“I did. Did you put it in water when you got home?” she asks Naomi.
Naomi nods up and down. “I put it next to my bed so I could wake up to see it every morning.”
“Oh wonderful, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“My Grandma Dixie and Grandma Lilah liked the flowers too,” Naomi says.
“We really did, Mae, thank you,” Aunt Dixie says from down the table.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” she says with a soft smile.
I drink my beer, watching them interact with each other as Naomi asks Mae about flowers and if she grows them and how they get their pretty color.
“Why are you here?” Naomi asks.
The beer gets caught in my throat and I sputter, trying not to choke.
Mae smiles at Naomi. “I’m a friend of June and Gracie’s. My family doesn’t live in Paxton, so they invited me to be a part of yours.”
Naomi considers this. “Oh, okay,” she says, and looks up at me. “Can I be excused?” she asks.
Her plate is almost empty, and all the roast is gone. “Yes, princess,” I say, smoothing her hair back.
Naomi hops up from her chair and takes off for the living room.
“That was a close one,” Fletcher mutters, and everyone bursts into laughter.
I look around, realizing they all know about me and Mae.
Mae blushes a deep pink, spreading all the way down her neck and over her chest. She stares at me, and I wink.
“I take it you two had a good date then,” Tatum says.
“I’d say so,” I respond to Tatum, while looking at Mae.
She doesn’t say a word, too embarrassed or nervous. Or maybe it’s because everyone knew we were in my room making out like teenagers. I’m not surprised, nor am I bothered, but she is.
You scare me.Mae’s words roll around in my head like a small snowball that’s slowly gaining speed, getting bigger and bigger as it rolls down the hill of my mind.What did she mean by that? Did I scare her? Does me being a dad scare her?
June whispers something in Mae’s ear, and she makes big eyes at her as if to say,shut up.
I chuckle and take a drink of water to get rid of my dry mouth.
Everyone falls into their own conversation, and I keep sneaking peeks at Mae. Fletcher is talking to me, but I’m not listening, too distracted by her.
After we clean up dinner and get the leftovers boxed up to go with everyone. I find Mae in the living room with Naomi. A strange combination of relief and reluctant anxiety slap me. They’re connecting, which is great, but the line is being blurred. Naomi isn’t a toddler who will forget Mae in a day.
“This is a positive thing, Coop,” Aunt Dixie whispers in my ear.
I glance down at her, and she rubs a hand up and down my back soothingly. She always had a knack for reading me and my cousins.
“I don’t want her to get too attached, you know…” I take a deep breath. “You know how I feel about women who aren’t family being around Naomi.”
“I do, and you’ve done a great job of protecting her. But I see the way you look at Mae. I wasn’t born yesterday, honey, you have feelings for her.” Aunt Dixie says it like a statement. There is no ‘but’ because it’s true.
“Mae clearly has a connection with her, and I thoroughly doubt she’s telling Naomi that y’all were on a date. She’s playing with her, relax. If anything, it confirms or perhaps denies what you have rolling around in that head of yours.”
I shove my hands in my pockets, watching them color and talk. It confirms everything I had a feeling about, but like Mae, it scares me, too. Though I’m not sure we’re scared about the same things.
