Page 35 of Guarding My Love

“My mother taught us all how to cook,” he said. “She always said to never rely on anyone to do anything for you.”

“With that many kids, she probably needed all the hands she could get,” she said.

“And then some,” he said. “I’m not sure why they had so many kids, but my mother has a brother who has nine kids, so maybe it’s their thing.”

“Nine kids?! Was it a competition?”

“No idea,” he said. “They have multiples in their family. Not us. My mother was pregnant eight times. No, thank you.”

“And since you’re in the middle, you saw what she went through for some of them.”

“I did,” he said. “Even at a young age, we were helping out. My father wasn’t around much.”

Charlotte still couldn’t believe she’d told Foster what she had about her family, but she really did think he wouldn’t say a word.

When he’d asked if Amanda was married to Drew Bond, she just assumed he knew the name. In the Northeast, the Bond name was well known.

She’d scrambled after that to say that she wasn’t looking to be married to some wealthy guy like her sister. Just wanted to be with a partner who was there for her. Listen to her wants and needs and help each other.

Like she was with Foster cleaning up dinner.

“That had to be hard,” she said. “How much do you clean your plates before they go in the dishwasher?”

“I rinse them,” he said. “If I was going to wash them then I’d just do it. I don’t understand the need for people to wash their dishes first. Do you do that?”

“No,” she said. “I feel the same way. I just get the food off of them.”

Which she did and put it in the dishwasher. When she bent over, her butt bumped into his leg and it caused her to jump up quickly and apologize.

He only laughed and continued to clean up with her.

“Do I have to wait to get dessert?”

“No,” she said. “Help yourself. Did you have to wait growing up? Like were there rules about sitting at the table and eating?”

She wanted to know more about him but also understood that he didn’t say a lot.

He’d mentioned secrets and she was positive there was a crap load of them in his life.

She was starting to wonder if he was embarrassed over his upbringing, which she was assuming was fairly humble.

It had to be if his mother didn’t work with that many kids and his father was in the service, then passed away young.

“We always had enough food,” he said. “But there would be fights at the table. Lots of fights in our house.”

“How could there not be with that many kids? Especially more boys than girls.”

“My mother was good at knocking heads together. My oldest brother was eighteen when my father died. He’d been helping raise us for years. I don’t think he ever got to be a kid.”

“Something tells me that none of you got to be a kid,” she said.

“Just Talia. She’s the baby,” he said.

“She might not feel that way with so many older brothers,” she said. “Not if they are all like you.”

“Like me how?” he asked after he stopped chewing his blondie.

“Protective,” she said. “I see that in you. From helping me from getting hurt. You never lectured though. You saved me, then showed me what not to do and how to do it right.”

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