But rather than deterring him, a slow, crooked grin spread across his face as he drawled, “It’s all real, baby.”
Maeve shook her head in despair. She had to laugh. Across from her Brodie was grinning, all dimples and wolfish eyes, clearly very much enjoying himself.
Picking up her coffee cup, Maeve stood and said, exasperated, “Get me back to normality!”
His laugh followed her back to the cabin.
ChapterNineteen
Brodie was still reclining in the Adirondack, half snoozing, half remembering, with renewed amusement, Maeve tucked into a terrible orange hoodie waving her hand up and down his body asking him to dial it back. He’d been very taken with her pink cheeks and attempts to justify her request.
The mist had lifted from the river. A cormorant was drying its wings on a fallen branch. The sun was getting warmer as the morning ticked on.
He yawned and stretched his arms above his head. When he let them flop down either side of him he almost jumped out of his skin to see Zoey standing on the veranda steps eating a bowl of the cereal with marshmallows he’d brought.
“We’re not allowed this at home,” she said, heaping great spoonfuls into her mouth.
“No, neither were we, growing up.”
Zoey frowned. “So why’d you buy it?”
Already with the questions.
He thought for a second then said, “So that you’d think I was a fun, cool guy.”
Her mouth was full of cereal and she tried not to laugh.
He stifled his own smile. “Can you get me a bowl?”
“Sure.”
She put hers down on the veranda table and went back inside. A minute or two later, she came back with a bowl filled to the brim with cereal and milk, carrying it steadily like a tightrope walker over to where Brodie sat.
“This is great, thanks,” he said, taking the overfull bowl from her, trying not to spill any on himself. “You’re like a miniature servant.”
She giggled again and, going to get her own bowl, sat down on the opposite Adirondack, wiggling herself back as she held the bowl steady with both hands. Her legs stuck out horizontally on the chair. For some reason, it was the most heartbreaking thing he’d seen all weekend.
He ate a mouthful of cereal, trying not to think too much about the unexpected burst of emotion at the simple sight of her sitting in a chair. As he chewed, sweet sugariness exploded in his mouth. “Wow,” he said. “That is everything cereal isn’t meant to be.”
“It’s good, huh?” Zoey agreed, mouth full, trying not to dribble milk down her chin.
Brodie laughed. “Yeah, it’s awesome.”
He pointed out the cormorant. Zoey asked how he knew its name. He said he figured his dad must have told him.
Then Zoey said, “I don’t have a dad.”
Brodie froze. He felt his heart skip a beat in a confusing mix of both longing and utter terror. He didn’t know how to reply. What should he say? There was no way he could tell her the truth on his own without Maeve there. His palms started to sweat. He wasn’t even sure if he was ready to tell her. So, after slightly too long a pause, he said, “You can have mine if you want.”
She rolled her eyes like he was really silly and then gasped when a fish jumped in the river. Brodie was more than relieved by the distraction. “Do you want to go fishing?”
“Do the fish die?”
“Generally, yes.”
Zoey put her spoon down in the bowl and thought for a moment. “Will we eat them?”
“Yes.”
