Page 27 of Sweet Surprises

She definitely didn’t want to talk to him about her book, even after he’d spent a few long nights after work, reading it as fast as he could. It actually hadn’t been half bad, and he honestly sort ofdidwant to talk about it.

But she’d just saidthankspolitely enough when he handed it back, and disappeared into her room, as usual.

Both his parents had told him this was normal for a teen. But he couldn’t help feeling like maybe there was something he ought to be saying or doing to get his daughter back. It was like she was sitting on a boat, drifting farther and farther from the shore—leaving him behind.

But she’d taken one look at Charlotte and decided she was worthy of a serious talk. The two had holed up with a plate of peanut butter brownies for more than an hour, having a full-out discussion about the themes of the book until Dad said it was time for the milking.

The kids had even wanted to come with them for the ride to drop her off tonight, though Chance was already leaned against his sister sleeping, and Olivia was zoned out on her headphones.

Tag glanced over at Charlotte. She was gazing out the window dreamily, but she turned when she sensed him looking.

“What?” she asked.

“Olivia likes you,” he said quietly, sliding his eyes back to the road.

“She’s awesome,” Charlotte said. He could hear the smile in her voice.

She didn’t say anything else, so he glanced over again. She was smiling now.

“What?” he asked.

“You read it too,” she said. “What did you think?”

He frowned. It wasn’t that he was ashamed that he liked a book for young girls, exactly. But it seemed odd to talk about it with her.

“I liked Edward,” he said finally.

“Oh, yeah?” she said lightly. “What did you like about him?”

“He would do anything to protect Bella,” he said, nodding to himself. “And he doesn’t have a problem telling her how he feels.”

“Wow,” she said. “You’re right. That’s a rare quality in a guy. It’s probably why a lot of women like that book.”

Tag nodded again, wishing he were better at expressing himself. He didn’t have a lot in common with the sparkly vampire, that much was for sure.

“Thank you for today,” she said suddenly. “It was really nice to spend the day on the farm.”

“You learned a lot,” he agreed, nodding.

“Yes,” she said. “But I also had fun. I always wanted a big family like yours. It must have been fun growing up.”

“It was,” he said. “We had a lot of chores, but we also ran around playing in the woods and the creek. And Mom and Dad were always thinking up fun games for us in the wintertime.”

“Allie says the same thing,” she replied. “She also says that you always took her along on your adventures.”

“Most of the time, yeah,” he said. “She was so little, but she just wanted to do what we did. She was fine if I kept an eye on her.”

He could still see her in his mind, two pigtails sticking out at uneven angles, her eyes all big as she repeatedme too, me too, me tooin the sweet, plaintive voice that he’d never been able to resist.

“That’s why you’re a protective guy,” Charlotte said. “You grew up protecting someone.”

He lifted his eyebrows and glanced over. But Charlotte was just making a casual observation, her eyes on the forest outside the car. He smiled to himself, realizing maybe he had something in common with that book’s hero after all.

“I was the oldest,” he said after a moment. “That’s just part of it, you know?”

“Hey, a lot of kids I know had older siblings who tortured them,” Charlotte said. “Those are the friends who thought I was lucky to be the only kid in my family.”

He chuckled, and felt her glance over at him again.

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