Page 68 of Second Chance Wedding
She took another large sip. The phone she’d habitually carried everywhere she went and had set on the counter beside her plate lit up with Quinley’s smiling face.
Ana groaned.
Cole chuckled and earned a quelling glare after she pressed the button to decline the call.
“Hey, so far I’ve heard mostly grunts and groans from you. It’s funny. I had no idea you were such a grump in the morning.”
“Not everyone wakes up energetic and ready to go,” she grumbled.
“I guess not. The military takes the choice away, though. Eat some protein. It’ll help.”
Her phone began buzzing again with another call—and a text message from Quinley ordering her to pick up.
“Your friend Quinley is pretty persistent.”
“Mom, isn’t this weekend her bachelorette thing? I remember her saying something the night of the gala about it being Thanksgiving weekend.”
Cole’s thick eyebrows lifted in question, and her appetite fled. Even though the bacon tasted divine. “Yes, but I forgot about it, and…I can’t go now. I just dread telling her.”
“Mom, you gotta go,” Ben said. “Quinley’ll lose it if you don’t.”
“Why the change of heart?” Cole asked.
“I forgot to make some arrangements is all,” she said.
“Do you mean me?” Ben asked, piping up from the couch. “Because I can stay by myself.”
“Nothappening,” she said firmly.
Ben carried his now-empty plate to the sink, and she blinked. “Did you chew at all?”
Her son laughed and then shocked her to her core when he followed Cole’s orders to rinse it off before putting it in the dishwasher.
More proof she’d entered an alternate dimension sometime during the night. Studying, cleaning up after himself. Laughter— When was the last time she’d heard him laugh?
“You should go,” Cole said near her ear.
She turned her head and found him way too close. While she’d focused on Ben, Cole had rounded the island and whispered the words while he settled in next to her. “It’s until Sunday. I can’t.”
Cole stared at her intently for a long moment. “Ben, how about some guy time with me this weekend while your mom takes a break?”
“You cannot be serious,” she said.
“Sure. I’m game. You any good at video games?”
Her head swiveled between them like a tennis match. “No. No, this isn’t a good idea. Cole, no, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking.” Cole grinned and popped the last of a bacon bite into his mouth. “And you’re on, Ben.”
“I shouldn’t go anyway. It’s a holiday weekend, and the hotel will be busy. I should stay and give Sasha a hand. Besides, I feel bad taking a trip when I owe on the limo.”
“You’re going to make up the difference with the advertising stuff you and Quinley put together for me,” Cole said. “You don’t owe anything.”
“Yeah, Mom, and it’s free. Quinley’s rich boyfriend is paying for everything. You have to go. Besides, I’m not a little kid. I don’t even need a babysitter.”
She sooo wanted to comment on that seeing as how Cole came to be involved in their lives but didn’t want to start a fight. “You have no idea what you’re taking on,” she said to Cole.
“I think I can handle him for a weekend,” Cole said. “He’s scheduled to work anyway, so he’ll be with me or my brothers during the day. What’s a few more hours when most of it will be sleeping?”
