Page 77 of Yolo

“Ohh.” I tapped my lips with my thumb. “I’d say gingerbread if I had coffee to go with it, so maybe just the cookie cake mammal.”

“It’s an elephant,” the worker said. “And if you’re into good coffee, if you drive around to the south entrance, there’s a hella good coffee truck that sits out there. They’re not very well known about, either, because they usually cater to all the mall employees, so they’re a bit tucked into the loading area. Go check them out.”

I smiled and was about to say “no thank you,” but Germaine answered for me and said, “Let’s go with the mammal and the gingerbread.”

I grinned, feeling my heart melt.

The Carters were fantastic people.

I’d met them all but Auden now, and I really enjoyed being around them.

Though, none of them held a candle to my dark, broody Gee.

As we were walking back out to the car, I said, “Do you ever get terrified to have your kids in the same field of work as you?”

“In the beginning, yes,” he answered as he helped guide me to the passenger side of his truck. “It’s a tight squeeze, some asshole parked really close. I’ll take Rooster to the other side.” He helped me in, and got Rooster in next, before joining me in the truck. “Now, I worry about them a whole lot less. Though, just sayin’, every last one of them has gotten hurt now in some way. Whether physically or emotionally. I could do with a whole lot less of the freakin’ crazies coming after my family.”

“Atlas came by and had Pepper with him,” I said. “Pepper was hurt in the police station parking lot?”

“She was,” he growled, sounding pissed. “Never seen anything more horrible in my life, watching her fly across the parking lot after that car hit her.”

“And then after that, Gable was shot,” I said softly. “That’s scary.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “This all started when Garrett was stabbed by that gang member, and every time I get my heart calmed down again, there another one is, getting hurt.” He paused. “If both of you could stay safe while you get this relationship figured out and solidified, I’d be grateful.”

I whipped my head toward him. “Relationship?”

“Relationship,” he confirmed. “I wasn’t born yesterday, honey.”

I snickered. “I wasn’t really trying to hide it from y’all, per se, but y’all have the biggest presence I’ve ever encountered at DPD. I want to pave my own path first before I let anyone know that I’m in love with your son.”

“You’re in love with him, eh?” he asked.

I thought about backtracking on my words but instead said, “I’ve been in love with him since he picked me up and carried me down a mountain. I just didn’t know how in love with him I was until I found him in the same apartment complex as me.”

“Good,” he said. “It feels good to know that all of my kids have found the one.”

“Well, I don’t know if Gee—Garrett—feels the same, but…” I started, but he interrupted me with, “The fact that he lets you call him Gee is indicative of his feelings for you. Him being the baby, he got bullied by his older siblings. He has heard every name in the book and hates having anyone call him anything but Garrett. Trust me when I say he likes you. A lot.”

My heart melted at that.

“I stopped calling him Gee for a little while, and he got upset with me.” I laughed then. “That makes me feel a little bit better.”

“Tell him how you feel,” he suggested. “And also, ask your parents to come down here for Christmas. We’d like to meet them.”

We talked about the next month the entire way home, and I was confident in my absolute adoration for the Carter family by the time that Germaine helped me into Garrett’s house.

“He put one of those thumbprint locks on for you,” he said. “But since I don’t know how to go about doing any of that inputting information, you’ll have to wait for him. In the meantime, I’ll put in the code for you: 1166.”

Ten minutes later, he was gone, and I pulled up my phone to let Garrett know I’d made it to his place.

“Siri, tell Garrett I’m at his place,” I said into the phone.

The next ten minutes were spent with Rufus as he sluggishly gave me lots of lovings.

“You ready to eat there, big boy?” I asked him.

He gave a cute doggy grumble and laid back down, so I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed both bowls, some dog food, and brought them back to the living room where I sat down between Rufus and Rooster and waited for them to eat.

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