Page 20 of Devoted Enough

Maggie was my sister Lily and Maverick’s four-year-old.

“She did, and she is so cute on it!”

We ate the rest of our meal in comfortable silence. When it was time to clean up, Haven jumped up to help.

“I’ll wash, you dry?” she asked.

“I can just put everything in the dishwasher.”

She looked down at the dishwasher and then up to me. “Are you sure?”

I laughed. “Do you hand wash your dishes?”

“It’s just me, so I don’t normally have much to clean. I guess I’m just used to it.”

“How about I rinse, and you load?” I asked with a smile.

She nodded. “That works for me.”

Another crack of thunder hit, and we both jumped.

“That is some storm out there. I knew it would be raining a lot, but I didn’t think this much was supposed to come down. I bet we have a crazy winter.”

I nodded. “I was just telling Josh they’re saying we will have more than normal snow this winter.”

“Oh, joy,” Haven said, loading the last dish into the dishwasher. “We really need the snowpack, though, for next summer.”

Grabbing a dishcloth, I quickly cleaned up the stove and counters, turning to see Haven watching me.

“What?”

She slowly shook her head. “I don’t know; it’s strange to be in your house and watch you cook and clean up.”

Smiling, I said, “I don’t mean to brag, but eggs are not my specialty.”

A slow smile appeared on her pretty face. “Oh, really? What is?”

“Spaghetti and meatballs.”

Her eyes went wide. “Thatis your specialty? Spaghetti and meatballs? I was thinking you were going to say something fancy like chicken cordon bleu or something.”

“I don’t even know what in the hell that is. If you want fancy cooking, Josh is your guy. He likes to cook. One time, he made this whole made-from-scratch dinner for Sophia. Even made her favorite dessert.”

Haven’s face softened. “That was sweet of him.”

I nodded and tried not to look at how adorable she looked in my clothes. Haven must have seen me looking at her because she said, “My clothes are probably dry by now.”

“Yeah, um, you remember where the laundry room is?”

She smiled and nodded. “I’ll just grab them and run back downstairs and change.”

“Sounds good.”

“Did you want me to put more wood in the fire downstairs?”

Looking at her, confused, I asked, “The fire?”

“Yeah,” she said with a tilt of her head. “You started a fire downstairs in the family room.”

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