“Thank you. You’re very thoughtful,” Angelle said.
“Sometimes, though I have to admit that I’m more thoughtful in all things concerning you, than I usually am with everyone else.” He considered what he’d just said for a second more. “Unless it’s my mother and father, or my sister, or Tempest. I guess I should say I’m more thoughtful in all things regarding you and my family.”
“Like I said, very thoughtful.” She looked around at all the food on the table, covered with plastic tops, or foil, sealing in the warmth and keeping any uninvited bugs out of the food. “Aren’t Uncle Maverik and Aunt Valerie going to join us?” she asked.
Boon had already uncovered the platter of eggs and sausage, the bowl of smothered potatoes and onions, the plate of waffles, and was now taking the lids off the butter dish and nudging the bottle of warmed syrup closer to her side of the table. “Nope. It’s just us. They already ate.”
“This is a lot of food for just us,” Angelle said.
“It is. So, dig in! Let’s see how much we can make disappear,” Boon said, placing two waffles on his own plate and topping it with scrambled eggs and sausage before dousing the whole thing in warm maple syrup. He took a big bite of a little of everything on his plate and chewed appreciatively. “The best bite!”
“Some of everything in it?” Angelle asked as she put eggs, sausage and potatoes on her own plate.
“Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of some people that eat all of one thing before moving to the next, and I get eating all your favorites first, but I like a little of all the tastes together.”
“For me, it depends. I could eat this entire bowl of smothered potatoes and onions, but I don’t really want eggs mixed in with it. I’ll eat a piece of sausage with the potatoes, and then maybe some egg with the sausage, but I do like to enjoy my favorites alone.”
Instead of an entire waffle, she cut one in half and put just that half on her plate. She spread a little butter on the still warm waffle and nearly drowned it in syrup, then salted her potatoes and eggs before starting to eat.
He smiled as she quickly ate the potatoes she’d served herself, then put more on her plate.
Angelle glanced up at him and stopped, her hand halfway to returning the serving spoon to the bowl of potatoes. “What?”
“Your dad said you eat like a bird, and only particular things. I figure if I’m offering you things that you enjoy, for example the potatoes you just admitted you love, you’ll eat plenty.”
“Ifyouserve me things I enjoy?” she asked.
Boon nodded.
“Why would you be serving me all the time?”
His eyes focused on hers and for just a split second she felt like he was staring into her soul. “Because you’re mine. You are my heart. It is my responsibility to see that you have all you need, and all you want. I was worried about you not eating enough. But now I see that won’t be a problem as long as I provide the things you love most.”
“Are you planning on living with Maverik and Valerie indefinitely, because I’m not planning on leaving home any time soon to have a need for you to take care of me.”
He sat back, chewing as he carefully considered his answer. “I’m hoping that by proving to you that I can provide for and protect you, you’ll realize the same thing that I have.”
“And that is?” Angelle asked.
“That my home is wherever you are. And your home will be wherever I am.”
“You’re very presumptuous,” she said with a slight smile.
Boon grinned at her. “You have no idea.”
She looked up at him a few times with a single brow raised — an expression she’d picked up over the years from her father — as she ate her second serving of potatoes, clearly weighing her earlier impression of him.
“So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?” he asked.
“I was thinking of taking a walk, maybe fishing for a while.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Alone.”
“Understood. I will watch over you from a safe distance.”
“This is my land, my people. I don’t need protection here.”
