Page 38 of The Widower's Nanny

She nods. “Yummy.” I look at Rachel and mouth, “Gross.”

She laughs. “It’s the breakfast of adventurers.”

“Hmm. I guess.”

The brown bread is pretty good with the jelly and I eat several slices. Lilly wants to try it and, between the three of us, we eat all of it along with eight packets of jelly.

I lean back in my chair, fairly full. “I’m going to have to help Benjy restock this place. I think we cleaned him out a bit.”

Rachel looks at me across the table. “So, when do we need to head back?”

I don’t want to go back. I am afraid once we’re home, Rachel might change her mind about how she feels. But I guess if she does, then it would mean it wasn’t real in the first place.

“There’s no rush I guess. We can stay for a few more hours.”

Lilly cheers. “Can we go to the pond and look for frogs?”

“I don’t see why not. It might be a little muddy, but I think since we’re now seasoned adventurers, we can handle that.” I look at Rachel. “Does that sound good to you?”

“Yes. Let’s do it.”

We spend some time cleaning up the cabin. I don’t want to leave a mess for Benjy to deal with. We dismantle the fort and stash the extra blankets and pillows. Rachel makes up the bed and cleans up the kitchen. When it all looks pretty much how we found it, we go outside and head for the pond.

The mud isn’t too bad, and we stay pretty clean on the path to the pond. The water is high after all of the rain, and the usually clear water is muddy.

Rachel looks into the water. “Are there fish in there?”

“There are some sunfish, that’s about it. I don’t even know how they got inthere.”

Lilly spots a frog in the grass near the edge of the pond and goes to try to catch it. I watch her for a moment, then look at Rachel.

“So on the porch a while ago…”

“Yes.”

“I almost…” I can feel my face grow hot and she gives me a wide smile. “If we hadn’t gotten interrupted. Would you have been okay with that?”

“Yes. I would’ve been very okay with it.”

“Hmm. Good to know.” I grin. “Really good to know.”

“Does this mean you’ve come to a decision?”

I take a breath. “I believe I have.”

“Daddy?”

I laugh, then turn to Lilly. “Yes, bug?”

“Can you help me catch this frog?”

“Are you sure you want to catch it?”

“Yes. I want to hold it.”

I scratch my head. “Well, okay.”

Rachel puts a hand on my arm. “Let me.”

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