Page 93 of Bonus Daddy
I couldn’t help but grin. “Your mom is lucky to have you.”
After I was releasedfrom the first of what looked like it would be a series of interrogations, I headed downstairs and foundthat everyone had migrated outside. Josh had built a massive outdoor fire, and Jenn’s boys were already roasting marshmallows. Kit and Greta darted over, grinning and squealing, as if they hadn’t just been giving me the third degree upstairs.
As I strolled closer, dogs and shockingly domesticated goats ran around me.
“Didn’t you visit once, years ago?” Jenn asked as she poured a finger of maple whiskey into a glass.
I nodded. “Between my junior and senior years of college. Your parents were very kind to me.”
“My mom liked you,” she said, holding the glass out to me. “And she was a good judge of character.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I replied, my tone subdued, knowing how raw the wound still was for Jess.
The four of them reminisced a bit, talking about their parents and the hijinks they used to get up to on the farm, then catching up on town gossip. I listened quietly, content to let the warmth of the fire and the good company wash over me.
After Jess got her kids to bed, Jasper stood and stretched. “I’m out. Don’t wait up.”
“Where are you going?” Josh asked with a frown.
Jasper shot him a wink. “Bachelorette party at Timberline.” With a wave, he jogged to his Mustang.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Josh yelled after him.
Jasper barked out a laugh without turning back. “I always do.”
“It’s like he’s still sixteen,” Jenn said.
Josh stood and added wood to the fire. “Someday he’ll calm down.”
Jess perched on the arm of my Adirondack chair, her movements languid, like the whiskey was loosening her up.
While Josh poked at the fire and Jenn had her face buried in her phone—probably texting her wife, who’d taken the kids home—Jess leaned against my shoulder. “I still can’t believe it,” she murmured. “That you came all the way here.”
“It’s not far.”
She frowned down at me. “But what about work?”
“The guys got me covered, and Lo moved all my meetings. Trust me, they practically kicked me out the door. I’ve been such a bastard since you left.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” I roughed a hand down my face. “I was a bear without you.”
She broke into a slow smile. She looked so beautiful illuminated by the firelight. I wanted to pull her into my lap and kiss her senseless. But the presence of her siblings and the various farm animals kept me in check.
“Do you want to take a walk?” she asked softly.
My chest tightened. It was as if she’d read my mind. “Sure.”
She took my whiskey glass and set it down on the small table beside my chair. Then she grasped my hand, encouraging me to stand. With a quick farewell to her siblings, she guided me away.
But she didn’t lead me back toward the farmhouse.
“Where are we going?”
“My secret spot,” she said with a devilish grin.
We were quiet as we strolled hand in hand down the dirt road that led to barns, paddocks, and what looked to me—a man who knew nothing about farms—like storage sheds.
