Page 9 of Single All the Way

“Does the rooster do that every day?”

He grimaced. “He does. Same time every morning and several times throughout the day. You get used to it.”

“I don’t hardly notice Gordon’s wakeup call anymore,” Ruby sang out as she pulled on knee-high socks with horses on them.

“Gordon,” I repeated, wondering how Gordon would taste.

“Gordon Ramsay is his full name,” Ben said.

“Oh, my God. Your hens…” His chickens had names like Cinnamon and Pepper and Ginger…all eight of them.

“Spices,” he confirmed.

My hair fell over my face when I looked down at Ben’s wool-socked feet and grinned slightly.

“Your room is closest to the chicken house,” Ben said. “Sorry about that.”

When I lifted my gaze to meet his, he brushed my hair back behind my shoulder with one finger. The tenderness and familiarity of the gesture startled me, but I hid any reaction. I didn’t hate it, just didn’t expect it.

“Front row seats to the crazy cock,” I said. “He sounds like a woman laughing.”

“A disturbed woman laughing,” he agreed. “We might need to get you a white noise machine while you’re here.”

Evelyn came out of the bathroom before I could answer.

“Anyone need the bathroom?” I asked.

“It’s yours,” Ben said. “If you think you can go back to sleep, feel free. The kids and I will be doing chores for an hour or so. I’ve got Xav.”

Both our gazes went to my son, who was stuffing his feet into tennis shoes.

“Might want to get him some work boots if his interest in morning chores persists,” Ben said.

I nodded as I hurried off to the bathroom.

After I relieved myself, I washed my hands, thinking I’d go ahead and shower as soon as Ben and the three kids went outside.

When I’d agreed to take Ben up on his offer for us to stay here, I hadn’t stopped to think about the logistics of the six of us sharing two bathrooms. Hadn’t stopped to think about many of the details at all of sharing a house with him and his family. I’d mostly been relieved one tricky detail was figured out as I’d busted my butt to pack an entire four-bedroom house—one Kizzy had lived in for fortyish years and had thestuffto prove it—in less than three weeks.

I glanced in the large mirror behind the sink as I turned off the water and gasped when I caught sight of myself.

My hair was a tangled mess from tossing and turning, my eyes looked puffy, and my nipples were sticking out through my sleep shirt like beacons of light in a dark storm for anyone to notice.

And I’d just stood a foot away from Ben and talked to him for five minutes without a thought to pulling a heavy sweatshirt on.

Super.

I could hear Ben herding Evelyn, Ruby, and Xavier downstairs, leaving me privacy to get back to my room and check on Sky.

Even though I was alone, I crossed my arms over my chest as I hurried back to Skyler. The outside door slammed beneath my room, and the house went quiet.

Enough light shone in from the hall that I could instantly see Skyler had fallen back asleep, bless her sweet heart. It was early, and she’d had a restless night too. I’d let her sleep while I showered.

Forty-five minutes later, I was showered and dressed with my hair and makeup done. I woke up Skyler, took her and Waylon into the room she was supposed to share with Evelyn, and encouraged her to get dressed and meet me in the kitchen. I planned to get breakfast going for everyone. It was the least I could do.

As I went down to the kitchen, I vowed I’d work on getting her to sleep in her own bed.

By the time Ben and the other three kids tromped in, I had a big skillet full of scrambled eggs and another with sausage nearly ready to serve. The four-slot toaster popped up, and I slid over to add the golden-brown slices to the plate of toast, buttering each one.

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