With a laugh, I strode toward him and dropped down on the cushion at his side, shoving my elbow into his stomach and delighting in his grunt of surprise. “You deserved that. I walk just like I do everything else.”
“Yeah, like you don’t give a single fuck what anyone thinks.”
“Daintily, Ash. I do all things daintily. But, please, tell me more about this favor you need from me…”
He chuckled and wrapped an arm around me, tugging me into his side. I snuggled in, notching myself perfectly under his arm, as if that very space had a Nat-shaped cutout made just for me.
“My compliments aren’t winnin’ me any favors?” he said. “Is that what you’re sayin’?”
“What I’m sayin’ is that if you want something, you’d be better off gettin’ it with some chocolate and maybe a little wine, instead of your smart mouth.”
He chuckled. “You love my smart mouth.”
“Not today, I don’t.”
“Unconditional love—isn’t that what you promised me?”
“I didn’t promise you shit. I’m not your wi—” I nearly choked on the word, remembering too late exactly the size and shape ofthe elephant in the room. The one we’d been avoiding all day. “Speakin’ of, we should probably talk about that.”
“Yeah… Look, Nattie, I know I’m askin’ a lot. This would be…” He blew out a breath, the move ruffling my hair. “You know I wouldn’t have asked if I had any other options.”
“So, I’m your last resort, then? Good to know.”
“You’re my every resort,” he said without hesitation, earnestness in his tone.
I had no idea why, but my stomach flipped at his words, like when a small plane hit a pocket of air and the entire thing dropped. It was a millisecond, really, but it was enough to draw my attention.
I was just out of whack, was all. Between being in Havenbrook longer than I’d been since I was eighteen, and getting thrown in as a pseudo parental figure when the most I’d done was spend an hour or two with my nieces once in a while, I was a little off my game.
“What about everything else the judge wants?” I asked. “A job? A house?”
He sighed, resting his head back on the cushion and slouching further into the couch. “I’ve been thinkin’ about that, too. I’ll be able to pay off the house with the life insurance money Cole mentioned, plus have a good chunk left for the kids’ college funds, if they want to go that route. But then I’ve gotta start thinkin’ about a job. As hard as it is to keep those kids in line, I don’t think anyone’s gonna pay me to do it. And Carla’s gonna need some direction soon.”
“What about sellin’ some more songs? You like to play, but youloveto write—it’s the reason you started in the first place. I know it wasn’t what you’d planned?—”
“None of this is what I planned.”
I laid my hand on his stomach, offering my comfort in the only way I could. “I know. You could also think about offeringlessons? I bet you could get people willin’ to travel all the way from Memphis for a chance to have you teach their kids—or even themselves.”
“I don’t know about that…”
I scoffed and lifted my head back up to stare up at him. “Are you kiddin’ me? You’reAsher McCoy.” I pretended to faint, then snapped to with a grin. “Could’ve sworn that was you out tourin’ with Wade freaking Grant last year… Not only would people travel that far for lessons, but I bet you could charge an ungodly sum for it, too.”
“I’d feel like an asshole if I did that.”
“Yeah, well, that asshole could eat and provide a stable home environment for two kids, so…”
He was quiet for long moments before he blew out a sigh. “Maybe. But that still doesn’t fix the lie I told the judge. Which is where you?—”
“Uncle Asher,” June said from the hallway. “I can’t sleep.”
Asher and I both whipped our heads in that direction. I had been so absorbed in my back-and-forth with him that I hadn’t even heard June’s door open or her apparently non-cement-block-weighted steps.
He pulled his arm from around me and stood before striding to June. He scooped her up and snuggled her close, rubbing a hand along her back. “What’s the matter? Did you have a bad dream?”
She nodded and rubbed her eyes before resting her head on his shoulder. Without hesitation, I automatically reached for my camera to capture the moment. Even domesticated, I couldn’t stop that itch.
He was silhouetted by the hall light spilling over his broad shoulders as he tucked his face down toward June and swayed with her. It was so soft, so loving, I needed to preserve it.
