“Just having the extra set of hands is always helpful.” Peeling the wrapper back on a muffin, Joe angled his gaze on Spencer, bushy eyebrows drawn low over his eyes. “Not many men want to spend their Friday nights with a woman and her two energetic kids. I admire your bravery,” he chuckled.
Spencer had never really considered himself much of a ‘kid person,’ but there was something different about Trinity’s children. Maybe it was her deep love for them that made the affection contagious. He saw them through her eyes, and his overwhelming sense to protect her and her heart extended to them, too.
“They are great kids,” he said. “She’s doing an amazing job with them.”
Jennifer scooted from the table, the chair legs scraping the hand-hewn floorboards as she pushed back. “Just heard thebuzzer on the washer. I’m going to rotate the laundry. Be back in a jiffy. Don’t eatallof the muffins while I’m gone.”
“No promises,” Joe teased as his wife’s hands came down on his shoulders in an affectionate squeeze before she scurried off.
Alone with Joe, Spencer suddenly felt exposed, like every thought, hope, and dream he’d had for the man’s daughter was somehow evident, somehow on display. He worried what Joe would think if he really knew the depths of his feelings for Trinity. Would he approve?
“Trinity said your place is turning out fantastic,” Joe broke through Spencer’s reverie.
“I’m pleased with it. The builders did a great job, and Trinity has been the biggest help when it comes to making the place feel like a home and not just a house.”
Was that too much to confess? If it was, Joe didn’t appear fazed.
“She really likes you, Spencer.”
A lump wedged itself in the very center of Spencer’s throat. He coughed softly into a fist. “The feeling is mutual.”
He prepared himself for the lecture. He knew it was coming. The part where Joe cautioned Spencer to be careful with his daughter’s heart. Where he reiterated all that she’d been through. Where he warned that Spencer might not be up for the task of caring for Trinityandher two children. Spencer braced himself emotionally for the impact.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Joe said, popping the last bit of banana muffin into his mouth. “I really like the two of you together. You balance one another out well.”
“Oh.” Spencer couldn’t keep from uttering his surprise. “Yeah. I mean, yes. I think so, too.”
“She has so much love to give, Spencer. Always has. I think it’s why she got into the floral industry. A bouquet is basicallyjust a bundle of affection in a vase when you think about it. Flowers express emotions that sometimes words can’t.”
He liked that sentiment. And it summed up Trinity perfectly.
“I’m not sure if Trinity has verbally expressed how much she cares for you, but as her father, I can see it. The way she talks about you. The way she’s excited for you to spend time with Liam and Mia at the farm. The fact that she’s let you get close to the kids is a big deal.”
“I know it, sir. And I don’t take it lightly.”
“Just to be clear, I didn’t invite you inside to grill you or ask you your intentions with my daughter,” Joe said making such direct eye contact Spencer began to sweat. “I just wanted the opportunity to spend some time with the man my daughter speaks so highly of. I hope this is just the beginning of many more muffin mornings.” He picked up one of the baked goods and held it in the air, waiting for Spencer to take his own and tap it toward his in a sort of toast.
Just then, Jennifer reappeared from the laundry room, right in time to catch the tail end of her husband’s words. “More muffin mornings?” Her hands went playfully to her hips, head cocked. “Are you planning on doing all the baking, Joe?”
“I can learn.” He shrugged, then winked at Spencer. “Or I can shoot on down to Faith’s bakery and pick something up. What I’m trying to say, Spencer, is that there’s always a place for you around our table because our daughter has made a place for you in her heart.”
“I should have realizedthat he would end up covered in dirt.”
Spencer grimaced as he watched Liam prop Bubba Bear on Doodlebug’s back again, sending him around for another lapin the miniature horse’s stall. When he’d texted Trinity after leaving her parents’, mentioning he had the missing stuffed animal in hand, he planned to drive straight to her place to pass off the bear. But apparently Trinity was already enroute to the barn as Mia had something she wanted to give to Bluebell. So Spencer doubled back and met them at the ranch, returning the stuffed animal to Liam the instant he climbed down from the car.
The boy was ecstatic, and there was no way Trinity was going to peel the bear from his hands. She’d shrugged, saying that both her son and the toy were washable, but Spencer felt bad for adding more work to her already busy schedule.
“I should have waited,” he apologized again.
“It’s really not a big deal, Spencer. Didn’t you have a stuffed animal growing up that became so worn, it was hardly recognizable? I had a little lamb and by the time I’d graduated high school, the poor thing only had one eye and hardly any stuffing left in her. Sometimes being well-loved means being a little tattered.”
They kept a watchful eye on Liam in the mini’s stall, while also observing Mia in Bluebell’s. She’d brought a little purse filled with various colored ribbons and was working meticulously to braid them into the horse’s mane. Apparently, she’d learned a new technique that she’d been practicing on her toy horses and was eager to try it out on the real thing.
“Do you have plans tonight?” Spencer moved to the haybales stacked like a staircase and patted next to him as he sat down. “If not, I’d like to take you out.”
“Like on a date?”
He bumped her shoulder with his. “If you’re okay with that.”
