Page 63 of Well Aware
Everyone else followed suit but Beau, who was too busy talking to Iris about his horse, Goss.
“Dinner’s on!”
“Dinner is in six hours!” Denver hollered back.
Iris stiffened, not good with the loud sounds.
Neither, apparently, was Beau’s horse.
Both animal and child were not happy at the raised voices.
Which Beau picked up on.
“Let’s go get Goss put up,” Beau said.
“Okay,” Iris signed.
I went to go with them but Holly held me up by saying, “Hey, will you hold this?”
She handed me the bag of green bands and the pliers.
I took them, shoving them into my coat pocket.
The wind whipped my hair around again, and I caught it before tucking the loose strands underneath the hood of my jacket.
“Where are you going?” Denver asked.
“Going to talk to a man about a horse,” Holly called out.
“Was it something I did?” Denver asked after Holly disappeared.
My brows rose. “What?”
“Her covering her ears,” he said. “I’m guessing she doesn’t like yelling?”
“She doesn’t do well with any loud noises,” I explained. “It’s not your fault, though. She’s got to learn to deal with it. She’s getting a whole lot better, but she freezes up instead of having a wall-eyed fit now. Like her mind is trying to process it. You did nothing wrong.”
“I’ll try to not yell,” he said. “We don’t want her to be uncomfortable around us.”
“Kids love me,” Huxley joked. “I’ll bet I can have her as a best friend by the time lunch is over.”
That was how I got divested of my kid and left behind with Beau who was looking at me like I was his own personal snack.
“What?”
He inched closer, tugging on both ends of my hoodie string before saying, “You look adorable.”
I grinned. “Thanks.”
“I didn’t think grown adults wore overalls anymore, though.”
“This one does,” I quipped, moving until our bodies were practically touching. “Hey, Beau?”
His eyes were on my mouth when he said, “Yeah?”
“I missed sleeping under the same roof as you.”
His eyes heated. “Maybe you can come back over tonight, and we can spend the night together for real this time.”
