Page 21 of Found By You
“This is nice.”
She moved to the fridge. “Are you hungry?”
I patted my stomach. “Sure.”
She started pulling stuff out to make a sandwich.
“Can I help?”
She gestured to a tomato and some lettuce she’d gotten out. “Sure. Why don’t you slice that up for us and pick what kind of cheese and ham you want?”
I had to smile as she kept getting stuff out of the refrigerator. “It looks like your parents are always ready to feed everyone too.”
Kayla grunted. “They are, and they do a lot, which sometimes I feel bad about. But then I tell myself not to feel bad, because Mom wants to do it.”
Once we finished making our sandwiches, we started eating together at the kitchen island. I took a bite of my sandwich and walked around the room, taking in all of the family pictures and random pictures of the kids from different ages.
Kayla followed me. She pointed at one photo where a handsome young man stood with his arm around a pretty blonde woman, both in formal attire. “Yep, that’s Noah and Ella. He’s my oldest brother, and they were high school sweethearts. There was crazy stuff that happened to him and her, but we won’t talk about all that now.” She moved to another photo. “And there’s Damon and Isla. They’re just the cutest.”
The next photo made my breath catch—I could recognize a younger McCrae.
“McCrae used to date a girl named Rose Jones, but they were on again, off again, and then Rose left a couple years ago. It’s crazy, because Damon’s first wife did the same thing to him, but when she came back, he and Isla were back together.” She hesitated. “Lots of crazy romances in our family.”
I paused. “Is McCrae waiting for Rose to come back?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged and studied me. “But you know, different things happen in life, and sometimes we’re lead on a different life plan.”
The words left me with a weird feeling, and my heart raced. I didn’t know if I should admit that I was actually pretty attracted to McCrae. Who wouldn’t be attracted to him? The man was beautiful and funny. He was quiet a little bit, but I could tell heliked to be around people. At the pizza place, everyone had been joking around with him.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked softly.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” I gestured to a picture of a man in uniform, standing tall and proud. “Who’s that?” He didn’t look like he was related to the Armstrongs.
She sighed. “This? That’s Tommy Tomlinson. I guess you could say I was kind of hung up on him through high school.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I guess I’ll just tell you. I had cancer, and he was there for me the whole time. He was like that as we grew up, supporting me through all my battles with the cancer, the leukemia. Now I’m in remission, but you never know. After high school, Tommy joined the military, and man, it’s been three years since I’ve heard from him.”
It took a minute for me to process all that information. I studied her the same way she’d studied me. “You love him still?”
She shrugged and pointed to herself. “Hey, I’m a lot to deal with. I don’t think I’d push that on anyone.”
That thought made me sad. “Come on, that’s not true.”
“That’s my role in the family. I’m just the one they all worry about. In fact, I’m actually surprised that McCrae let me take care of you.”
I had to smile. This spitfire of a woman also seemed pretty vulnerable. “Yes, you are the one taking care of me, and I’m grateful.”
She grinned back, but I never heard her reply, a shot sounded through the air from outside.
Chapter 9
McCrae
My phone buzzed, and I saw that it was Kayla’s number. I immediately answered.
“Someone’s shooting at us! We’re running back to the treehouse on the property.”
