Page 90 of In Spades

Slow and steady, I reminded myself.

Hunter and Logan knew what I was up to. I had mentioned it to them when I was here for dinner last week. I leaned in and kissed Kristin’s lips, then brushed past her on my way to the living room.

The two boys took one side of the old couch while I lifted the other.

“Whoa! Hold on. You can’t just take my couch!” Kristin was still standing in the doorway. “Put it back!”

“Sweetheart.” I grinned. “Mind stepping away from the door so the boys and I can get this done before we go to Maddie’s?”

It was poker night. I planned my couch switch-a-roo intentionally. Kristin was notoriously punctual. I figured if I did the swap right before we had to leave for poker night, she could only protest so much. And hopefully by the time we returned, she’d give in and let the new one stay.

Hunter and Logan reveled in their sister’s irritation with me and how little they thought I cared about her fury. Truth is, I cared a lot. That’s what made me willing to accept her wrath.

Kristin huffed and stomped to the kitchen. She made a show of angrily shoving her flowers into a vase and filling it with water.

“Dude, she’s pissed,” Logan said with a smirk.

We pivoted and turned the couch onto its side to ease it out the front door.

I grinned. “Yeah, she’s cute when she’s mad.”

“I heard that!” Kristin shouted.

We snickered as we backed the couch down the steps and onto the grass. “Alright, let’s leave this one here, get the new one in, then load the old one onto my truck. Logan, you get up there and walk the couch out. Hunter and I will hold it from this side.”

He didn’t say anything, just hauled ass into the truck bed to get behind the new couch.

“One, two, three,” Logan said, then grunted as he lifted his side of the couch.

Hunter and I each took a corner, guiding it down as Logan walked it off the truck bed. I gave him the harder job on purpose.

My best guess was that Logan felt he was being ousted as the man of the house. I figured that may have been why he remained suspicious of me. At seventeen, no kid should have to feel the weight of that responsibility. Hell, at thirty-eight, it still scared me. I wondered if that was the kind of thing a person could ever truly feel ready for. Maybe you just had to jump in blindly with both feet.

Hunter held the end of the couch while I caught it in the middle. Logan slid off the tailgate and grabbed the other end.

“Good job, man,” I said.

Logan didn’t respond, but he looked pleased.

Kristin and her sisters watched from the hallway as we tilted and pivoted, maneuvering the new couch in. She crossed her arms and scowled at me. I didn’t mind. The way her forearms pushed her tits out had me thinking things that were wholly inappropriate with children present.

With the old plaid couch out, we put the new one in its place. It was a covered in a simple gray fabric, and was about the same size, but twice as heavy because it had a pull-out bed.

When Kristin said that she used the couch as a bed, my first impulse was to tell her to pack her bags and move into my place. I had plenty of space. Hell, the kids could each have a room to themselves and then some, but I held back.

We hadn’t been together very long, and I didn’t want to spook her.

My second impulse was to rent her an apartment with a third room so she could have a little privacy. I kept that urge to myself, too. Kristin wasn’t one to accept help willingly, and I knew bringing it up was giving her ammunition for a fight.

So, I settled on a sofa bed.

The old couch had seen better days. Every time I sat on it, my ass either sank due to the lack of cushion, or something springy stuck into my back. How Kristin slept on that thing every night baffled me. The new couch didn’t solve all her problems, but it would hopefully give her a few good nights of sleep.

I caught Kylie’s eyes and tossed her my keys. “Ky, there’s a bag in the backseat of my truck with some pillows. Mind bringing it in for me while we load up the old couch?”

Logan and Hunter were waiting for the signal, so I tipped my head to the door and headed outside to load up the old couch. They followed me out and helped me hoist it into the back of my truck.

I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and handed them each a fifty. “Nice work. I appreciate it.”

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