Page 26 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
“Yeah. Katie was with Mitch when I woke up. They got acquainted and he gave her cereal.”
"He did?" Wes' eyes widen as he turns to Katie. “What kind?”
“Cocoa Krispies,” she says.
“Wow, he must like you. You know that was his favorite cereal growing up? He would eat Cocoa Krispies at every meal for weeks straight.”
“Really?”
Mitch nods. “We all had our own favorites. Charlie liked Lucky Charms the best, I preferred Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Mitch absolutely adored his Cocoa Krispies. Got very possessive about them too. Once I was out of my own cereal and tried to sneak some of his into my bowl while he wasn’t looking, but he caught me and nearly beat the stuffing out of me. And then afterwards, he gave me a little so I wouldn’t tell Mom what he did. But the joke’s on him, because I told her anyway.”
“You tattled!” Maddie gasps like it’s the worst thing in the world and I laugh.
“I did." Wes sniffs defensively. "And you would have tattled too if someone stuffed your head in their armpits and held you down while giving you an atomic wedgie.”
I laugh. It’s hard to imagine the serious-faced Mitch doing something so childish but I suppose everyone was a kid once.
“Eventually, Mom punished him by making him share the rest of the box with me until we next went shopping. And he wasn’t allowed to have Cocoa Krispies for a whole week. That was the grumpiest I’ve ever seen him.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Yeah, but he says he doesn’t eat breakfast now. So who aretheseCocoa Krispies for now?"
"He still eats them, he just doesn’t have breakfast at the same time of day as the rest of us mortals. Instead, he eats all his meals in the evening, right after it gets dark." Wes shrugs. “And I suppose I still have a penchant for nabbing some when the mood strikes me.”
I grin. “You’re that incorrigible, huh?”
“I resemble that remark.” He winks and my heart flutters despite myself.
Wes is devastating for the senses. The man is way tooattractive for his own good and what’s more he knows it, using his charm to its fullest extent.
I turn away to start cleaning up the dishes and he comes over to stand beside me, pulling out the dishwasher door to help.
“Sit,” I tell him. “Your breakfast is on the table. It’s the covered plate.”
“I’ll eat when I’m done,” he says. “So Patty, what’s on your agenda today?”
“Grocery shopping most likely. By the way, is there a list somewhere of what you guys like to eat weekly?”
He shakes his head. “No list. We like pretty much everything. We’re big on meat, carbs, and good old Southern cooking. Our mother was from Tennessee so we ate a lot of that growing up. But anything tasty works."
“Gotcha.” I’m already making a list in my head. “And is there a weekly budget?”
He shakes his head again. “Not a set amount, we just like to keep things reasonable. I mean we eat a lot, but we try to make sensible choices and buy stuff in bulk. It’s up to you if you want to shop for the week or the month though. I’m sure Mitch won’t mind. And we’ll charge it up to the house debit card he keeps in his room.”
“Alright.”
“I’ll take you grocery shopping today,” he continues. “I hope you don’t mind but Charlie was taking a look at your car yesterday and noted that your exhaust box was hanging on by a thread and your AC wasn’t working full blast. He’s fixing it, but I’m not sure exactly when he’ll be done.”
“Oh.” I blink at him surprised. It had been a long journey, and it hadn’t been exactly a well-maintained car before we started. I didn’t even think about getting the car looked at. “That’s…nice of him.”
“Yeah. He’s a nice guy when he wants to be. Anyway, I don’t advise trying to drive that thing without AC in this heat. So I can take you to town in Charlie’s truck. Gasten’s only about a forty-five-minute drive away.”
“Alright, that sounds great.” I smile.
“And while we’re at it,” he continues. “There’s also a daycare and elementary school next to the grocery store that has a cool playground. The girls can play over there while we take our time with the shopping.”
“Oh I don’t think that’s necessary,” I say.
“Why not?” Maddie pipes up from her seat. “I wanna play. Don't you, Katie?"
