Lucy laughed, her face bright as she cuddled Angie to her side. “Like mother, like daughter, huh?”
“Yup!” Angie agreed as she took the plates Benji had laid out. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
Looking over at Benji, Lucy didn’t move as Angie started to set the table. “It does look really good. Thank you for having us over.”
“Anytime. I hope this can become a regular thing for us,” he said and she grinned as Angie shrieked.
“Oh my God, please, Mom. I had so much fun today.”
Lucy smiled as she took the forks and knives, heading to the table. “We’ll see, okay? Benji is busy.”
As he lifted the potpie, Angie looked at him and he shook his head. “Never too busy for you two.”
Angie beamed before looking at Lucy hopefully. She rolled her eyes as she chuckled a bit. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“But, Mom! He likes us,” she said in a mock-whisper and Lucy laughed, her eyes shutting as her heavenly, happy voice filled the room. Moving from the counter to the table, he stopped short, his heart jumping into his throat as Lucy laid the utensils down. She was laughing at Angie, who was grinning right back at her as she bounced in her seat. This was what he wanted. He wanted a family. He wanted laughter in his big house. He wanted late-night dinners with the people he loved.
He wanted this.
“Sit down, crazytown,” she said, kissing Angie’s head before falling into a chair. Angie sat her bottom in the chair. They both looked up at him and Lucy smiled. “Are you going to let us eat?”
He shook his head, remembering that he wasn’t watching a dream—this was his reality. He walked to the table, setting the pie down before sitting beside Lucy. As he looked around, he saw Angie had started bouncing in her seat again before she held her hands out for Lucy’s and Benji’s. His heart was still in his throat as he took first Angie’s hand and then Lucy’s before closing his eyes and bowing his head.
Clearing her throat, Angie lowered her voice and said, “Thank you, Lord, for this nourishment and this wonderful food Benji has made us. Thank you for giving us the blessings you do, for allowing me to wake up and go to school. For my mommy’s job and giving her everything she needs to make me happy. Please help my mom in finding us a house so that we aren’t homeless—I mean, without a home—because Mom really wants us to have a house. Thank you for Benji, for him cooking for us and picking me up and giving me the best day ever. And maybe, Lord, if you could break him and his girlfriend up so he can marry my—”
“Lord Almighty, Angela Lynn!” Lucy screeched, and all Benji could do was laugh as he peeked up at Angie, who was wide-eyed and confused.
“What?”
“That is not something you pray for! Goodness me.”
Angie’s shoulders fell before she closed her eyes again. Benji grinned over at Lucy. She was shaking her head, her face bright red as Angie continued, “I’m sorry for asking for that, Lord, but I really like Benji and—”
“Amen!” Lucy declared and Angie’s lips pursed in a pout as Lucy started serving them.
“I wasn’t done, Mommy.”
“Yes, you were,” she said, still shaking her head.
Benji’s groin tightened as he watched the curve of her ass when she leaned over to give Angie her plate. She was wearing one of those snug dresses with tights that he was really starting to like. Her hair was done in curls along her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing that much makeup, but what she had on enhanced that already gorgeous face of hers. After she put a piece on his plate, she handed it to him and he grinned.
“Can I have two pieces?”
Lucy’s lips curved before giving him another serving and then sitting down with her own piece. He waited for her to take a bite, and when her eyes fell shut, the look of pure bliss on her face as she nodded her head, he grinned.
“So, so good,” she decided and Benji beamed, his chest puffing up as he took a bite.
“Thanks.”
“Mom, this food is so much better than that takeout stuff Baylor is always getting.”
“Angie, please,” she said and Angie made a face.
“I’m just saying.”
“Well, that’s rude. Baylor and Jayden are giving us somewhere to stay.”
Angie nodded, moving her fork through her food. “Well, if you married Benji—”
Closing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Angela.”
“Sorry,” she grumbled and Benji chuckled, until Lucy shot him a look. Snapping his mouth shut, he fought a grin as they ate. Soon they fell into easy conversation about their days, and Benji was on cloud nine. Honestly. He had never been so happy in his life as he was, sitting with two spunky girls. They were so animated, playing off each other, and it was beautiful. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to eat dinner in his big ol’ house alone ever again. Not after all the laughing and joking he was being spoiled with.