Page 23 of Sweetheart and the Grouch
“What makes you think that?”
“Elena caught you leavin’ early this mornin’. She’s really looking forward to these muffins by the way, so we don’t want to keep her waiting long.”
I nod sagely, sitting forward as I look at my palms as if all the answers to life might be written on them like some sort of cheat sheet. “Danny thinks I should marry her. Ainsley, I mean.”
“Your boss, Danny?”
“Know any others?”
“What’s his reason?”
“Ainsley was supposed to hand Elena over to CPS but she didn’t.”
“CPS? Why?”
“Their mom died and Ainsley bein’ only nineteen and a freelance writer wasn’t viewed as secure enough to raise a ten-year-old. Danny reckons that if I marry her, he can pull a few strings and make it so they get to stay together.”
“I see. Is that something you wanna do?”
“I don’t know, Dyl. I’m already struggling with the fact I’m obsessing over a nineteen-year-old. I feel like a dirty old man here.”
“Thanks,” he grunts.
“What?” I sit up and look at him. He quirks a brow my way.
“I’m twenty-five years older than Millie, bro. If you’re a dirty old man with a sixteen-year gap, then what does that make me?”
“You and Millie are different.”
“How?”
“Well, for starters, she was in her twenties when you got together. Ainsley is still a teen.”
“So if you met her a year from now it wouldn’t bother you as much?”
“I know, I know. It’s a dumb way of thinking, but yeah, if she was at least in her twenties, I’d feel a hell of a lot better about it.”
“She some kind of brat?”
“What? No! She’s…great. Gentle, kind,mature.With the shit she’s been through, how could she not be? It’s just… What if she’s only into me because I’m the first man who’s actually been kind to her?”
He meets my eyes for a long moment, then he scrubs a hand across his beard and lets out a sigh. “I can’t tell you how the future is gonna go for you, Jax. But what I can do is tell you how it went for me. When Millie came into my life, it was like a breath of fresh air. Like, I’d been treading water on my own for all these years and then suddenly there she was giving me the strength to swim again. I fought it. Man, I fought it like a motherfucker because I didn’t think I deserved to be happy after what went down before I left the Force. But it didn’t matter how much I fought, once that girl got under my skin…” He smiles and shakes his head. “I was a goner. She became the thing I lived for. Now, I don’t know how real this Soulwink the girls talk about is, but it’s kind of hard to argue against when we all seem to follow the same pattern. Once you meet your One, nothing will ever be the same again. So, I guess what I’m saying is that you should forget the numbers, forget what anyone else is gonna say or think, just…follow your heart. That dusty husk in your chest is probably beating for the first time. It knows what to do.”
AINSLEY
“Ajax is back!” Elena cheers, her face pressed against the front window before she jumps up to open the front door. “And he’s got Dylan with him!”
“Looks like the muffins are ready,” I say to Millie who smiles and turns toward the door, waiting expectantly for her man to return with mine. We’ve been sitting and chatting for about an hour, and already I feel like I’ve made a friend for life. She’s so vivacious and full of life that I can’t help but get caught up in her energy. Whisper Valley seems like it’s the balm to all of our aching hearts, and to hear her tell it, I’m not the first lost soul to find their way here and into the waiting arms of one of the Valentine men. So far, there have been four cousins and two out of four brothers who’ve been touched by this ‘Soulwink Theory,’ a woman named Jade called it. Millie considers Ajax the third brother touched by the phenomenon, which means there’s only one more Valentine to go—Rafe. He’s dead against love though and thinks he’s going to be single until he dies, so Millie can’t wait to meet the woman who knocks him off his feet. Personally, I can’t wait to meet him! And the rest of them, of course. The Valentine clan seem like a wonderful and welcoming bunch, and I’ve always wanted to be part of a big family. Now I might finally get my chance.
“Hey,” Ajax’s gentle voice reaches my ears and I catch my breath, feeling his nearness like his mere presence changes the thickness of the air.
“Hey, yourself.”
“I thought we could talk. Wanna walk with me for a bit?”
I rise from my seat, suddenly concerned. “Oh, um, OK.” I glance at Millie. “Could you—”
“Stay and watch over Elena?” she finishes and I nod. “Of course.”
