Page 23 of Don't Leave Me

“If we can catch Jimmy, you could move into Leslie’s old place. There’s no way she’ll move out of Colt’s house now.”

“I guess you better work harder then, huh?”

“I'll work my ass off if it means I get to keep you here a little longer.” A radio chirps and a voice mumbles something I can't understand across it. “Hey, I have to go, but would you be interested in coming over and helping me beat a couple of kids at decorating cookies? Colt didn’t ask me to keep you busy. This is me wanting to spend time with you, but I have to babysit tonight.”

“Yeah, I think I will. But you better tell them they’re going down! They won't be able to beat me.”

“There’s my girl. I’ll text you my address. You can come over around six and I’ll have dinner for us.”

“I already have your address. It’s part of your completed contact information.” I grin.

“That’s right. Perfect. I’ll see you tonight, beautiful.”

“Bye, Peck.”

I fall back onto my bed with a happy sigh. I swear my heart skipped a beat when he called me his girl. I’d love to stay in this town just so I could date Pecker, but I'm not sure I want to live here long term. I don’t think I could handle being away from my family for that long.

But Wyatt had a great idea. I should give it a little bit of time and see if there’s something between us. If there is, we can figure things out. If not, at least I’ll know.

Now, I need to figure out what to wear tonight, and I think I'm going to stop by the grocery store to get some fun things for decorating. After all, I need to make sure I beat all of them.

Chapter 9

Pecker

“So, is she your girlfriend?” Bree asks as I take the last tray of cookies out of the oven.

“Psh, I wish.”

“Then why don’t you ask her out?” Danny rolls his eyes.

We’ve reached a good place. Since we had our talk last week, he’s been getting better. He isn't giving Sydney any crap and he’s being kinder in general. There have been a few times I’ve seen him struggling, but we sit down and talk through it. I think he’s starting to see me more as a friend and confidant and less as an uncle who’s only here because his dad walked out. I'm not a reminder of what he lost anymore. A reminder he wasn’t enough for Rob to stay.

“You just wait. She’s the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen. You can't just ask out someone like her.” I roll my eyes back at him, making Bree giggle.

“Sure, you can. How else will they know you like them?”

“I don’t know! I'm single, clearly, I don’t know what I'm doing.”

After moving the cookies to the cooling racks, I check my pot of meatballs and quickly taste the sauce. I don’t make my spaghetti sauce from scratch, but I do season my store-bought sauce until it tastes like it’s homemade. It’s something my dad always did and I loved it.

I glance at the clock. I have ten minutes until Sophia should be here. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I try to decide if I should get changed. My shirt is a mess with flour, but we’re going to be decorating, which means I’ll get icing on me at some point.

Before I can think about it any longer, the doorbell rings. I glance at the kids before taking off at a sprint towards the door. It’s become a game of ours. Any time someone rings the bell, we all make a mad dash and whoever answers first, gets an extra cookie at dessert.

“Ha! I got here first!” I yell and do a little victory dance as I open the door.

On the other side is Sophia with wide eyes and a slow smile spreading across her lips. Her arms are full of bags and there’s a little bit of snow in her hair.

“Wow, that’s quite the dance.”

I clear my throat and stand tall, like I wasn’t just shaking my butt at my niece and nephew. I run a hand through my hair and try to act like the adult I pretend to be.

“Sorry about that.”

“No, don’t let me stop you. I want to see more of those moves. Maybe we’ll have to go dancing soon.”

“Something tells me you’re a much better dancer than I am.”

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