Page 25 of Stolen Kisses

With wide eyes, Emma looks across to me, noticing me for the first time. Her body sags as she looks down at herself, around her kitchen area, then back to me.

Whispering, she responds, “Yeah, we’re okay. Would you mind taking Kenny home? She’s in the boys’ bedroom. I don’t want her to be frightened.”

“I can stay and help if you like.”

“No, thank you. I’ve got this.”

I’m not sure what in the hell just happened, but Emma’s level of calm puts me somewhat at ease and Lachlan’s stopped shouting. She has aquietsteelbeneaththose sweet curves of hers. We all stand, frozen in place. I don’t want to make a move and upset the calm. Lachlan wipes his hand under his nose and then steps forward to right one of the tipped over chairs. I step forward to help him, but Emma gives a subtle shake of her head, so I remain locked in place. Once all the chairs are in their correct positions, Lachlan apologizes to Emma before leaving the kitchen. Her head drops between her shoulders, her posture one of defeat. I want to step into her, wrap her up, kiss her, give her comfort, but I hold myself back—she’s clearly had a shit afternoon.

She brushes her hand through her hair, resting it on top of her head before looking at me. “Uhm. Kenny’s in with Austin. Upstairs, down the hallway, last door on the right.” She points in the direction she expects me to go, but I don’t want to leave her like this. After the earlier confrontation with her ex and now this with her son, she’sgottabe feeling like shit at this point.

“Will Lachlanbeokay? Are you okay?”

The frown lines forming between her browssuggestshe’s surprised by my question. “Yeah. Thanks. Sorry about that. Kenny’s been in the boys’ room the whole time, so she was safe.”

Shit! “I guess that should have been my first concern, but I seem to have an inherent trust that you would keep her safe.” I awkwardly point to the pizza boxes I dropped on the counter. “I uh, brought dinner for all of us. I hope you don’t mind, but I pretty much invited Kenny and myself for dinner.”

She looks down at herself again, before looking back up at me with olive-colored eyes. “Thank you, but I don’t thinktonight’llwork. Lachlan takes a little while to come down and I need to get cleaned up.” She looks away from me. “I need to check on Lachlan.”

“Ifyou’re sure. Maybe another time?”

“I’m sure.”

I collect Kenny and we head home sans pizza. It doesn’t feel right to walk away, leaving Emma on her own to deal with whatever that was, but she didn’t seem keen on Kenny and I staying. I noticeshe didn’t offer up another time for us all to have dinner together either.

–six–

–theo–

Last weekfeltweird whenI dropped Kenny at school for the first time since taking guardianship of her, and it doesn’t feel any less strange this week. I’m not used to having to take care of someone else’s every need—I barely manage to take care of myself most of the time—but I feel as though I’m getting the hang of it. As much as I’m not used to having someone around all of the time, I’ve become used to having her following me around, asking a million questions. I really missed her while she was at school, which was surprising. I’m happy I kept her home for the first week so I could have some time with her, giving us time to get to know one another. I would have kept her home longer, but she was keen to get back to her friends. All the books say kids need routine, so I guess it was for the best that she returned last week. There’s only one month left until summer vacation, so she’ll be back in my pocket before I know it—and doesn’t the idea of that lift my spirits.

I open the large door to my workshop, eager to get stuck into a new project. I managed to get my workshop set up, but with Kenny home, I wasn’t able to get started on any new projects. Last week, I knocked up a couple of simple but practical coffee tables and put up some notices at the local stores in an attempt to get some work. I had a couple of calls, so I’ll follow up with the quotes tonight when Kenny’s in bed. I find I need to use the time she’s actually at school to build and the time when she’s asleep to do the admin work that needs to be done.

Turning on the light, I head straight to the timber I purchased last week. I’ve got the perfect project to keep me busy and my mind from wandering toward my sexy neighbor. Before I start that,though, I want to fix the middle step leading up to Emma’s porch.

I wrap my tool belt around my waist, grab a stunning piece of redwood, and head next door to get to work. Studying the porch steps, I think it would be better to replace all three steps. The other two that aren’t as damaged are pretty close to failing and I would hate for Emma or the boys to get hurt on the steps. I head back to my workshop to pick up more timber, then head back to remove the existing steps before working to replace them with new redwood, which matches the rest of the porch. I’ll seal them first thing tomorrow morning, so the solution has a good amount of time to dry. As I head back home, I notice her letterbox isunstable, so I quickly stabilize it.

Making myself a fresh coffee, I head back into the workshop to get started on a new pair of porch chairs. I get lost in the project; cutting lengths to approximate size before running each piece through the electric planer to cut down on sanding time later. I use my templates to trace the exact shapes I need before taking to them with my band saw. Before I know it, my phone alarm sounds, breaking me out of the zone. It’s time to pick up my girl from school.

I’ve missed her today—I’m surprised how quickly she’s burrowed into my heart. It stuns me every night when she tells me that she loves me. It was so unexpected the first time and every time since—I thank my lucky stars that I’m the one who gets to put her to bed each night. With all of the pieces cut to size, tomorrow I’ll be able to add some details using the router before putting everything together.

* * *

Kenny comes running out of class with an enormous smile pressing her cheeks up high. “Uncle Theo!” she shouts as she jumps up into my open arms. “I missed you.” The little girl who reminds me so much of my sister squishes my cheeks together and kisses the tip of my nose.

I can’t hold in my laugh at her cuteness. “I missed you too, Munchkin.” I jig her in my arms, rubbing my nose against hers. “Youwannaget a milkshake and tell me all about your day?”

“Yay. Let’s go!”

She collects her backpack and puts it on, then holding hands we head out of the school building. As we breach the doors, Kenny tugs on my arm. “Look, it’s Emma.”

Looking in the direction Kenny’s pointing, I spot Emma speaking with a woman with wild red hair. They look to be deep in conversation, but Kenny’s bound and determined to say hello.

“Emma!” she calls out, waving wildly as we get closer.

Emma turns around, clearly surprised if her wide eyes are anything to go by. Today they look like grass in springtime and I’m mesmerized by their brightness. Her smile is instant the moment she lays eyes on Kenny. She looks gorgeous in wide navy pants and a whiteknitted top, strands of hair thathavecome loose from her ponytail falling around her face.

“Kenny, I didn’t know you came to school here.” She crouches down to Kenny’s level as she speaks.

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