Page 10 of Roam

“That’s better than maybe. When mom or dad says maybe, I know it means never. Never stinks.”

Roam had to admit, Phoebe had summed it up. He was guilty of using maybe when Grant asked for things. Georgia and Casper were still small enough they weren’t asking for large items yet. Although at the time he’d said no, now he got a kick about his oldest Grant naming his puppy Cane after Roam had told him he couldn’t name his dog Dog. The fact his kid had gone to his Papa Baron to figure a way around it had him worried for the teen years. Grant was three. The same age as Oakley. Well, Sprite’s kids would have plenty of other kids to play with.

They finished the food, and Ellie and Beth worked to pack it away.

“Okay, so how about Beth and I, along with Phoebe, help Blake pack her room?” Ellie asked. “Oakley can play with us too. That would leave all you adults dealing with the big stuff.”

Sprite nodded. “I’d really appreciate that.”

“Let me grab the totes. My mom suggested the kids’ favorite toys, books and clothes go in totes so they’d be easy to get to and you wouldn’t have to unpack everything to have their favorites.”

Roam headed out to grab them and get more packing done. Maybe they could get a lot done before dark. Bear, Flick, and Kennedy headed over to Clara’s to help her pack.

Chapter Six

Sprite leaned against the counter, waiting on the coffee pot to finish. Roam had said someone could bring it, but she wanted something now. Although the house was relatively small, they’d all chosen to stay there instead of getting hotel rooms. Clara had offered her house too.

Cannon and Bear had pitched a tent they’d brought and offered to have a special sleepover in the yard for the older girls. Ellie had mentioned she’d never camped in a tent and asked if she could join.

With the size of the tent they’d brought, everyone could have stayed out there. It had a ten by twenty main area and then another ten by twelve area hooked onto it. When they were all ready for bed, the only people sleeping in the house were Roam, Sprite, Beth, Flick and Oakley. Kennedy had headed to Clara’s because she didn’t want Clara to feel left out. Sprite and Beth had gone to sleep on Sprite’s queen size mattress, which was on the floor. Her bed had already been taken apart and loaded. Roam and Flick grabbed pillows and bedded down on the floor of the girls’ bedroom since it had carpeting.

Oakley woke up crying at three and Roam had been cuddling her before Sprite was awake enough to get up. When he couldn’t get her calmed down, he brought her in to sleep between Beth and Sprite. Oakley had calmed once her head was against Sprite’s neck, but she’d been restless and kicked Sprite and Beth on and off for the rest of the night. When Sprite’s alarm had gone off, Beth had gotten up and headed into the bathroom, dropping a kiss on Oakley’s head.

This morning, she’d need a gallon of coffee to wake up. Yesterday morning, before everyone arrived, she’d started to worry she’d made the decision to relocate to Bluff Creek too quickly. But observing the family atmosphere of Roam’s MC and the way they treated the kids, she wasn’t worried at all that she’d made the wrong decision.

Roam walked in and filled one of the disposable coffee cups. He’d thought of everything when he’d shopped. Once he’d sipped his coffee, he sat down at the table.

“How’s Oakley?”

Oakley’s sperm donor had never asked that question, but Roam, who she’d known less than seventy-two hours, was asking.

“She’s okay, I think. She was restless the rest of the night, but it could have just been because our routine was out of whack.”

“So, I’m thinking with all of us helping, we can probably finish loading late afternoon and then get on the road. Maybe pick up sandwiches and eat on the way. If we got one of the towels, we could sell it as an evening car picnic to Blake and Phoebe. We could be in Bluff Creek tonight. What do you think?”

Seriously, how the heck was she going to keep this man at arm’s length when he was so thoughtful about her kids?

“I think Blake will think it’s the coolest.”

Roam nodded. “Okay, we can get...”

The back slider slid open as Phoebe and Blake ran in the house.

“Mama Sprite, a big ole bug got on Winnie’s arm, and she screamed and woke everyone up. Cannon screamed louder than Winnie cuz Bear knocked if off her and it landed on Cannon.”

Bear, Winnie and Ellie were laughing and giggling as they walked in. Cannon’s face was red as he followed.

“It wasn’t that funny,” he grunted.

“Oh yeah, the big, bad biker guy screaming when the spider landed on him wasn’t funny? Oh yes, it was. You hit octaves I don’t think twelve-year-old girls can,” Ellie teased.

“I don’t like spiders. I especially don’t like them on my bare stomach running toward my sleep pants and it was a big fucking spider.”

“Swear jar,” Phoebe put her hand out.

Cannon stared at Phoebe’s hand, then tilted his head a little, pouting. “Come on Pheebs. I helped with the most fantastic sleepover in a tent. I brought the tent. Not your dad. Don’t I deserve a pass this one time? I was really, really scared of the spider. Please.”

Phoebe and her cousins had quite the racket with the swear jar. Cannon had said he had enough self-control that he wasn’t paying for their subscription service and could just stop swearing around the kids. Roam guessed he hadn’t banked on a spider landing on him. War had mentioned to not tease Cannon about his spider phobia because it went back to a bad time during his childhood.

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