He throws two spoons into a carton of Cherry Garcia for us, and we join Winnie on the couch. We watch cartoons before Winnie falls asleep with a half-melted bowl of ice cream in her lap. Tanner silently stands, takes her bowl and our carton over to the kitchen and begins washing up. I join him and stand there, leaning against the counter watching his hands work. He washes and I put away. When he sneaks a few glances over at me, a humored smirk growing on his lips.
“What?” I ask, as he hands me a now clean spoon.
“Nothing.” He smiles, shuts off the sink. His eyes never leave mine while he grabs the towel from me and dries his hands with it. “We’re a good team,” he says and flicks the towel, only inches from my butt.
“Tanner.” I snap his name in a hushed tone while my cheeks burn with a deep blush.
He kisses my cheek and pretends to be innocent. “What? Are you mad I missed?”
I gently shove my elbow into him, but he grabs my arm and pulls me into his side like it were a reflex. A reflex to touch, to be close, to feel this way.
“You guys can kiss,” Winnie says in her sleepy voice, like she’s bored of watching us flirt. “I saw you kiss already.”
“She caught us making out,” I tell him.
“Making out?” Winnie questions. “What’s that?”
Tanner laughs and raises a brow. “In that case, are we totally giving up on the rules now?”
As if the rules ever stood a chance. I nod, and he pushes his lips dramatically against mine, twisting back and forth as I laugh,but he won’t let me pull away. The whole ridiculous, silly scene makes Winnie erupt in laughter.
“Okay! Okay!” she squeals. “That’s enough!”
Tanner pulls away, smiling down at me.
“Boys are gross, huh?” I say and untangle myself from his arms.
“You’re the one who kissed one.” She scrunches her nose.
“Mom’s right,” Tanner says. “Boys are really gross.”
“Not family boys.” Winnie comes over and slips her hand into Tanner’s. “Like Grampy, Uncle Rhett, Uncle Seb, and you, Tan. You’re a family boy too.”
I hear him suck in a breath.
“You think?” His voice wavers.
“Yup.” She shrugs like it’s a simple fact and drags him back over to the couch.
28
Iwas in Winnie's room the moment I heard her crying. I found her standing in front of her dresser with most of the clothes pulled out and littered all over the floor.
“Win, what’s wrong?”
She hiked up her shoulders and dropped them. “I have nothing panty-otic to wear.”
“Panty? Do you mean patriotic? Like for Fourth of July?”
“Aunt Laurey said we wear red, white, and blue, but I don’t have any.”
“You have your Cubs’ shirt. That has the right colors.”
“It’s dirty.” She stamped her foot.
“Okay, well maybe after breakfast we can go to Walmart and see if we can find something patriotic if you ask nicely and don’t stomp your feet.” I kissed her head. “Clean this up and I’ll start your waffles.”
Ten minutes later, she joined me at the table, still a touch pouty and sniffly.
