Page 31 of Serendipity

“What are we doing the rest of the day?” Cash asks, sitting back in his chair and rubbing his stomach. He ate four helpings of the egg casserole, two muffins, a scone, a bit of fruit and countless slices of bacon.

“Paintball?” Boone asks.

“Right on,” Brock agrees.

“Definitely,” Cash says.

“Heck yeah,” Corbin Rae adds in. I’ve noticed that she’s never one to be left out. “You guys want to join us?”

Leah smiles widely at her children wanting to include us. “Maybe next time,” she says, giving me a sly look.

“Gross. Not at the table,” Cash grumbles.

Apparently her look wasn’t so sly after all.

Everyone laughs and we get to work cleaning up the dishes and putting away all the leftovers, which is surprisingly only a little. As much food as she made, I thought she’d have more left. I forgot how much food her kids eat, though.

The kids gather all their gear and pile into Cash’s pickup after bidding us goodbye.

“And then there were two,” Leah murmurs, looking up at me with a twinkle in her eye.

“How long will they be gone paintballing?”

“Long enough.”

“Good answer,” I mutter as I take her in my arms, lifting her up and heading toward her bedroom.

We’re interrupted by the doorbell and as much as we’d like to ignore it, I set her on her feet.

“I’ll get rid of whoever this is and be right back. Stay here,” she says, lifting up on her toes to give me a kiss.

“Hurry.”

I hear the door open and Leah says, “Hi. How can I help you?”

“Um, is Boone here?” comes a quiet feminine voice.

“He’s out with his brothers and sister right now.”

“Oh. Okay,” the girl says, clearly disappointed. “Um… do you, um, actually never mind.”

“Do you want me to tell him you stopped by?”

“What? No. No, it’s okay. I’ll just… I can catch him later.”

“Are you all right, honey?” She definitely isn’t. “Do you need to come in?”

She’s quiet for a few seconds before, “I’ll be… I think… well, okay, yeah, I’ll stop by later.”

“What’s your name, honey?”

“Daisy.”

“Okay, Daisy. I’m Leah, Boone’s mom, as you probably knew. It was nice to meet you but if you need to come inside, please do.”

“Maybe another time. Sorry I interrupted your afternoon.”

“It’s okay. No trouble at all.”

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