Page 50 of My Promise To Keep

‘Hey, Leo,’ Bree smiles at him, but I’m still frozen, the cool glass in my hand my point of focus.

‘Shrimp, good to see you.’

I feel his eyes on me, and I know he’s going to say something, so I panic.

‘Bo Bo,’ I call out when I see my niece behind him, and she runs toward us.

‘Uncle Leo,’ Bowie shouts, and Leo wordlessly hands me his beer, which I also take without question.

Bowie leaps at the man, knocking him off balance, and they fall backward to the ground, laughing.

‘Miss Bowie.’ He sits up, still holding her, and she gazes up at him like he hung the moon. ‘Where you been, girl?’

‘I was upstairs, silly.’

Cara laughs, and I turn to her.

‘She’s set up a little playroom up there for her and Jonah.’

‘A playroom, huh. That’s cool,’ Leo says enthusiastically. ‘But who is Jonah? Do I need to talk to this young man about his intentions?’

Missy giggles next to me, and I snap my attention to her, silently asking: what the hell was that?

‘Jonah is my son. I assure you, his intentions go no further than watching Paw Patrol and stealing her snacks.’

‘Sure, that’s how it starts.’ Leo scowls, and Bowie, with no idea what’s going on except that she adores the man holding her, cracks up.

‘Uncle Leo, come and see my tree.’

‘Your tree?’

‘She found a tree up here and fell in love,’ I explain, and those green eyes turn on me finally, making me realize he hasn’t actually made eye contact with me yet.

‘I see, well,’ he turns back to Bowie, ‘falling in love is easy, so I get it.’ He puts Bowie down and stands, then holds out a hand for hers. ‘Come on, Miss Bowie, show me your tree.’

Watching Leo walk awayhand in hand with my favorite person in the world is one thing. Watching him laughing with my mom is another.

‘You look good, honey,’ Mama compliments easily, and he wraps an arm around her shoulder. It started to rain, so we moved the party indoors, and we are all situated in Cara’s huge kitchen while the kids watch a movie in the living room.

‘You too, Lynnie. I swear you age backward. I know where your girls get it from.’

Mama laughs and taps his chest, then pushes him away playfully.

‘Quit flirting with my mom, jackass,’ Doug growls from where he stands, leaning against the countertop with his arms wrapped around Cara’s waist, holding her back to his front like he can’t bear to let her get away.

Leo laughs. ‘I’m not flirting. I’m admiring.’

‘Just as bad.’

‘You need to stop doing so muchadmiring,’ Mama says pointedly to Leo, and he smirks. ‘When are you going find yourself someone and fall in love?’

‘Ah, Lynnie, it’s more, when am I going to make the right girl fall in love with me? That’s the question.’

I chew my lip and start to busy myself with refreshing everyone’s drinks so that I don’t have to make eye contact.

‘Oh, does that mean there’s someone in your sights?’ Mama asks excitedly behind me as I search for the bottle opener.

‘He’s decided his player days are behind him,’ Doug says, humor lacing the words, and where is that damn opener?

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