“Thanks.”
With that they ended the call and Peyton started to put his phone down when he had a thought.
Instead, he held it up and took a picture of him and Dewi, smiling as he stared at it.
Miss you, Mom and Dad.Wish you were here.
Peyton was still awake when Badger returned home.He’d just put Dewi in her bed fifteen minutes earlier after she woke up to potty, and she was once again sound asleep.
Badger stood in the doorway of her bedroom, carefully eyeing everything as he always did now, making sure her window latch was secure.“She’s an angel an’ a demon,” he whispered, smiling.“An’ she’s gonna be a handful.”He turned to give Peyton a hug.“Go on home an’ get some sleep.”
But…
Peyton found he couldn’t release Badger, instead taking a long, deep breath, his nostrils flaring.
Badger drew his head back after an awkwardly long time had passed.“Eh, lad?Wassit?”
Peyton’s pulse spiked.“What…Whodid you see tonight?”He finally forced himself to release Badger and take a step back.He hadn’t caught the woman’s name.
Badger warily eyed him.“Whyyyy?”
Stunned, Peyton stood there, staring.“I…I don’t know.”
Badger’s good eyebrow lifted.“Ye don’t know?Or ye don’t wanna say?”
Peyton licked his lips and scrubbed his hands over his face.“I… I don’t know!”
Badger pointed to the living room and they headed there so they could talk without waking Dewi.
“Now talk to me, lad.”
Peyton felt jittery, the urge to pace.
And the urge to grab Badger and sniff him all over.
More precisely, to sniff his clothes.“I just… I don’t know!”
Badger crossed his thick arms over his chest.“Yer actin’ a might tetched.”
“Ifeelfucking tetched!”Peyton dropped his voice at Badger’s warningshush.“What’s happening to me!”
Badger’s brow furrowed before lifting, a deep chuckle emerging from his chest.“Ooooh, boy.”He clapped a hand over his mouth, turning to go sit as he struggled to contain his laughter and not awaken Dewi.
“This isn’t funny!”Peyton hissed.
“Oh, but it is!An’ it’s even funnier yer not puttin’ it together.”He cocked his head at Peyton.“Here’s the deal.I’ll tell you on Friday afternoon.You clear your schedule for this comin’ weekend.An’ you spend every night this weekhere, watchin’ Dewi.Personally.So Beck can take time off.”
“What?”
“Ye want the answer or not?”
Peyton was horrified to realize that what he wanted to do was wrap his fingers around Badger’s throat and squeeze him, shake the answer from him.“Fine!Just tell me!”
“I will, I will.”His grin widened.“I’ll tell ye Friday afternoon at four.Be showered an’ dressed in something”—he waved a hand at Peyton’s old jogging shorts and his worn Seahawks T-shirt—“presentable.”
“Dammit, Badger!I—”
“Shh!”Badger glowered at him.“She wakes up an’ yer not gettin’ any sleep either until she’s sleepin’.”
