Page 47 of Sweet Surrender

“You know, every time I see your brother, Tag lately,” Dad said thoughtfully. “I can’t help being happy for him all over again.”

Tag had found love again last Christmas, against all odds. But the girl had practically fallen into his lap. And Tag didn’t have Zane’s challenges.

“He found the right woman,” Zane agreed, nodding.

“Well, she found him,” Dad said, chuckling. “But sometimes love finds us when we least expect it. Tag is a great example of that.”

Zane nodded, his finger tracing the handle of Becca’s empty cocoa mug, marveling at the fact that it was actually empty. She had even managed to eat all the marshmallows Nick had put in it, which was an impressive feat.

“I’m just saying… keep an open mind, son,” Dad said softly, leaning forward. “Can you do that much for me?”

“Sure,” Zane said. He hated to lie to his father, but he liked even less to be disrespectful. “But I’m not interested in Miss Hawthorne.”

“I see,” Dad said, in a tone that implied that he very much didn’t see.

Which makes sense. He caught me with my hand wrapped around her face, a millimeter away from kissing her.

Suddenly, he could feel the softness of her cheek in his hand, and the intimacy of being so close that they were sharing breath.

Of course he was interested. He had never been as interested in anything in his life as much as he was interested in knowing what it would be like to taste those lips.

“She sure is good with those boys of yours,” Dad said, leaning back in his chair again. “Understands them well.”

“It looks that way,” Zane said, grateful for the reminder to focus on the two most important people in his life. “I’m glad they have a teacher who likes them.”

But just because she could handle them in school, or be glad to see them here, didn’t mean she was equipped to be a permanent fixture in their lives, he reminded himself again. Their own mother headed for the hills back when they were too little to even kick up much of a fuss…

Pain wrenched his heart at the memory, and for once he was grateful for it, because it strengthened his resolve to never let anyone else abandon his boys.

“Well,” Dad huffed, getting up from the table. “I’m gonna help your mom in the kitchen.”

“Boys should be back in any minute,” Zane said, rising to grab a few mugs to carry in.

But they burst through the front door again before he could lift the first cup.

“Dad, Dad, Dad,” Nick yelled.

“Hey, guys,” Zane said.

“Can we go ice skating?” Nick asked right away. “Since we got good grades on our math quiz?”

The sight of Nick so radiant with pride about his quiz tugged at Zane’s heart.

“We can definitely do something fun to celebrate,” Zane said. “But we went ice skating last weekend. Do you want to choose something different? Maybe a hike?”

“No,” Cal said quickly.

“No,” Nick agreed. “No, no, we like ice skating.”

“Ice skating it is,” Zane told them with a smile. “We’ll go first thing tomorrow when there aren’t any lines. I’m so proud of you both.”

But the boys looked at each other worriedly.

“We want to eat a big Saturday breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa first,” Nick said quickly. “And we want to check out the toy store again for ideas for our Christmas lists, and play in the park.”

“Whatever you guys want,” Zane said, laughing. “This is your celebration. We can hang out in town all day if you want.”

“Yes,”Cal whisper-shouted, jumping up and down.

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