Page 20 of Falling for Brody

That wasn't going to happen now.

"How about some water?"

Chip frowned. "Water? You drink water?" He turned slightly and gestured at his mom. "She drinks water."

"Well, people need to drink water."

Chip sagged in his seat. "I was hoping for some soda."

Brody chuckled. "Water it is."

He moved over to the kitchen and reached into a cupboard for some cups. He knew where his aunt kept Sarah's cups and opened the cupboard. He stopped and looked back. Rhea was watching him and nodded when he pointed to the child-friendly cups. "Sippy? or..."

"Just the cup is great. Thanks."

Damn. The way she smiled at him, it hit home.

There was something there.

He couldn't ignore it.

He was in trouble.

CHAPTER4

After dinner,Chip went down for the count and after he was tucked in, Rhea debated if she should go out to the car and get more of their things but decided against it. She had enough to get them changed for two days and that would be enough to get them to the motel. Then she'd feel like she wasn't in danger of over staying her welcome.

While both Helene and Michael had assured her that she could stay as long as it took, she really didn't want to be beholden to anyone in the Armstrong family. It wasn't the way she wanted to start her life in Fallport.

So, she settled down beside her son and went to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would be a productive day searching for a place to call home, her fingers stroking Chip's hair and hoping that he had good dreams.

The next morning,Rhea was up early at the first touch of sunlight on her face.

She didn't feel all that strange since Kay had personally shown her up to the room, revealing it as her own before she'd married and Thomas and the Armstrongs had built them the home they lived in now.

She wouldn't have felt all that comfortable in Joshua or Gabriel's rooms. Joshua was her boss and Gabriel? Well, she hadn't spoken to him or met him. That was going to change in the next few days when he returned with Misty.

By then, she was determined not to be staying in the Armstrong house. If she didn't find something, she'd go to the motel as they'd planned. There she wouldn't worry about owing them.

No, they'd made it clear that they were happy to have her stay with Chip, especially because of what she’d done for Avalon, but Rhea knew how quickly families could turn on you. She didn't want to sour the connections she had there since her job, quite literally, depended on her working with both Brody and Joshua.

And, given that Gabriel was part of Law Enforcement in town, she would be working with Gabriel as well.

She wanted to make sure that she preserved the best relationships there because this town was going to be her home and Chip’s.

Whatever she had to do to make sure that this town would accept him as one of their own, she’d do it. Nothing was going to stop her.

After dressing and leaving Chip to dress himself, she ventured out into the main part of the house to see if anyone else was awake. When she got to the kitchen she was surprised to see Brody at the kitchen table.

"Brody?"

He looked up from the paper and stood. "Morning."

"Uh, morning?"

His shoulders shrugged a little. "Sorry. I came by to see if there's anything I can help with."

She looked down at her phone and then met his eyes again. "I have a few places I wanted to check out, rentals. I was going to head out today and take a look around."

---