Page 68 of Loving Kai

“Okay. Next is your…man cave.”

“You mean my spare bedroom?”

“Yes. You should probably keep the door closed unless you’re in there working out.”

“I can see how that room might be slightly dangerous.”

“Your bedroom seems okay.” They walked into the room. “You’ll need to move the bed over to make room for the crib. He’ll need to sleep in here with you if you’re not willing to give up your man…spare bedroom.”

Abe looked around the room. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that he’d have a full-time roommate now. At some point, he might need to consider giving up his exercise room. Lucia was right. It was his man cave, and he really liked having it.

She looked at him. “What?”

He sat on the bed. “How did you safely raise twins through this toddler phase? I want to wrap Kai in bubble wrap and follow him around with a pillow to land on.”

She sat next to him. “One good thing about having twins is that they entertain each other. In some ways, it was easier.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Besides, I had two years with them before getting to this point.” She put a hand on his arm. “The girls and I will be happy to come entertain Kai. They can’t wait to meet their new cousin.”

“Cousin. Wow.”

“Kai is very lucky to have found his way into a family with lots of uncles, a couple of aunts, and several cousins. Not to mention loving grandparents.”

Abe turned to her. “I know you haven’t known me that long, but do you think I can do this?”

“Yes. It seems the Buchanan men are natural nurturers.”

“I’m not like Justin, Gentry, and Milo.”

“Sure you are. When you grow up with parents like yours, it’s inevitable, even if you’ve tried to suppress it for thirty years.” She got to her feet. “Now, what are you going to do about Maggie?”

“Um…wow. We talked last night and landed on friends.”

“For now?”

“For the foreseeable future.”

“I don’t know if Justin told you this, but I had no plans to get involved with anyone until the girls were headed for college.”

“He mentioned that.”

“So, don’t rule out the possibility.”

“I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

On Friday, Abe returned to work and, for the first time since Wednesday morning, almost felt like himself again. With the rodeo in full swing for the weekend, they were busy. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that he had time to take a break.

He was behind the restaurant, sitting on a milk crate, when Maggie came out to check on him and bring him the small pizza he’d put together for himself. “Hey, are you okay out here?”

“Yeah.” She handed him the hot pizza with sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and ham. “Mmm. The Abe special. How is it in there?”

“For the moment, quiet.” She took a deep breath. “You can smell the river today.”

Abe took a bite of his pizza. “Better than the horse manure if the wind is blowing the other way.”

Every year, on the Saturday of rodeo weekend, Rocco’s closed at two and manned a booth at the rodeo. This year, Gentry and Luke would be working the booth, leaving Abe and Maggie with the evening off. He glanced at her. “I don’t suppose you’d like to come with Kai and me to the rodeo.”