Page 142 of Maple Mountain
Riddle me this.I’m with three masculine dudes playing poker and all I want to do is come home to my woman.
Smiling, I texted back.
Me
I bet they feel the same way, even if they won’t admit it.
“What’s got you grinning?”Jane asked.
I shoved my phone into a pile of pillows.“Nothing.”
“Not nothing,” Salem said.
“Can’t really talk about it right now,” I said.
Every day that week, Archer had come back to the house during his lunch break.We’d spent the hour in bed laughing, talking, and other things ...
We still hadn’t told Lenni about us yet.But she hadn’t asked about why I was still hanging around when my two weeks’ notice was long over.I wanted to wait for the right time to spring it on her.Archer didn’t think there was going to be a right time.But he respected my need to wait until I was fully ready.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready.But the longer it went on in secret, the harder it became to level with Lenni.
She wasn’t a normal eleven-year-old.She was perceptive and highly intelligent in a way that was hard to put a finger on.And she’d been through the loss of a parent.That was hard at any age, but she was so young.Even Hadley and Salem had been a few years older than Lenni when their mom died.And it had screwed Salem up for years.
I didn’t want to be another person that screwed up Lenni.That’s what I’d been telling myself anyway.But it was true I’d been using it as an excuse to have one foot in and one foot out.
Lenni and Muddy came back to the living room and Lenni plopped down onto the air mattress.
“Hey, Lenni, can I ask you something?”Poet inquired.
Lenni turned to Poet.“Sure thing.What’s up?”
“I’m getting married,” Poet said.
“Uh huh.”Lenni nodded.
“So, here’s the thing.I have three bridesmaids, but I don’t have a flower girl.Do you think your friend Summer would be willing to do the job?”
Lenni blinked.
Poet laughed.“Just kidding.Will you be my flower girl, Lenni?”
Lenni shot up and launched herself at Poet, wrapping her arms around her neck.“I’dloveto be your flower girl!”
“Oh no,” Jane murmured as she brushed her eyes.
“Hang in there,” I said, my own throat tight with emotion.
I met Poet’s gaze and placed my hand on my heart.
Poet smiled as she patted her soon-to-be niece’s back.
“I don’t have a dress.”Lenni pulled away and looked completely horrified.
“Don’t worry about that,” Poet said.“We’ll get you a dress.”
“Nothing too frilly,” Lenni announced.“Okay?”
“Okay,” Poet agreed.
