“Come on. I need to hear about how the newbies are doing,” River told Seb.
“Hey!” I frowned playfully. “What am I? Chopped liver?”
River waved his hand dismissively, with a small smirk playing on his lips. “I want to hear from theveterinarian, Theo.”
I grumbled for show as I followed them inside.
River and Lake had encouraged Rey to do whatever he wanted with cooking, so he’d found one of Ruth’s cookbooks someone had gotten for her not too long ago. It had comfort food recipes, which meant that if it wasn’t alsohealthycomfort foods, everyone would’ve been gaining weight like crazy.
Someone picked up groceries for his lists, and in the end, he produced mostly successful stuff, like the soft tacos and a massive salad tonight.
We put the two round tables together and sat down to eat. Because Rey wanted to talk to Seb like always, and River wanted to hear about the animals and probably avoid Ben a little, the three of them took one table, while Ben was stuck sitting across from me with Lake on the other end.
Not that he minded. They talked quietly about where the book was probably going, and I listened to them absently while keeping an ear out for the animal conversation on my other side.
As I ate the delicious food, I realized I was surrounded by family. A new one. I’d lost Ruth, sure, but I still had Hudson and Sierra, and all these guys.
Seb had tried to keep a little distance in the past, but Lake’s crew was pulling him in.
“Oh, so did you know my new boss is the brother of one of your volunteers?” River asked, turning to me.
“No, which one?”
“Rachel Cobb. Dr. Cobb, Toby, he’s her brother and moved into town a couple of months ago to support her and Abe.”
I nodded. “Yeah, they’ve been coming by since Abe was a toddler.”
Seb cleared his throat. “I know them, too. Abe was really excited to have his uncle in town.”
“Yeah, Dr. Cobb said that there were some complications with Abe’s recovery after he broke his arm, so he came to stay for a bit and then ended up deciding he wanted to stay permanently.” River grinned. “He seems like one of those people who take risks on a whim, but he’s also very…” He waved his fork around, a piece of salad falling back on his plate. “Kind. Compassionate. He’s very…solid.”
“Sounds nice,” Lake commented.
“Yeah,” Sebastian breathed, then flushed a little and went back to eating.
Lake continued to chat with Ben. Something about a plot point and three act structure, and I kind of zoned out a bit.
Suddenly, a foot touched my ankle, and I startled. When I glanced around, nobody was showing any signs of noticing it. It was on my left, so it had to be Lake.
His socked foot rubbed my ankle teasingly, but when I turned my head toward him, he wasn’t paying me any attention. I cleared my throat and took a sip of water, then picked up another taco.
The foot never left my ankle, which made me feel twitchy in a weird, positive way. He was caressing me just because he could, and slow as molasses, the thought of that made my blood pump south.
Somehow, I managed to keep my body in check and didn’t embarrass myself when I got up once we were done eating. Lake raised an eyebrow at me, and I chuckled as I collected everyone’s glass.
* * * *
Seb went with Rey to check on the kittens once more, and Ben insisted on helping with clean up duty. River escaped to go shower, so Lake and I made sure Ben didn’t have to work alone.
I left the house first and told Seb goodnight as I noticed him following me out.
I went to make sure everything was fine with the horses and other critters and smiled at the way the twins and Izzy were calm in their boxes. Putting Izzy in the stall next to the twins had worked well.
I walked out of the stable and went toward my cabin, doing a mental count of the dogs and couple of cats I saw around like I always did.
I’d gotten a few steps from my porch when I heard steps from behind me. I had no time to turn around fully, when Lake was suddenly in my space, pushing me toward the space between the two cabins. He guided me roughly until I had my back against the wall, then looked at me with an intensity that made my body tighten in anticipation.
“Tell me if you don’t want this,” he uttered.
