Cam, who was…his heartbeat now. Like a lightning bolt from the past and the future all at the same time.
He was one lucky son of a bitch.
It stung a little that he hadn’t done this on his own. That he hadn’t been able to pick himself up by his bootstraps.
But, on the other hand, what kind of an ungrateful fucker would he be if he didn’t accept what the good Lord had offered him with some sort of grace and work really hard so that one day he could return the favor in whatever way that he could?
He guessed that was why this was Thanksgiving, right?
To remind him he was blessed as fuck, and he was loved.
Well, that, and there was the pie.
Chapter Eighteen
Cam figured he might never eat again. They’d had Thanksgiving at his folks’ house, and then they’d been sent home with almost an entire turkey dinner’s worth of leftovers.
Mom believed that Thanksgiving should feed people for a week, so they had turkey and brisket, and dressing and sides and desserts, and a gallon of iced tea.
The girls loved it, and they loved their paint-by-numbers things they had done at Momma’s house, too.
“Oh my God.” Mitch settled down across from him in the front room once the girls were in their rooms, either in bed or, like Sarah, reading. “I think I’m going to just explode.”
“Uh-huh.” He grinned because Mitch and his girls had experienced a Halley family Thanksgiving, and it had been loud and boisterous, and nobody had really fought. Although there had been one snarl over a football game.
Rosie went wandering through on his way back to Sarah’s room. Somehow or another, he was not even just an I-come-in-to-sleep-on-the-kitchen-floor dog now. He was a I-sleep-with-my-girl-in-her-room dog. He’d gotten some turkey and dressing and gravy in his dinner tonight, too.
“I tell you what. Your people know how to create a spread. And I was so tickled for Bekka and Rachel both. They ate all the pineapple dressing and the chocolate pie.”
Cam winked at Mitch. “You know they did. They would have eaten that stuff if it had tasted like it was made from crushed bugs.”
Mitch’s cheeks flushed, and it almost looked like his eyes welled up with tears, but Cam wasn’t about to comment on that. “You know your dad called the girls his grandchildren.”
That caused Cam’s chest to—not tighten. It wasn’t panic. It was more as if it expanded with pride. Sure, the idea that those kids were somehow his kids now too still gave him a huge jolt of tingling, sweating hands and prickling neck. But at the same time, they were… like his. Oh, they weren’t his kids yet, but he was feeling as if they could be.
“That’s because they’re amazing, and my father has exceptional taste.”
Mitch’s soft laugh sent something that absolutely had nothing to do with food fluttering in the pit of his belly. “Thank you for giving us this. It was an amazing day, and the girls were so happy.”
“Admit it, was it weird?”
Mitch grimaced. “A little. Even when we were kids together, I didn’t get to ever see your whole family all in one place. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in a single house who were related to each other, but it was still really cool.”
He wiggled his toes, which were finally out of their boots for the first time all day, staring at his feet where they were propped up on the recliner footrest. “It’s been a long time since I fully participated in the family Thanksgiving, so I should thank you for giving it back to me.”
“Now we’ve both said thank you.” Mitch winked, his grin broad. “The girls are going to want to decorate for Christmas tomorrow.”
“Holy shitballs.” The words popped out of his mouth before he could even think to stop them, but luckily the girls weren’t there to hear it.
“Yeah, it’s our compromise. Allison used to want to decorate like the second week of November.”
“Wow.” Cam shook his head, grabbing the remote to turn on some kind of show. Maybe a baking show. He’d gotten into watching those with Rachel. “Do we even have the stuff to decorate?”
Mitch held up a hand flat in the air and twisted it from side to side a little. “We have some stuff from when the girls were kids. We got them each a Hallmark ornament every year, and we have some neat garland and a couple of inflatables, but I’d like to get a new tree this year.”
“I can see that.” Cam snagged his phone off the side table and opened up a note-taking app. “So, we need a tree. We would need some lights. Do you have lights for the outside of the house?”
“Like I said about the tree, I have a few, but I’ve never been one to do up the house too much because we’re kind of off the road and nobody really sees it. I kind of do the porch rail and the supports, and that’s about it.”
