Page 29 of This Is Why

TY

I wake with a start.Someone’s in the room. I reach for the gun I keep in the bedside table only to find that I’m not in my room and this particular nightstand doesn’t even have a drawer. The intruder freezes as I fumble for my phone. Turning on the screen will give me enough light to assess the danger. Whoever this motherfucker is, he is not prepared for the combat-ready Marine about to launch himself out of thebed.

“Ty?” The voice is a harsh whisper and much smaller than I expected.

“Gabe?” I calm down enough to recognize that my heart is pounding and my jaw and fists are clenched tight. I sag back on the bed, relief flooding through me, and then swing my feet over the edge. Lexi’s carpet is soft beneath my feet, but all I can think is thank God I put on my underwear or this would be about one hundred times more awkward than it already is. “Let’s go out to the kitchen,” I say as I grab my pants. “So we don’t wakeMom.”

Gabe dutifully heads out of the bedroom and I take a quick second to pull on my clothes and check the time. It’s early. I can barely make out Lexi in the glow of the light put out by my phone. Her hands are up near her head and her hair is strewn across her pillow. I lean down and place the softest kiss on her temple. She smiles and shifts, but doesn’t wake, and I head out to find Gabe perched on the couch in the livingroom.

“What are you doing up, buddy?” I drop down besidehim.

“I always get up early.” He shrugs. “I’m old enough now that Mom lets me make myself some cereal, but I always check on her before I do. In case she’s awake and might want some, too.”

“And this morning you saw me in there and got scared?”

“Nope. Not scared, just confused. But once I saw it was you, I knew everything was okay.” He smiles. “Mom doesn’t ever have sleepovers.”

I nod knowingly while stifling laughter. Of course he’s going to translate what he saw through his own life experiences. He’s used to having sleepovers with Claire and to him, that’s all this is. Although if he’s sharing a bed with that little girl, maybe that’s cause for discussion lateron.

“I know I can use some coffee,” I say, slapping my knees and shifting to the edge of the seat. “You want some?” I give him a wink and wait for him to catch on that I’m joking.

“Mom says I’m too young for coffee.” Gabe grins. “Besides, it tastes gross.”

“How about you come in the kitchen with me and help me get it started? And then maybe we can surprise your mom with breakfast inbed.”

Gabe’s eyes light up. “That’s sounds great. Do you know how to make pancakes?”

“Why? Is that your mom’s favorite?” I grab hold of that nugget of information to use later.

“No. But it’smine.”

So maybe it’s not a nugget of Lexi info, but Gabe info is just as good. I laugh as the boy leads me to the cabinet where Lexi keeps her coffee. I let him scoop the grounds into the filter and then show him how to fill up the carafe with water and get things brewing. He watches with interest and asks a few questions and then nods decisively once we’re done. We decide on breakfast that includes pancakes as well as scrambled eggs and bacon—all foods I know how to make—and he helps me with that, too, until I get distracted by what looks like a pull-up bar in the doorway leading into the diningroom.

“What’s that?” I ask, pointing at the thing with my spatula.

“That’s my pull up bar.” Gabe puffs out his chest proudly.

“Aren’t you too young to do pull-ups? Or at least too short to reach thebar?”

“I’m not too young. I practice at the playground all the time. And I am too short, but Mom showed me how I can get a chair to reach. Wannasee?”

“Sure.”

Gabe pulls a chair from the dining room and sets it up a little bit away from the doorway. He climbs up on the thing and then, just when I’m about to ask him how he’s going to reach the bar, jumps off the chair and grabs hold. He swings a little until he gets control of himself and then damn if he doesn’t do seven really good pull-ups. He tries for eight but fails and then lets go, dropping to the floor with a huge grin on hisface.

“I want to get to ten.” He stares up at the bar with his hands on his hips. “But I haven’t gone past sevenyet.”

“You keep at it and I promise you, you’ll come to a day where ten feels easy.” I have to hand it to the kid. Pull-ups aren’t easy and he really is too young to be that good atthem.

“Just what in the world is going on in here?” Lexi appears in the doorway, her eyes bleary from sleep but she looks like a goddess in a pair of shorts and a tank top with her hair loose and wild around her shoulders.

“Ty is cooking pancakes and I showed him how I could do pull-ups.”

She slides the chair back into place at the table and then comes into the kitchen, stopping to ruffle Gabe’s hair. “How many did youget?”

He looks down at his feet. “Seven again.”

“Remember when you thought five washard?”

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