Page 40 of Carpenter's Christmas Bride

Aidan dragged his eyes from them and headed back down to the truck. He could hear Walt laughing at something Kenzie was telling him and he bit back a smile of his own. He had hurt her feelings, and he wasn’t part of their circle of two.

This is why I stay away from women, he told himself.

Normally, that assurance made him feel better right away. But the truth was that he didn’t really want to stay away from Kenzie. Something in him longed to soak in the warmth of her smile.

Shaking it off, he grabbed his tools and headed to the back door. He didn’t really have that much to do today. With any luck, he could get at least one barre up before Walt got a burst of energy that was too much for a woman on crutches to deal with.

He had been hoping that Kenzie would bring Walt into the family room, but he could hear them talking in the kitchen.

“You didn’t eat breakfast yet, did you?” Kenzie was asking Walt.

Aidan didn’t hear his answer, but he assumed Walt was shaking his head. They’d both had oatmeal at home, but the boy was always excited about eating, especially at someone else’s house.

“Okay,” Kenzie laughed. “I’m hungry too. Let’s make some toast. Then we can put whatever we want on it.”

Satisfied that they were doing just fine for now, Aidan got right to work.

Normally when he was working, Aidan slipped into a zone of concentration and satisfaction where nothing else could touch him. But today, he found himself thinking fretfully about the interaction with Kenzie. Just because he didn’t want to get involved didn’t mean he had to be cold with her.

I’ll do better somehow...

He had just about gotten the anchors for the first barre set up when he heard footsteps approaching.

“We made you toast,” Walt yelled happily.

“No way,” Aidan said, turning around to see Walt holding out a plate with two pieces of toast on it, each piece was cut in half and each half had something different spread on it. Kenzie stood behind him, wearing an uncertain expression on her face, like she was scared to have bothered him.

“Kenzie said I could put whatever I want on them,” Walt said importantly. “I picked peanut butter, and cherry jam, and orange marmalade, and apple butter.”

“This looks amazing,” Aidan told him, meaning it. The toast was made with thick slabs of what looked like homemade bread.

“We’ve got coffee and juice too,” Kenzie added tentatively. “But we thought that would be too hard for us to carry.”

“I’ll join you in the kitchen,” Aidan said, taking the plate from Walt, and being sure to give her a pleasant expression, if not a smile. “Thank you both.”

In the kitchen, he spotted the library books sitting on the table, out of the danger zone of butter and jam over on the countertop.

“Have a seat,” Kenzie said. “I can pour it out.”

“No way,” Aidan told her, determined to get her smiling, like before. “You two sit and I’ll get the drinks together. What do you guys want?”

“Juice, please,” Walt called out.

“Coffee with milk, please,” Kenzie said.

“Coming right up,” Aidan told them both.

“After toast, can we read my books, Kenzie?” Walt asked excitedly.

“Definitely,” Kenzie told him.

“I can’t really read though,” Walt admitted sadly. “Except for the and a and Walt.”

“That’s awesome that you’re learning to read,” Kenzie told him right away. “And those are words that come up a lot, so maybe if I read to you, you can help me with those words.”

“Yes,” Walt said excitedly. “I can read them for you.”

“That’s great,” she said. “And we won’t open the books while our hands are sticky from toast, but I noticed you had some really good ones there.”

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