Page 5 of Maddox: Wild Alaska
He huffs out a laugh. "All eight of them," he says proudly.
"Your poor wife." I laugh.
"You'd really be saying that if you met her. She's tiny, and all the boys are over six feet tall, just like me." My eyes wander over the pictures but keep straying back to the one of Maddox. My belly tingles when I look at him.
Bryant clears his throat and adds, "That's Maddox, but you know that already." The twinkle is back in his eyes as I glance at him. "I invited you for coffee."
In the kitchen, I ask, "You said your wife isn't home yet?"
"She's a stubborn woman,” he mutters as he brings out two mugs and sets them in front of me at the breakfast bar. "She lives in Sugar Briar, Tennessee. She works for the mayor. There has been some trouble in town recently though, so maybe she will finally move here where her family is. Stubborn woman."
My eyes widen in surprise as he talks about his wife. "How long have you lived apart, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Ten years.”
"Holy shit!" I slap a hand over my mouth. "I'm so sorry. That was rude of me.”
“No need to apologize. I guess I'm stubborn, too." He pours coffee into our mugs and offers me creamer and sugar. I refuse and pick up my mug of black coffee. "I came out here to help a couple of my sons. It was supposed to be temporary. I never went home. I figured she'd follow me here. She hasn't yet. Now that our youngest son has been here a few months, I'm hoping she'll finally join me.” He smirks. "I have a plan if she doesn't."
I watch him carefully and grin around my mug. “Are you going to go and collect her?"
"There might be some kidnapping involved, but she'll be living in Hawke's Ridge before the end of the year."
"You might want to get on the good side of the sheriff first if you're planning to kidnap her," I suggest. I feel at home talking to this man. I also see the family resemblance to Maddox.
He offers me a cookie from an open package and adds, "My oldest son is the sheriff." He grins. "He won't arrest me. After all, she's his mother, and we all want her here. She'd be here already if my sons would listen to me, find a woman, and put a bunin her oven. Louisa can never resist a baby, especially if it's her grandchild."
I splutter at his reference to putting a bun in her oven and laugh as I set my coffee mug down on a placemat. "So, none of your eight sons are married, huh? Why's that? What's wrong with them?"
"There's nothing wrong with us." A man whom I don't remember seeing before enters the cabin and pours himself some coffee. "Variety is the spice of life," he says with a wink my way.
"One of my sons, Spencer." Bryant frowns, and Spencer grins.
"And you are?" Spencer asks.
"It's none of your business," Bryant replies. "Maddox is sweet on her.”
My cheeks heat and Spencer's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. "Maddox?" He coughs. "No fucking way." Shaking his head, he sits beside me.
"Sofie Ryan,” I say.
He smirks. “Ah, Colton told me about you.”
"Colton?"There's no way I'm going to remember all their names.
“He checked you into the Lodge,” he smiles.
"I remember him! I love the suite I'm in. It’s stunning.”
Spencer and Bryant exchange a look that I don't understand. I decide to leave them to discuss whatever it is that Spencer came to talk to his dad about. "Thank you for the coffee. I'm going to take a walk into town before I meet up with the others."
“Enjoy the fresh air,” Spencer says.
Bryant accompanies me to the front door. “Have a good afternoon, and maybe we can have coffee again.”
“I’d like that.”
As I stepout of the truck in town, I take a deep breath and inhale the scent of fresh flowers. I also hear the distant sound of laughter. The town is peaceful, especially during the winter, but we get quite a few tourists in the summer. Some stay at the Lodge, while others stay at one of the three bed and breakfasts in town or the few more scattered throughout nearby towns. The town's economy benefits greatly from tourism. Occasionally, we'll get ice fishermen who come in on one of the planes that land on the frozen lake during the winter.
