Page 27 of Can't Get Over You
“Cody,” Finlay said. “This is Jude.”
“You came.” The boy’s eyes widened with awe.
“Of course. I said I would.”
“Are you really going to get me a bike?” Cody asked.
“Yes.”
“Can we go right now?” The boy scrambled to his feet. His hands were red from the cold. His clothes were filthy and damp. “Please?”
Jude knew what he had to do. “Yeah. You’re coming with me.” He had no other choice. “Come on.”
Finlay picked up the boy. “We need to get him washed up and into dry clothes. Which do you want to do?”
“I’ll find something for him to wear.”
After they entered the kitchen, Finlay went straight to the sink while Jude headed into the mudroom to pick out a kid-sized coat, hat, and gloves. Next, he had to get jeans and a shirt from Carlo.
Turning back to tell Finlay where he was going, he saw she’d propped Cody on the counter to wipe his hands and face with a dish towel. The intimacy between them was like mother and son. There was so much trust in the boy’s eyes as he turned his palms up and tilted his chin to let her clean him.
An image of her in a home, a kitchen, the smell of chicken roasting, two kids on the floor, playing with toy cars, blew through him. It was so vivid, so…good…that he immediately shut it down.
What the fuck was that?
Jude had zero interest in a family. A mortgage. A dog shitting in the yard.
Imagine me selling insurance and mowing the lawn.
Yeah, right.
He strode over to her. “Come on.” He lifted Cody off the counter. “We need to talk to your grandpa.”
The boy went stiff, and he clung to Finlay’s T-shirt. “Can Miss O’Neill come, too?”
“Absolutely.” Before Finlay could even reach for the boy, he flung himself into her arms. “Oh. Okay. I got you.” She ran a soothing hand down the back of his head. “It’s all right.”
“Will you come with me to get a bike?” Cody asked her.
“You don’t have to do that,” Jude said quietly. He couldn’t involve Finlay in this situation. She had enough of her own shit to deal with. “He’ll get used to me. We’ll be fine.” He reached for the boy.
But that only made him more anxious. “Please, Miss O’Neill?”
Finlay’s gaze dropped to the floor for just a moment as she grew contemplative. She drew in a breath. “Sure. That sounds like fun.” She shot Jude a rueful smile. “Better than dealing with my own life, right?”
He didn’t think it would work without her. “Maybe if you come with us to get the bike, it’ll give him time to get used to me. After that, I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”
“Deal.”
They headed back to Carlo’s room. As he knocked on the door, he turned to her. “Can you give me a minute to talk to him alone?”
“Of course.”
“Then bring Cody in so he can say goodbye.”
She eyed him curiously, but as soon as Jude heard, “Come in,” he entered the room, leaving her and the boy in the hallway.
He stood before the older man. “What exactly do you need from me?”
