Page 11 of Midnight Rules
“Grandpa loves me too, right?”
Dad stood in the doorway. “I love you more than life itself, Regan. Come here and give me a hug.”
Regan smiled and ran to Dad. “Love you, too.”
Dad lifted Regan into his arms. “Let’s go see if Emery feels well enough to watch Marric make a mess of your riding lesson.”
“Harsh.”
“But accurate.” Dad winked at Regan and carried him out of the barn. “I’ll help, and maybe Emery will feel well enough to give you pointers.”
Marric followed them into the house. “He’s too old to be carried all the time, Dad.”
“Do you want me to put you down, Regan?”
Instead of answering, Regan grinned and met Marric’s gaze. “You’re just jealous.”
Marric shrugged. “Well, yeah. I mean, who wouldn’t like to be carried around like a prince all the time.”
Dad chuckled. “Are you a prince?”
Regan shook his head, taking the question seriously. “They kept me in the dungeon. They don’t put princes down there.”
That sobered them. “How long did they keep you in the dungeon? Who kept you there?”
Regan shrugged and wiggled around until Dad set him on his feet.
Emery came down the stairs. She wrapped herself in blankets but walked without stumbling. “Don’t make him talk about it, Marric.”
Her cheeks were rosy from the fever and her ponytail was askew, but she seemed better than she had in several days.
“I won’t.” It was beyond time they found out about how and why Regan stumbled into their barn, though. Regan’s silence couldn’t last very much longer.
Chapter Six
There were two spaces in Fortune Falls that would work for Riley’s bakery. Both were available for lease. Iven wasn’t sure what made the space suitable, but the old pizza place had too small of a kitchen.
“I need a bigger space to work. A lot bigger. Especially if I’m baking for the whole town. That’s a lot of muffins.” Riley turned to Griffin. “Is it worth putting the money into renovating this space versus the old restaurant by the highway?”
Griffin walked around the small kitchen and stared at the wall. “This is load-bearing, which means we can’t move it. The best I can do is create another room by building a wall a few feet in so you can have your table space and then create a doorway in the wall so you can get from the kitchen to the table room. It’s the most cost effective anyway and a lot easier for you to bake.”
Riley seemed to contemplate that. He walked out of the kitchen, and they all followed.
“Can we add windows? That way, customers can watch part of the baking process. A counter right here, maybe.” Riley stoodabout halfway into the main dining room. He met Griffin’s gaze again. “How much are we talking for all that?”
“I’d need to get an estimate, and we need to talk about making a deal.” Griffin grinned.
“Do you want free baked goods? Because I’ll totally give you as much as you want anyway, just for being an amazing brother.” Riley shrugged.
Iven watched the exchange between his sons with pride building in his chest. They grew to be amazing people. And they were best friends.
He remembered taking his boys for pizza at the restaurant. The counter and bar area were still intact. The dark wood looked the same as the last time they’d been there. Everything else looked different. The wall art with pictures of Italy and the booth style tables were gone. But someone had stacked round tables in a corner. There weren’t any chairs.
“I was thinking I’d give you an estimate with and without labor. If you agree to having me as a partner, I’d put some money in and make all the renovations. But you don’t have to decide right now.”
“Let’s do it.” Riley grinned. His eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Really? You don’t want to think about it?”
