Page 97 of The Other Fork in the Road

Her smile faded, prompting a worried pull in my gut. “Grant?—”

“You can come here and color, or eat your SpaghettiOs, or have a campout.” He pointed to the loft, and her mouth dropped open.

“A loft? Oh my gosh, this is amazing!”

“Come on!” While Grant climbed the ladder, she turned to me and smiled.

“I can’t believe this place.”

We both followed Grant, and a second later, we were all lying on the mattress, looking up at the twinkly lights.

Grant turned his head toward her. “Look, we all fit perfectly up here.” He giggled. “Like a snug bug in a rug. Do you like it, Madison?”

She looked at him with adoration. “Grant, I love it so much.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. That smile, the twinkle in those eyes brighter than the lights above us, and the relief I felt as I imagined her mind spinning. Her silence was telling me that she wasn’t ruling out something more, and it was confirmed when she looked over at me, and her cheeks had a pink tinge to them. I had one more day to figure out a plan to make her mine.

After another hour of hanging out in Madison’s she-shed and a thorough discussion of why worms divide in two when sliced by a shovel—at that moment, I discovered Madison makes up her own science facts—we walked her back to Daisy’s.

“Do you want to ride with us to the rehearsal?”

“I think I’m riding with Zoey, but I’ll see you both there.”

“See you then.”

I grabbed Grant, and we headed back to my place. I looked back to see sexy Madison standing on the front porch watching us. Her warm smile caused a sharpness in my chest. Even leaving her for a few hours felt wrong.

I got Grant into the shower, dressed in his little black dress pants and blue button-down shirt that Daisy had picked up in town. Boy cleaned up well. He packed his suitcase for his sleepover with Katie tomorrow morning, while I showered and shaved.

“She loved the she-shed, Jax.” His little head nodded as he bopped into the bathroom. “I knew it would be her favorite place.”

“We did well. But?—”

He gave me an eye roll. “I know, you think she’s going to leave. But I think she’s going to stay here with us. All three of us are a match, right? We’re like peanut butter, jelly, and bread. You need all three for it to be right. I think she knows that, too.”

I nodded and hoped he was right.

* * *

We picked up Austin and headed to the church while Grant played on my iPad in the back seat.

Austin spoke quietly. “Dude, what’s up with you and Madison?”

“Nothing.”

“Good, she’s Jim’s daughter, so kind of off limits for you.” He chuckled.

We pulled up to the church to see all of Daisy’s extended family doing the ordinary rehearsal dinner parking lot pre-gaming. Yeah, a grill cooking up brats, my Aunt Kim sitting on a tailgate with a Mike’s Hard Lemonade in hand, and my Uncle Burt working the keg. My nephew Andrew James, a little pistol, was wearing his Nebraska Cornhusker jersey and tossing around a football with a bunch of kids. Just next to the corn hole toss was my cousin Josh running the DJ booth with “Fancy Like” blaring.

As we parked, Madison and Zoey pulled up beside us, and we all got out, just as my cousin Rachel shot me a smile as she flipped me the bird. Yes, that’s how my family rolls.

Zoey looked around and laughed. “What in the hell is this?”

Austin laughed. “Our family.”

“Well, shit.” A sly grin. “Introduce me.”

Austin and Zoey walked away as Grant hopped out of the truck.

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