Page 166 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

“I was in the delivery room, remember? I at least got a glimpse.”

Tina nudged Ben on his shoulder. “Fair point,” she said. Ben wasn’t sure if she meant to repeat his own response from earlier, or if she had simply started to sound like him. Either way, he found it endearing. She let Ben hold him for another minute, then said, “Now put him back in his bed. The nurse told me not to let people hold him too much when he sleeps or he’ll never sleep on his own.”

“Baby cuddles are better than sleep,” Ben teased, but he kissed James’s head and then carefully set him back in his bed.

“Remember that when I bring him to your room at three in the morning.”

“Hey, I put him down. You don’t have to threaten me.”

Tina only laughed softly in response. “You and Gavin decide on a dog yet?”

“We’ve shelved that idea for a while. I want a puppy, and Gavin wants an older dog.”

“Sounds about right,” Tina teased as she pulled a breakfast casserole out of the refrigerator. “Gavin likes reliable, and you like unpredictable.”

“I hate unpredictable,” Ben said, his tone hovering between teasing and defensive.

Tina set the oven to preheat and then looked at Ben. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“You like stability, but I think you get bored when things are too predictable. I bet that’s part of why you like Gavin so much.”

She had a point there. Gavin stirred Ben’s soul, brought out all of the colors in his world. “Okay, that’s probably true. But unpredictable is… uncomfortable. Gavin isn’t totally unpredictable. He just likes to shake things up. But he’s always home at the end of the night.”

“And he likes having you there to catch him when he falls.”

“We catch each other. That’s how this works.”

The oven dinged and Tina popped the casserole in. “True.”

Tina didn’t have much to say after that, but neither did Ben, so that worked for him. He sipped his coffee and looked over James. If someone had told him six months ago that he’d be sitting in his kitchen, chatting with Tina—that the two of them could sit in a room together without her bursting into tears—he would’ve called them a liar. But now? She was family and Ben could barely remember a time when she wasn’t.

When Nora came into the room, she paused to look at the baby and then went to make herself a cup of coffee. She would be heading back to the east coast soon, and Ben hated to think about it. When he’d picked up and moved from his hometown, too many years ago to count, he’d had reasons, but now he couldn’t think of what they were. Going back wouldn’t work. He couldn’t uproot Gavin, couldn’t abandon Tina, or the new house, but damn it all. He hated being so far away from her.

“You should move out here, Ma.”

Nora turned and looked at Ben. “Good morning to you too, son.”

He laughed, shrugged. “I’m just sayin’. It’d be nice having you closer.”

“You should move back home, then.” She sat down at the table, a brow arched as she blew over the surface of her coffee. “I’ve lived there all my life, lived in the same house for more than thirty years. And I have no desire to start all over here.”

He’d known that, had no doubt what her answer would be. “I get it,” he said, taking a sip from his own mug. “But you should come out more now that we’ve got a bigger place.”

She only nodded in response at first. “That I can do.”

Good enough. Ben would take it.

“Do what?” Gavin asked as he shuffled into the kitchen.

“Visit more,” Nora said. “Get you sick of me.”

Gavin didn’t even pause before responding. “Never happen.”

Tina checked on James again and said, “I’m gonna hop in the shower real quick. Can you keep an eye on him?”

“Get a nap if you can too,” Nora said, shooing her out of the room with a smile.

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