve got work to do.”
“Had to get Avery settled first,” Finn said with not a hint of justification in his tone as he attacked the egg casserole sitting next to bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, and toast on his plate.
She was glad he didn’t feel the need to apologize for being a good dad, and she smiled her approval.
He returned it with a genuine brightening of his face. She’d been terse with him in the truck on the way to church. She didn’t want to be, but when an almost uncontrollable urge to hold his hand took control of her, she’d had to take a firm stance. She’d even had to sit on her own hand so she didn’t reach out, and that made her mad at herself.
Russ leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You all look at the data from Carla’s phone?”
“Give us a chance, we just got it,” Ryan complained around a mouthful of eggs.
