Page 33 of Protective Cowboy

“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you? I thought the turmeric in the pancakes would help Grandpa Frank’s arthritis,” Autumn protested, laughing. She added, “I don’t have any excuse for the spaghetti. It was just a bad idea.”

Her eyes sparkling with restored good humor, she turned to Matt. “Don’t worry, I’ve learned a lot about cooking since then. I only occasionally set off the kitchen smoke detector these days.”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve got a good fire insurance policy.”

“Hey!” Autumn exclaimed in mock outrage. Everyone laughed.

“Autumn’s actually a very good cook these days,” Mom defended her. She smiled across the table at her. “Remember Christmas? Your turkey was so moist, and that sweet potato casserole was really tasty.”

“Yeah,” Brock chimed in. “Don’t let my wife and sister-in-law scare you, Matt. I asked Autumn for that casserole recipe. It’s on our diner’s menu as a comfort food side dish.”

“Oh, that was just something I got from an online cooking blog,” Autumn said, both embarrassed and warmed. Her family loved to tease each other, but unlike Phillip, they were never mean about it.

∞∞∞

After dinner, Matt volunteered to dry dishes while Dad and Spring washed up.

While they were working, Autumn and Jayden went upstairs. She hauled their suitcases out of the hall closet and rolled them into the bedroom they shared.

“Sweetie, you won’t need that,” she said, as she saw Jayden pull his parka from the back of the bedroom closet. “We’re only going to be staying at Deputy Matt’s place for a few days, maybe a week.”

He turned to her, frowning. She noticed brown-and-white goat hairs coating his dark blue Spider-Man t-shirt.

“Mommy, are you going to marry Deputy Matt?”

Autumn shook her head. How to explain what was going on?

Best if I keep things as simple as possible, she decided. “No. I know Matt told Daddy he was my boyfriend, but Matt and I are just old friends. We went to high school together. He’s just letting us stay at his house until Daddy leaves town.”

“Okay.” Jayden nodded solemnly. “I love Daddy, but he’s always mad at you and me. He scares me sometimes.”

He scares me, too, Autumn thought.

“Oh, sweetie.” Pain burned through Autumn’s chest as she kneeled and opened her arms to hug him. “I’m trying to make things better for us. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

“O-okay.” Jayden didn’t sound convinced, but he stepped close and wrapped his arms around her neck. He smelled of fresh soap, strawberries, and beneath that, the faint, musky odor of goat.

“Hey, are you all right?” Summer asked.

Autumn looked up from the dresser drawer she was emptying and saw both of her sisters peeking in through the bedroom doorway. “We’re fine. I was just explaining to Jayden that Deputy Matt and I are just friends, and we’re only staying at his place for a few days.”

“We came up to see if you guys need a hand with packing,” Winnie added.

“Sure,” she replied. “And thanks. I’m just taking our summer clothes. All of our winter stuff can stay here. I’m hoping to move back next week. Two weeks from now at the latest.”

“You sure about that?” Winnie asked with a sly grin as she followed Summer into the bedroom.

“I mean, it’s hard to believe that moving in with Deputy McHunky is strictly a ‘deter Phillip’ move, right?” Summer added with a wicked twinkle in her blue eyes.

“What do you mean?” Autumn asked, though she had a pretty good idea.

Winnie snorted. “Don’t play dumb. It sure looks like Matt still has the hots for you, Tum-tum.”

Summer nodded vigorously as she pulled a pile of Autumn’s sensible cotton underwear from the top dresser drawer. “Did you see how he kept sneaking peeks at you during dinner? And then he was really champing at the bit to save you from Phillip.”

“He always was your knight in shining armor,” Winnie commented.

Autumn’s cheeks warmed. “Oh, stop it. This whole living-together thing is just, you know, pretend. Because we’re trying to convince Phillip to move on because we’re together now.”

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