Page 81 of A Scoring Chance

“It’s okay with me.” I plant a kiss on the side of her head before picking up my conversation with Darius. “And I texted Auntie Alise before we got here, but she never responded.”

“How about you boys go make her a plate? She’ll be over here at some point today. We need to finish ourMormon Wivesmarathon.”

“I’m still mad at you for watching it without me.” Ramona points her fork at her mother before spearing a piece of fruit with it.

“You’ve watched them all already. Don’t pretend you didn’t do the same thing when you went to the hockey game.”

“Ms. Melanie! How could you betray me like that? We had a deal.”

“I did no such thing. Mothers just know these things sometimes.”

“Or Alise forgot to not say anything about it last night,” Darius muses before grabbing his now-empty plate and heading into the kitchen. I’m pretty sure that’s my cue to follow him since Ms. King gave an order.

Darius is moving slower than usual, but much better than yesterday. This is good because I don’t think I’d be able to get his mother out of the house again if he wasn’t.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Much better.” He smiles while turning on the water to rinse his dish. “Auntie Mel made sure I put ice on it last night and woke me up to take some Tylenol on schedule, too.”

He winces slightly as he leans down to open the dishwasher. I slide up next to him, grab the plate, and finish the task for him.

“This isn’t Momma’s first rodeo with bad hockey bruises. I’ve had a few in my day.”

“You have three other brothers, right?”

“Yes. You met Beau at the game, but there’s also Cole and Kyle. Kyle is the youngest and still in college. Cole is the second youngest and plays for the Boise Wolverines, but we don’t talk very much anymore.”

Darius shuffles around the kitchen, filling a plate with as much food as humanly possible, his eyes locked on his task. “I know.”

“You know?” I lean against the counter, getting the feeling that I wasn’t sent in here to help him make a plate for Alise. This is an interrogation.

“Yeah. As the man of the house, I had to do my research.”

“Fair enough. We need to protect the people in our lives. I can’t fault you for that, Big D.”

Darius doesn’t say anything else as he slowly eases open a drawer and pulls out a box of Reynolds wrap, dropping it on the counter between us. “Can you help me pull off a piece to cover the plate?”

“No problem.” I stride toward him, pulling a large piece off the roll and laying it over the plate.

“Thank you,” he whispers, using his free hand to cover the plate before turning toward me. A look of pure determinationcovers his face as we get to the real reason for this conversation. “Do you love her?”

I could answer this question in a million different ways. Tell him what I think he might want to hear just so we can get this over with, but I can tell how important this is to him. Momma never dated once after my dad passed away.

I heard her talking to Auntie Peggy one day that she lost the love of her life when Dad passed. There was no sense in searching for anything else because it wouldn’t add up to the love they shared. That’s exactly how I feel for Ramona, as if the missing piece of my soul has finally been found, but I’m not about to tell her eleven-year-old son that. Not only does it have the potential to freak him the hell out, but pre-teens aren’t known for their secret-keeping abilities.

“Not yet, but I have a feeling I will soon.”

“Good. That’s good.” He smiles for the first time since coming into the kitchen, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “She deserves someone to take care of her. She takes care of me and Nanny all the time, sometimes to the detriment of her own happiness. You make her happy, Uncle Cooper.”

“She makes me very happy, too.”

I don’t need to tell him I’ve made it my personal mission in life to take care of Beauty and do everything in my power to put a smile on her face, but I have a feeling he gets the picture.

Just as we’re turning to head back into the dining room, the front door slams open. “I can’t believe you guys are having breakfast and didn’t invite me.” Alise groans before turning around and helping Auntie Peggy into the house. “Can you believe they’d do that to us, Momma?”

“There’s no need to be so dramatic, child. They’re still eating, and it looks to me like there is more than enough to go around.”

Aunt Peggy strolls into the room like she owns the place, even leaning heavily on her bedazzled cane we got for her lastyear. Her short hair is styled to perfection with a light dusting of blush on her cheeks to give them some color and a darkish red lipstick on her lips. She’s dressed comfortably today in a loose-fitting navy blue pantsuit.

---