"Yeah, I do. I think you'll be a great dad. And the only one our baby has, so you better do it right or I'll trade you in, too."
He laughed, the vulnerability fading from his expression. "Okay, then. At the risk of crossing a boundary, you need to eat before the food gets cold. I slaved over that stove for a good twenty minutes to make all this."
I shot him a disbelieving look. "That's homemade tomato soup. No way you made it in twenty minutes."
"Actually, I did. Found a great recipe that uses boxed tomatoes online."
I just kept looking at him, so he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Um, well, Mom found the recipe actually and made it for me. I just like it so much that I asked for it."
I grinned at him. "That I do believe."
"Jeez, you're a hard woman, Lee Prescott."
"Lee McClane now," I pointed out.
J.J. unwrapped my sandwich and handed it to me. "Lee McClane," he repeated.
As we ate the meal he'd prepared, as simple as it was, I realized that I liked being Lee McClane.
Probably a lot more than I should.
When I got home that night, I found J.J. ensconced on the couch in the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of iced tea. He was watching Longmire on Netflix.
"Hey," I greeted him as I plopped down on the sofa beside him.
"Hey. How was work?" he asked.
"Busy. I finally had to run some teenagers out of the store about fifteen minutes after we were supposed to close. They got a little mouthy." I rolled my eyes and kicked off my shoes, flexing my stiff toes.
He turned to look at me. "That happen a lot?" he asked.
"People staying after close or mouthing off to me?"
"Both. Either."
I shrugged one shoulder and took a handful of his popcorn. "Occasionally on the weekends, but it's not a weekly occurrence."
"No one's ever gotten violent or anything, right?" he asked.
I shook my head and popped a few pieces of popcorn in my mouth. "Nope. Just rude. Usually, they straighten up when they find out I'm related to the Prescott boys."
J.J. chuckled. "Their reputation lives on," he commented.
"Nope," I said, shaking my head again. "The kids live in fear of them now because Clayton and Scott are both in law enforcement. They're afraid they'll get picked up and taken home by the cops and have to explain to their irate parents why that happened."
J.J.'s head fell back as he laughed. "God, that's rich. Twenty years ago, your brothers would have been the ones in the back of the cop car, now they're driving it!"
I munched on popcorn and laughed a little as well. "It's definitely something of a paradox."
"Are you hungry?" he asked as I grabbed another handful of popcorn.
"Actually, I am. It's the first time I've been truly hungry since the morning sickness started."
"How about some guacamole and chips?" He rose, leaving the bowl of popcorn in my lap. "I can whip up the guac in five minutes or so and we can have a movie night. You don't work tomorrow morning, right?" he asked.
I shook my head. Most of my housecleaning clients preferred for me to come during the week while they were at work. I had a shift at Crave from twelve to eight, but that was it.
