“Oh! I forgot to show you!” June shoved the guitar away and jumped off Asher’s lap before flying out of the room.
“You wanna talk about cement blocks? That girl runs like an elephant,” Nat said, thumbing over her shoulder to where June disappeared.
Asher laughed and set the guitar down next to him. “She must be learnin’ it from you.”
At one time, a comment like that probably would’ve sent her running for the hills. The idea that she was influencing impressionable children with how she lived her life was scary, to say the least. Unconventional, but that was okay. And though she’d only been a staple in their lives for a few months, she couldn’t imagine her life without them.
“Look what Mimi and Papa got me!” June ran into the room, a piece of paper flapping over her head.
“What do you have there?” Nat grabbed the paper from June and held it out in front of her.
“The Aunties got me colors and markers and paints, too, so we can so we color where we’ve been.”
The map of the United States was outlined with a thick black line and mostly blank, save for a tiny heart on the northern part of Mississippi. Across the top were the words,No matter where you go, you can always land back home.
To everyone else, this was probably just a map. Just a series of black lines on a white piece of paper. Something that could be ripped or crumpled or thrown away. Discarded without a second thought. But to Nat, it was encouragement. It was acceptance of who she was. Whotheywere as a family. Made all the more meaningful because it’d come from her parents.
She swallowed down the lump in her throat and met June’s smile with one of her own. “I love it.” She squatted down and wrapped an arm around June’s waist. “And I loveyou, Junie B, but it is bedtime.”
“Love you too, Nattie.” June squeezed Nat around the neck and hit her with the sad puppy eyes. “But we can still read a story, right?”
Nat never thought she’d see the day when she was wrapped around the fingers of two tiny people, and yet there she was. “Yes, we can. While Uncle Asher puts your brother down, weare gonna go on an adventure with Junie B. beforeouradventure begins tomorrow.”
* * *
June must havesuckered Nat into more than one chapter because she didn’t come strolling out of the bedroom until thirty minutes later. Asher sat on the couch, guitar in his lap, as he scribbled notes on the song he was currently writing.
Working as part of a stable of songwriters had been amazing. He’d always loved this part of the job—the creation, the possibilities. That feeling of exhilaration when just the right verse poured out of him and he found the perfect notes to go along with it. And considering what his life looked like now, he’d been finding it real damn easy to write songs. He’d known pain and heartbreak, grief and sorrow. But he’d also known laughter and excitement, new possibilities and endless love. And the love he had now, for Nat and those kids, was unlike any he’d ever known before.
“What’re you workin’ on?” she asked.
“Something new.” He scribbled one last note in his journal before closing the book.
“How’s it goin’?”
“Good,” he said, glancing up as she strode toward him wearing nothing but a tank top and a tiny pair of sleep shorts. “Especially when my muse is around.”
“You’re gonna be around this muse of yours twenty-four seven for the next month.” She took the guitar from his lap and propped it up next to him on the couch before straddling his lap. “But durin’ the next month, we’re gonna have to be incredibly creative about our grown-up time.”
He grinned. “I foresee a lot of outdoor activities in our future.”
“No doubt. But while we still have a great big bed, I was thinkin’ we should probably take advantage of that.”
He slid his hands up the outsides of her thighs, tucking his fingers beneath the material of her shorts. Palming her ass, he tugged her closer until their lips were a breath apart. “Oh yeah? What’d you have in mind?”
“How about you take me in there, and I’ll show you?”
In the five months since he’d asked her to stay, she’d shown him so much. Patience and adventure. Love and understanding. Acceptance and joy. He and the kids had joined her in Nevada for a shoot at Valley of Fire. Then the four of them had traveled to Portland to pack up her apartment, then to Nashville to do the same for his. They were nourishing little travelers in those two kids.
But even through all the trips the four of them had taken, he and Nat had also made sure June and Owen knew Havenbrook was home.
“I think that might be the best idea you’ve had all day.” He stood, palming her ass with her still wrapped around him, and strode toward their bedroom. The one they’d shared since the beginning.
A couple months ago, they’d cleaned out Aubrey and Nathan’s room, sorting through their things and donating what they could to the shelter, while keeping anything they were attached to. Now, it was a playroom, a place where the kids could go if they missed their parents. A place where all of them could be together, surrounded by what started it all. Images of Aubrey and Nathan, of June and Owen, and the four of them together were interspersed with newer photos. Snapshots of him and Nat and the kids and this amazing, unexpected life they had together.
He stopped short in the doorway and met her stare with a raised brow. “Didn’t think this one through, did you?”
“What?” she asked before turning her head toward the heap of laundry piled on the bed. “Um…wall sex? Shower sex? Floor sex?”
