“What, no witty comeback?” I ask.
He makes a show of shaking his head and refocusing his attention. “Sorry. All I heard was ‘it’s such a turn-on’.”
I roll my eyes. “See you later, caveman.”
"Later, cupcake."
10
Killian
“You smell like…” Luke sniffs, the movement exaggerated. “Cake. Or is it cupcakes?”
“What are you talking about?” Autumn walks toward the door, Olivia, beside her. The kid hides behind her leg and stares at me like I have three heads. I don't know if it's a kid or a baby. It can walk, but it’s still pretty short, and it talks, so it’s in that in-between stage, I guess.
“It’s Luke." I shake my head. "Does anyone ever know what he’s talking about?”
“You’re probably smelling that berry cobbler that you’re baking.” Autumn slides her arm around my shoulder and draws me in for a hug. “Haven’t seen you in a while. How’s the house coming along?”
“It’s coming along.” I stand there awkwardly while Autumn beckons me into the living room, past the kitchen and all of Luke’s pots and pans on the stove. “Your place is looking good.”
God, this whole making-polite-conversation thing is so awkward.
“It is, isn’t it?” Autumn asks. “The contractors were really able to get it done pretty quickly after the fire. Now I can’t get Luke out of the kitchen.”
“She keeps me barefoot in the kitchen, waiting on her,” Luke yells.
The fire that burned the kitchen happened when I was out in Texas, the night Jed Easton came after Autumn and Luke and the baby. I still feel a pang of guilt when I think about how I wasn't here the way I should have been for my brother and his girl.
Olivia tears past Autumn and pulls a plastic piano out of a wicker basket. "My piano!"
"Oh, crap." June sighs as the kid plops down on the floor and begins pounding, producing slightly off-key notes at a deafening volume.
Shit, is this what it’s like being a parent? Losing your hearing while being forced to pretend to appreciate your kid’s musical genius?
“That’s …uh … loud,” I yell over the din of the music.
Autumn sighs. “I took the batteries out of that, I thought.” She glares at Luke when he comes into the room with two beers. “Did you put the batteries back in there?”
“What?” Luke's voice is innocent. “I’d never do something like that just to drive you crazy. That would make me a terrible person.”
“Sleep with one eye open tonight, buddy," she advises, her eyes narrowed.
“You should probably take her seriously." I take a drag on my beer. “I hear she’s real handy with a rifle.”
“Liv-bug.” Autumn picks up a small toy house and some figures that look vaguely like plastic people with oversized heads. “Look at this! Wouldn’t you like this instead?”
I take another drag on my beer while Autumn negotiates with her child, handing the toy to Luke when she successfully negotiates a trade. “Hide this someplace or get the batteries out of there. Or else you’re a dead man.”
Luke laughs. “No sense of humor."
“I’ll remind you to have a sense of humor when I buy Olivia her first drum set. Next week.”
I listen to them playfully bicker back and forth as I sit on their beige sofa in the ranch house. This home is so unlike anything I ever thought my brothers or I would ever have. This place, with its white walls and whitewashed floors and airy curtains hanging on the windows, a trail of kid's toys running from the living room into the kitchen, is the opposite of the kind of place we grew up. Hell, I’ve never lived in any place like this. I feel as uncomfortable as I can, sitting here in my jeans and boots like I’m going to muck up all of Autumn’s nice things.
It’s funny how Luke’s adapted to this life, I think as I watch Autumn looks up at him lovingly before he wraps his arm around her shoulder and pulls her tight against him. It’s like he was always meant to be here.
For a split second, I feel a pang of jealousy.
“Luke made hors d'ouvres.” Autumn's voice breaks through my thoughts.
I look at Luke. “Well, la-de-dah. Are we having tea with the Queen, too?”
“Keep talking and you’ll get nothing," Luke says. "They're bacon-wrapped jalapenos."
“Could you keep an eye on Olivia for just a second, Killian?” Autumn asks. She turns around and follows Luke into the kitchen without waiting for my response.
“Uh…” I eyeball the kid who is attempting to shove one of the plastic people into the chimney on top of the house where it clearly doesn't fit. She becomes increasingly upset and smashes the figure against the house a few times, finally stopping when she looks up and notices that Autumn and Luke aren't in the room. She eyes me warily.