Page 26 of Home to You
Eden choked on her coffee mid-sip, quickly setting the mug down as her eyes widened. My brother hid a laugh behind a cough.
“I, um …” she stammered, looking over her shoulder at me, her eyes imploring me to intervene.
But before I could, Cole’s face lit up like a tree on Christmas morning, and he launched into more questions. “Are you guys dating now? Because that would be so cool! I told Dad he should ask you out, but he said?—”
“Cole,” I warned, but I was fighting a grin.
He bounced on his toes. “This is the best day ever! Can Miss James have breakfast with us? Can she come to the barn after? Wait ’til I tell Benny our teacher is dating my dad!”
Eden’s eyes went soft as she crouched down to Cole’s level, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Slow down there, cowboy.”
“Ready for breakfast?” Colt asked, rescuing us from my son’s exuberance.
“Pancakes!” Cole exclaimed, seeing the platter Colt set on the big wood table. “You’re the best, Uncle Colt. Pancakes are my favorite.”
We sat around the table together, passing plates and pouring syrup over our food, the morning sunlight slanting through the windows in broad golden stripes, as Cole regaled us with all his plans for me and Eden now that we were together. They were wild and over-the-top in the way only a ten-year-old’s imagination could conjure—family movie nights every Friday, camping trips every summer, over-the-top Christmases …
Sitting here watching her and my son, he wasn’t the only one thinking this way. I could suddenly picture years of mornings just like this one. Maybe a high chair pulled up to this same table. Cole teaching his little sister the proper syrup-to-pancake ratio. Him as a teenager, asking Eden for advice about a girl.
The future I’d stopped letting myself dream about suddenly felt possible again.
“Thank you for asking me to stay.” Eden’s head found my shoulder, and she let out a long, contented sigh.
I kissed her temple and said, “You’re finally right where you’re supposed to be.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jake’s wordssettled in my heart, feeling oh so right.“You’re finally right where you're supposed to be.”
I’d been adrift for the last couple of years, wondering if I’d ever feel like I belonged somewhere and hoping that I hadn’t set myself up for a bleak, loveless future. But sitting here in this warm kitchen, wearing Jake’s clothes and watching his son demolish a stack of pancakes, I felt something I hadn’t experienced in years: contentment.
Cole turned in his chair to face his dad, syrup dripping from his fork onto the table. “Since I don’t have school today and Miss James is here, can we take her down to the river, please? I want to show her all my favorite spots, and maybe we can have a picnic, too? Uncle Colt said today’s probably the last warm day we’re gonna get.”
“A picnic sounds great,” Gage said from the doorway, Nash trailing behind him. “I'll make my famous sandwiches.”
“Famous for what? Giving people food poisoning?” Nash joked, brushing past him to grab a plate from the island.
“One time!” Gage countered with a scowl. “And I still say it was the flu and not my food.”
Both brothers paused when they spotted me at the table, and I felt heat creep up my neck under their scrutiny.
“Morning, Eden,” Gage said, his tone carefully neutral. Based on his expression, I got the impression he wasn’t entirely surprised to see me sitting here.
Nash’s eyes widened slightly as he took in the scene—me dressed in his brother’s flannel, my hair sloppily piled on the top of my head, mascara smudges under my eyes. It was apparent I hadn’t just popped over for breakfast. A slow smile spread across his face. “Well, well, well. Looks like you two finally worked things out.”
Jake’s hand found mine, his fingers intertwining with mine. “We’re getting there.”
“Good,” Nash said simply, grabbing a plate and loading it up with food. “About time.”
Jake cleared his throat, and I chuckled nervously, not yet ready to get into a big, long discussion with Jake’s family about our relationship. It was still so new, so undefined.
“What’s this about Gage poisoning people?” I asked, desperate to shift the conversation away from Jake and me.
Gage huffed out a beleaguered sigh and began recounting his supposed food poisoning incident. I laughed as his brothers interjected, offering up vastly different versions of the story. Sitting here with them felt so natural, so right … like I’d been sharing Saturday morning breakfasts for them all this time. Like I belonged here. Like I was meant to stay.
“So are we going to the river or not?” Cole asked, bringing the conversation back around to the family outing.
“I’m game if you are,” Jake said, squeezing my thigh under the table.
