Page 17 of Sweet Beginnings

“Today is no different than any other day.” Stepping around Brady perched comfortably at her feet, Preston sidled up beside his mom and carefully touching her arm, tried to ease the spatula out of her hand.

“No you don’t. Though the circumstances aren’t the best, I’m glad to have you back at the ranch. A little help in your spare time will be nice, but right now, your heart may be in the right place, but face it dear, you cook up better spreadsheets than pancakes.”

On both counts, his mom was spot on. Even though he knew his way around the kitchen well enough not to starve, he wasn’t going to win a home-cooking contest anytime soon, though living at the ranch would make helping easier. With so many people displaced from one of the few apartment buildings in town, there was little hope of finding anywhere else to stay. In terms of helping out his mother, that was great. As for his and Sarah Sue’s little charade, this brought a whole new dilemma to the plans. Still, that didn’t need to be solved right now and his mother overdoing it did. “I’d really feel better if you went back to bed and let me—”

“Oh, I’m late.” Sarah Sue came in the back door with a large foil-covered tray in her hand. “I knew you had a house to feed this morning so I made extra sausage and hash browns.”

“That’s sweet of you. I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but I’m feeling much better today.”

Preston let his gaze meet Sarah Sue’s. He was pretty sure the doctor’s orders had not beenfeel free to go back to running a ranch in the morning. When Sarah gave the slightest shake of her head, he knew his mom was not being a good patient.

“Why does what’s cooking smell so good?” Rachel came bounding down the stairs. “Mom, you are not supposed to be up. Doc said you should take it easy for a few days.”

“I am. There’s nothing hard about flipping pancakes.”

His sister’s gaze met his. If she wanted answers from him on how to get their mother to hand over the spatula and go back to bed, his sister was plum out of luck.

“Ms. Alice, if I go home and my father finds out I let you cook breakfast, I may find my bags packed and set on the front porch.” Sarah set the foil-covered pan on the counter and leaned over to scratch the scruff of Brady’s neck.

His mom blinked. And she might even have winced when she turned at the waist without moving her feet.

“She’s right, Mom. Doc is always grumbling about patients who don’t take his advice.” Rachel came forward and gently reached for the spatula.

“It’s not like I had open heart surgery.” His mom tightened her grip on the spatula and flipped a row of pancakes before looking at her daughter. “If you want to help, you can save me a few steps and start cracking eggs.”

“I’ll set the table.” Preston turned toward the cupboard.

By the time Carson and Jillian had joined them in the kitchen and the pancakes were warming in the oven, they’d managed to convince their mother to at least sit while they finished cooking breakfast.

Sarah Sue had glanced more than once at Preston and smiled. Coincidentally at just the moment when his mom had been looking up. “I’d better get back home and let Dad know everything here is under control.”

“Of course it is.” His mom smiled. “Tell your dad I said thanks, and I’m fine.”

The door had hardly latched shut behind Sarah Sue when his mother shifted her attention to Preston. “Best neighbors a family could ever ask for.”

No one in the room could deny that.

“Mildred tells me you two were having dinner at the café.”

He knew Mildred worked fast, but it was only six o’clock in the morning and his mother had been sleeping soundly last night, both when he and Sarah Sue left and when he’d finally come home in the middle of the night.

“When did Mildred find the time to report my dinner plans with you?”

Reaching for a pancake, his mom shrugged. “Makes no never mind. You two seem to be rather cozy this morning.”

This would be the time when normally he or any of his siblings would redirect their mom, but he had to remind himself that there was a plan that needed to be put in place and this was exactly what they’d all hoped for. For a split second he hated deceiving his mother, but this was one of those altruistic moments about the greater good. “She followed the alarm with me. With doc delivering a baby across town, we thought she might be of help.”

His mom lifted one brow. It was the same look she’d give him when he was a kid making excuses for showing up late for supper, chores, or anything else that involved a little fast—or not so fast—thinking on his feet. He wasn’t sure how she did it, but even though he was a full-grown adult, that look still made him as nervous as a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“That’s why she was with me when I learned the apartment was on fire.”

Her brow still arched high, his mom’s chin dipped, her gaze remained fixed with his and he swallowed hard. He could do this. Take it slow, play the part. “She’s a good friend.”

“Is everything a total loss?” Doing what the siblings normally did to help redirect their parents away from a brother or sister on the hot seat, Jillian stabbed at some eggs on her plate.

“No idea. Things have to cool down, then the engineers have to determine if it’s safe to even go near the building, never mind rummage through my apartment. But I’m doubtful whatever survived the fire will have survived the water soaking.”

Jillian sighed. “I’m really sorry about the fire, but look on the bright side, moving back here, you won’t have to pay rent.”

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