The warmth in her smile took him by surprise, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. More like the calm before the storm. He’d been married to her long enough to be leery of these moments.
“Saving money not eating out.” He turned on his bare feet and let Micky down. Saving his pennies was a necessity with an impending divorce settlement to worry about. He patted Micky on the top of the head. “Come on, bud. Let’s leave your mom to the sandwiches and we’ll go get the truck ready.”
Micky shot out of the kitchen and into the mudroom without a word.
Cole paused in the doorway. He wanted to ask her what was really going on to avoid the shoe-drop later. She stood at the kitchen counter, oblivious to his hesitation and suspicion. Her soft humming turned his stomach. Something was definitely up and now he’d have to spend the day worrying about it until she sprang whatever it was on him.
Fuckin’ A. He shook his head and left the kitchen.
They piled into the pickup twenty minutes later with Micky bubbling with excitement between them, talking a mile a minute and asking Cole every question under the sun about anything at all. Kensie sat in the passenger seat, laughing at Micky’s impersonation of his favorite anime character. Just like the old days. And because their lives were so far from that past, Cole was left with a sour taste in his mouth.
He turned off the county road and onto the gravel drive that led out to the lake. Inhaling the crisp, morning air, he was lighter. No matter what went on in his life, he’d made this place a retreat where every day shit didn’t have to follow him. Kensie’s antics wouldn’t change this place for him. He wouldn’t let her.
Mia’s car was still parked beside the shed where she left it after arriving. She’d gotten there after one in the morning, just in time to finish the last few swallows of chocolate liquor. She hadn’t wasted any time kicking Cole and Trey off the property, wanting time alone with her friends. She looked exhausted, and less like his firecracker little sister, reminding him why Jaden was back in River Bend in the first place.
“Mia’s here?” There was an edge to Kensie’s voice. The two had been close—at least he thought so—until Kensie left last year.
“She had some friends over last night.” He swung the pickup around and backed up so the tailgate faced the water’s edge.
“Oh.” She opened the door and stepped out, waving Micky to follow. “I’ll get the food out.”
He wasn’t hungry, but nodded. When he stepped out of the pickup, the front door of the cabin banged open, and Mia came out. He held his breath; Jaden would be right behind her. And still, even then, he wasn’t prepared for the sight of her disheveled hair, her body tucked into a pair of cotton shorts, and a midriff tee that hung off her shoulder. What he wouldn’t give to have those drowsy eyes gazing into his, but instead she stared past him. The sleep faded from her eyes, and when she looked at him, her gaze was distant before it flickered away to address Mia.
Shit. He started toward her, but Kensie placed a hand on his arm and he halted.
“What is she doing here?” Kensie clenched her jaw and glared at Jaden, who turned on the pads of her bare feet and returned inside. Mia pursed her lips, and he knew he’d hear an earful later when they were alone. Or sooner, knowing his little sister.
Cole shook Kensie’s hand off, annoyed by the growl of jealousy in her tone. She’d already moved on; she had a new life, a boyfriend who stayed the night more than he didn’t—what the hell was her problem?
“She’s visiting Mia.” He waved Micky over. “Let’s go say hi to your aunt.”
Micky jumped up from where he knelt beside his favorite tree stump. When he saw Mia, he raced past Cole. Mia met him halfway and crouched, drawing the little guy into her embrace. She was good with Micky, and had been from the moment he came into the world. It choked him up to know she struggled so much to get pregnant.
Kensie turned around and stalked to the bed of the pickup. She’d be moody as fuck the rest of the day. He shook his head and headed in Mia’s direction. Mia kissed Micky’s cheek before she let him go and his son took off to retrieve the action figures he left on the tree stump. Once he was gone, she crossed her arms and turned back to the house with a nod that meant follow or else. He fell into step beside her.
“What’s all this?” She pinned him with a reproving stare.
“She just showed up a half hour ago. Said she was in the neighborhood.” It sounded even more ludicrous from his lips than it had from Kensie’s.
“In the neighborhood? She makes you meet her halfway to pick him up for your visitations, and now she wants to drop in?” Mia stepped onto the porch step, then paused with her hand on the rail to frown down at him. “What’s she up to?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” He raked a hand through his hair and breathed out a sigh of frustration. “That’s the same thing I thought when she said she wanted to come fishing with us.”
“You better be careful.” Mia climbed the steps. “Don’t you dare let her talk you out of any more money, any more cars, any more anything. You’re already giving her more than you should in this divorce, and you’ll be no good to Micky if you’re broke.”
“I’m not giving her anything else.” At least, he hoped the judge didn’t make him liquidate his business to give her half. He couldn’t do that. Brooks Garage was something he’d dreamed about since he was a kid, working on cars with his old man in their tiny detached garage.
Mia stood inside the screened porch, holding the door open. “Well, I’m going inside to reassure Jaden that you haven’t taken your ex back. Not that she’ll admit she cares.”
The fact she did care, even if she wouldn’t admit it, gave him a spark of hope. “Tell her I’ll be by tomorrow to pick her up.”
Mia raised her brows. “Like on a date? She said she’d go on a date with you?”
Cole grinned. “Nope.”
“She told you no.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yup. But, I told her I’d keep asking.” Grinning, he took a step back and raised his hands with a shrug. “Her silence seemed like an invitation to me.”
Chuckling, his sister turned around and let the screen door bang shut behind her.
He crossed the yard in long strides, a soft smile ghosting his lips. He stopped beside the picnic table and looked up to a baby blue sky. Puffy white clouds moved so slowly in the sky, they looked still. He closed his eyes, and the sun warmed his face while Micky’s laughter nearby warmed his heart.
“You forgot the sunscreen. You know Micky needs sunscreen or he’ll burn.”
Cole pinched his eyelids tighter together and puffed out his cheeks before blowing out a short breath. Opening his eyes, he crossed the yard to his pickup box. “I’ve got sunscreen. And Micky doesn’t burn. We come out here every weekend.”
“Every other weekend,” Kensie corrected, and he gnashed his teeth together. “And he does burn.”
Cole leaned over the open tailgate to reach for the tackle box. “It’s here.” He flipped the top open and grabbed the tube of sunscreen. Turning, he waved it at her.
“Oh. Good.” She seemed disappointed she didn’t have anything to nitpick him for.
“You’d think we were still married, the way you still nag at me,” he grumbled and handed her the tube.
She snatched it from him. “We are still married.”
“Not for long.” He left her beside the pickup and waved Micky over to the picnic table. “Come on, bud. We’ll get your pole ready.”
Micky bounded over, an action figure stuffed in each hand. “Hey, Daddy, can we catch a turtle?”
“We can try.” Cole set the tackle box on the table, then reached down to grasp Micky by the waist. Lifting Micky onto the table, he asked, “Why? You want turtle soup for dinner tonight?”
Micky sat cross-legged, then dropped the action figures in the space between his folded legs. He scrunched his nose up. “Ew, no.” Then he cocked his head and squinted his eyes. “What does a turtle taste like?”
Cole shrugged and propped the handle of the fishing pole up against his shoe to hold the end of the pole. Untwining the line, he said, “I’ve never had it, but I hear it tastes like chicken.”
“Like chicken nuggets?” Micky watched as he unclipped the weights from the line.
Cole chuckled as he dropped the last weight into the tackle box. “I suppose it probably does taste like chicken nuggets.”
Micky rummaged through the bobbers. “Daddy, did you go catfishing with Auntie?”
Cole lifted a foot onto the bench seat of the table. He rested his arm on his leg and set the pole against his knee as he tied a bobber to the fishing line. “Your aunt hates fishing. She gets all girly when she has to touch a fish.”
Micky looked up with serious eyes. “She’s not a man, Daddy.”
“No, she isn’t, bud.”
“Only men fish, Daddy.”
“Well, some women fish, too.”
Micky shrugged. “Oh.”
“You sure you can handle this pole?” Cole snipped the hook off with a pair of snips. He opened a plastic box filled with hooks, searching for the right size. “This pole is probably going to catch the biggest fish out here. I don’t want you falling in the water trying to reel it in.”
His son’s eyes flashed with excitement. “The biggest fish?”
“If you can handle it.” He tied the hook onto the line then hooked it to a metal guide on the pole.
“I can,” Micky insisted.
“Okay, then.” Cole smiled. The cabin’s screen door banged shut, and Cole looked up. Jaden paused on the bottom step, her hand resting on the rail.
“Who’s that, Daddy?” Micky watched Jaden cross the yard toward them.
“She’s a friend of your aunt’s.” Cole couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The summer breeze made the little blue dress she wore hug her legs.
She captured her long hair and lay it over her right shoulder, and Cole sucked in a breath. He remembered twining his fingers into her hair last night before he leaned down to kiss her.
“She’s pretty.”
Cole glanced down to his five-year-old, and tousled his dark hair. “Very.”
“Hey there.” Jaden smiled down to Micky and stopped beside the table.
Micky gave her a big smile, one he reserved for begging for extra cookies. The kid was wise beyond his years. “I’m Micky.”
She offered her hand. “I’m Jaden.”
He placed his little hand inside hers and gave it a big shake. “You know my Auntie.” He tugged his hand from Jaden’s to wave at Mia, who loaded a tote into the back of her vehicle.
Mia waved and started over, but stopped short. She pulled her cellphone from her pocket. Her brows knitted together as she read the message on her display. When she finished, she turned and headed back to the cabin.
“I do.” Jaden sat down on the bench beside Micky, who swung his legs from the edge of the table. “Your aunt and I have been best friends since we were kids.”
His eyes flickered to Cole’s, then back to Jaden. “Are you Daddy’s friend?”
“I am, yes.” Jaden’s gaze caught Cole’s for a long, hot moment, and he knew where her mind had gone—it’s where his had been all morning.
Micky’s little brows furrowed and his head tilted as he stared up at her. “You can be my friend too.”
“I would love that.” She stood and swept her hands over the skirt of her dress, settling it into place. “It was really nice to meet you, Micky. Maybe I’ll see you again before I leave town.”
“Okay.” He scooted down from the picnic table. “Daddy, I want crackers.”
“Okay, bud.” Micky ran across the lawn to Kensie, who sat under the shade of an elm tree. Her withering stare was directed at Jaden. This was the first time the three of them had been this close since Mia’s wedding, and he wondered if the memory made Jaden as uncomfortable as it made him.
He set the fishing pole on the picnic table and ignored Kensie’s heated gaze on his back. “How do you feel this morning?”
Pressing fingertips to her temple, she smiled. “Better than I thought I would. I’m not much of a drinker.”
“I remember.” He grinned. “Mia used to call you Pukey.”
She wrinkled up her nose with a grimace. “Well deserved, too.”
“Me, I’m partial to Jelly Bean,” he teased, and her eyes danced with her smile.
“I hated that nickname.” Her glare was playful and cute as hell. “I mostly wanted to hurt you when you called me that.”
“And now?”
She tugged her bottom lip into her mouth, and he wanted to kiss her. “I guess I grew out of my teenage rage.”
Laughing, he edged closer. His fingers ached to touch her. “I didn’t sense any of that rage last night.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “That was the alcohol talking.”
“Or something else.” Memories of the way she wrapped her legs around him, kissing him with everything she had, would haunt him until she gave him more.
She chose to ignore his comment and gestured to Micky, who now sat on the dock surrounded by action figures. “He looks so much like you.”
Cole’s smile softened. “He does. Kid loves cars, too.”
When Jaden’s hand touched his, he glanced at her, surprised.
He didn’t have her figured out yet. Last night proved that under her tough resolve to keep her distance, there was still something there between them. Even if it was only her body responding, he didn’t care. That was better than nothing, and he wanted—no, he needed—something.