Page 15 of Single Mom for the Mountain Men
It should be irritating and obtrusive, but it’s the exact opposite.
Like a weight knocked off my shoulders, it makes me feel so relieved to have a helping hand around the house. Not only is it domestic, but the casual touches he graces me with only heighten the emotions I feel for him.
It’s like he’s erasing the wounds from my past.
While he’s helping me fold the laundry, he brings up that he and his brothers will be having a bonfire tonight.
“We’re just gonna crack open a cold one,” he tells me as he folds one of Sophie’s dresses. “You can both join us, if you’d like.”
“I don’t want Sophie to be out in the cold, you know. And she goes to bed pretty early for school, too,” I tell him, though a large part of me wants to accept the invitation.
“Hmm, you could put her to sleep, then join us.”
He proposes it casually, but my spine tenses all the same.
Leaving her all alone, with no supervision?
Yeah, not happening. I don’t say those words, but judging by his reaction, he can see that I don’t agree with this suggestion at all.
“Bring Sophie with you, then.”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t want to intrude or make you all feel responsible in any kind of way. Maybe some other time, Aiden.”
But he doesn’t take no for an answer. After some insistent beseeching, he finally gets me to agree to go to the bonfire with Sophie.
I don’t know what fun these three grown men will have with me and Sophie around, but I can only resist the puppy dog eyes Aiden uses on me a few times before I give in.
Sophie is over the moon when Aiden breaks the news to her before dinner.
“Oh, so a dinner party?” She perks up at the idea, her eyes glittering. “I haven’t been to one of those in so long!”
My gut tightens uncomfortably when I see how excited she is to be invited to a get-together. We haven’t been invited to many places for a while now, and even if we were…
Well, no use ruminating over that now.
“It’s not really a dinner party, Sophie. We’re all just sitting by the fire and roasting marshmallows, maybe playing some games.”
“Even better!” she says.
Her enthusiasm is contagious, and I find myself putting on the best cashmere sweater I have, tying my unruly, blonde hair back in a loose ponytail. A few strands frame my face, and my eyes look clearer than they have in years.
The mountains of Whitefish are really doing me good.
****
Aiden and I leave my cabin with Sophie marching along behind us. I check the lock three times before I’m comfortable enough to leave. Aiden watches me patiently, but I know he’s dying to question me.
Brody and Tanner are setting up, putting in dry sticks to stoke the fire. They’re both bundled up, though in significantly fewer layers than Sophie and I are wearing.You must grow thick skin during the mountain winters, I guess.The weather is suitably chilly today, perfect for the warmth of the fire to be gentle on our faces.
Sophie greets the two men earnestly, and they greet her back with a fond smile. It warms my heart to see how much Sophie has grown on all three of the men. There is easy affection in their hearts for her, which I never expected to find in other people in a million years.
We all settle down in a half-moon shape around the fire, at a comfortable distance from the flames. Brody hands Sophie a few crackers, which she starts munching on immediately. We all get a bag of marshmallows, and Aiden takes the responsibility for melting Sophie’s, against my insistence.
A chilly wind blows over us, the flickering flames keeping the worst of it at bay. I snuggle deeper into my sweater while Sophie yaps the men’s ears off. I catch Aiden’s eye, watching the flames dance in his gaze as he melts a marshmallow on a stick for Sophie, and something loosens inside me.
“So, Soph, you any good at Uno?” Tanner asks before plucking out the cards with a flourish. He does a few classic, yet still impressive, tricks with the cards.
“Ooh, yes! I love Uno!”
