Page 23 of Mystery at Rescue Ridge

Right now, however, all Evie could really focus on was that kiss.

9

Aloud bang shocked Owen out of a light sleep.He sat bolt upright and scanned the room to find Luca barreling toward him with the toy truck in his hands.Two more steps and the kid would have body-slammed into the couch, the truck into Owen’s face.

Scooping Luca up, Owen glanced at the clock on the wall.Six-thirteen.He’d overslept by almost two hours.To be fair, he hadn’t gotten much sleep.He’d tossed and turned thinking about the kiss they’d shared.

“Play truck?”Luca asked.

It would be impossible to say no when those big, hopeful eyes stared up at him.

“You start, and I’ll be right back,” he said, needing a quick trip to the bathroom to brush his teeth and throw some cold water in his face.He fired off a couple of pushups and then headed down the hallway, glancing back in time to see Luca face down, attempting a pushup.

Damn.The kid was adorable.

Owen doubled down on his resolve to keep Evie safe until the threat was behind bars.All thoughts that the hiker could have been random in the woods disintegrated after finding the boot print outside the window last night.

After taking care of business in the bathroom, Owen moved to the kitchen.Coffee.He needed caffeine.

“I’ll be right with you, buddy,” he said to Luca.The kid was happily crashing his trucks into each other, blissfully unaware of any looming threat.Speaking of which, Owen checked out the windows while he waited for coffee to brew.All was calm outside.

Walking past Luca, he bent down and patted the kid on top of the head.Luca beamed up at him, causing a different kind of knot to form in his chest and something that felt a whole lot like longing.Had he underestimated the pull toward fatherhood by having surgery too early?At the time, his mind had been made up.There had been no questions about whether or not he’d been doing the right thing.

Why change his mind now?

Surely, it took more than a cute kid to break down what had felt like an irreversible, ironclad decision.The doctor had warned Owen that his mind might change over time.He’d tried to convince Owen to wait.However, Owen had a stubborn streak a mile long, much like Evie’s, and he especially didn’t like being told what to do.

After pouring a cup of coffee and taking a sip, Owen did as promised and joined Luca on the floor.The kid’s smile was ear-to-ear.

“You have big muscles,” Luca said, admiring Owen’s forearms.

Owen laughed.“Just like you,” he said.“And yours will only get bigger as you get older.”

Those words made the kid’s whole face light up.

“My daddy had big muscles,” Luca said.

Owen glanced up at the picture of a man in uniform holding what had to be Luca as a baby, considering the full head of curly black hair that was so much like his father’s.

“He lives with angels now,” Luca supplied, focused on banging the trucks together, nonchalant like this was just a fact and not a crushing emotional blow.For Owen, it was like a bomb went off in the center of his chest.He knew what it was like to grow up without a parent.He’d all too often wished it had been Beaumont who’d disappeared and then died instead of Owen’s mother.He rarely let himself go there, wondering what she’d been like or how his life would have been different if she’d stuck around long enough for him to get to know her.Would it explain some of his quirks?Had she had the same stubborn streak?The same laugh?

Owen would never know.

An ear-piercing wail broke into the moment.

“That’s loud,” Luca observed.

“Yes, it is.”Owen popped to his feet.He had no idea what to do with Olivia, but he wanted to give Evie a chance to sleep at least until Travis stopped by in person for statements and an update.“I’ll be right back.”

The kid had a set of lungs on her.No one could argue that.In the room, she stood up, held onto the bars of her crib, and screamed bloody murder.

“Hey, hey,” he said to her, not wanting to surprise or cause her to panic.

The sight of him did just that.She wound so tight that when she unleashed the howl, she physically shook.

“Can I do something?Hold you?”he asked, feeling way too out of his element.

As he approached, she sat down and scooted away from him like he was running toward her with an ax in his hand.Damn.The decision to go to the Snip Doc didn’t seem so off base after all, now that he was alone in the room with a crying baby.

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