“C’mon now! What am I?” I demanded loudly after a few minutes. “Chopped liver?”
“Oh, don’t you get jealous on me now, Maverick Fox, you hear me?” she said, laughing. With Duke attached to her hip, she rounded the counter. I met her halfway and hugged her fiercely.It didn’t matter that it’d only been a few days since I saw her last; she still held on just as tight. Short of having the title, she was basically my mom at this point. She treated me like one of her boys—complete with hugs, nagging, check-ins, and all the food I could ever need, no matter how many times I told her she didn’t need to.
It was weird, realizing that this was what being loved by a mother was supposed to be like. It didn’t make up for the crap my own mother had put me through, but it did soften the blow as I grew older.
“You want your usual this morning?” Millie asked as we separated.
“Always starts with a coffee,” I said. I rounded the corner, helping myself. “I’m going to need a pot and two cups—”
“Harley Lowell.” The tone in her voice shut me up as she realized he had walked in with me.Yeah, Millie wasn’t happy.I couldn’t quite blame her. She knew everything. She was the only person who kneweverything. I’d shared every sordid, broken detail with her more than a few times as I tried to work through the anger and hurt I’d been left with.
“Millie—”
“It’s Mrs. Wagner,” she interrupted. I bit back a laugh.Oh, she was going to lay into him if I wasn’t careful. And the worst part was: I was good. I had no issues to address with him. I’d moved on from all that crap. Millie would probably hold a grudge until the day she died.
Poor Harley.
“Of course, Mrs. Wagner,” he said. At least, he was a good sport about the whole thing. I swiped up a pot of coffee and two cups.
“Come on.” I inserted myself into the back-and-forth to keep it from spiraling out of control. “We sit outside. Duke! Outside.”
My dog’s ears perked up at the mention of outside. He bolted for the back door—the one that led to the porch and lake wraparound eating area. Harley followed a few steps behind me. We almost made it to the door before Millie stopped us.Almost.
“You be good to him, you hear?” Millie called after us. Both of us stopped, turning. I watched how Harley straightened slightly, his back going rigid.
“Yes, ma’am,” Harley said.
“Good,” she replied. “I’ve got my eyes on you, Harley Lowell. You understand me?”
The threat was subtle enough to be non-aggressive, but clear enough for him to know what she meant. To be honest, it was one of her nicer threats, all things considered.
“Yes, ma’am,” he repeated softly.
“Damn.” I whistled as I leaned in closer, the heat of his back seeping into my chest. I ignored just how damn good that felt. “She threatened you before you hit the back door. I think that’s a new record.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, she usually waits until food comes out to give her speech while she holds your food hostage,” I told him and gave him a little nudge. “We’d better go before she comes up with a plan.”
He followed me outside as Duke led the way, going straight for the farthest corner overlooking the lake, where a raised dog bed was set up for him alongside my usual table. A fresh bone was already waiting for him, and he got to work gnawing on it before we ever got a chance to sit down. I took the seat closest to him while Harley sat across from me.
“You eat here often?” he asked. I poured him a cup of coffee first and then myself.
“Most days, yeah,” I said. “But I’m the go-to person to fix everything, so it evens out.”
“Mrs. Wagner seems to like you,” he replied, making me chuckle at the title. “A lot.”
“That’s an understatement. You remember Roxy?” I asked. When he nodded, I continued, “She had Aidan’s kid. My brother’s not around anymore.”
A restraining order made sure that happened.
“What started as just me trying to be helpful turned into Millie and James all but legally adopting me,” I explained. As he reached for his coffee cup, I glanced at his hand.No wedding ring.It made me wonder why he wouldn’t be wearing it.
And the small and twisted, mistrustful part of me wondered if we were about to repeat history all over again.
“That’s nice,” Harley said.
“It is,” I agreed.
