THE NEXT MORNING, after feeding the horses and letting them out to pasture, Johnny walked to the back porch, his gaze on Izzy and Addie sitting on the loveseat there.
He walked through the door and saw that Addie had her long legs stretched out, feet on the coffee table in front of her, and she was wearing a striped cami and short-shorts sleep set. Her mass of hair was an appealing bedhead mess. Her eyes were still shadowed with sleep. All of this further making Johnny wonder what kind of dumbfuck Perry was. She had a mug of coffee curled in both hands like it was the elixir of life.
Izzy was wearing his Home tee over a pair of his pajama bottoms that she’d cut off at the knees and her hair was also an appealing bedhead mess that had something to do with sleeping but more to do with something else.
Suffice it to say, bottle five moved through bottle six and halfway through bottle seven, so a fun night got more fun.
After bottle seven and a half and everyone leaving, Johnny got to take off her dress, and with Izzy plastered, they’d probably not been as quiet as they should have.
Or at least Izzy wasn’t.
Then again, Addie was probably totally passed out, seeing as Iz did the same after he’d made her come, she’d returned the favor, and she’d slipped straight to sleep totally naked without even going to the bathroom to clean up.
Right then Iz looked a lot more alert than her sister, likely due to her practice with early mornings, so she had Brooks in her arms and was giving him his morning bottle.
Seeing her there, looking cute but thoroughly fucked and giving her nephew a bottle, Johnny felt the earth disappear under his feet and he plummeted only to stop and stand solid again.
This was not an unsettling feeling. It was just the first time he took note of it, even though it had been happening in increments for weeks as he kept falling faster and faster, deeper and deeper, even in the time she wasn’t around.
No, it wasn’t unsettling.
This was a fall he was happy to be taking.
“You want me to get you some coffee?” Izzy asked.
Of course she’d offer to get him coffee even if she was sitting with her sister, feeding her nephew.
“I can get it,” he replied, moving toward her.
He bent down and kissed the top of her head.
Then he hesitated, wondering if it was the right thing to do, or if it would be welcome, but then he decided to do it.
So he moved to Addie and did the same thing.
When he was done, her head tipped back, and there was wonder in her blue eyes that were a darker blue than her sister’s, and as with everything else, almost as pretty.
“You need a refill?” he asked.
She shook her head mutely.
He turned to Iz, glancing at the coffee table to see her full cup.
She gave him a sweet smile.
It had been the right thing to do.
He went in, got his coffee and came back out, seeing in the meantime they’d been joined by a gray cat who was resting on her belly between the two women, eyes closed, Addie’s fingers in the fur of her ruff, and she was purring loudly.
Sabrina had decided to join the girls.
Johnny went to the screen door, leaned a shoulder against the jamb and looked out to the yard.
The table had been cleared but it and the chairs were still out there.
He took a sip and decided he’d see to that next.
“I know I’m cramping your style,” Addie announced.
Johnny’s gaze went to her as did Izzy’s.
She was looking at Johnny.
But it was Izzy who asked, “Sorry?”
“I remember how it is, first blush, all that goodness,” Addie said, now speaking to the coffee table. She took a sip and turned to her sister. “But I kinda like that little guy.” She indicated Brooks with a tip of her head and gave her sister a small smile. “I like spending time with him. It sucked how in my face it was that I had a husband and he had a father, but we were still on our own. It was that with Perry. It wasn’t taking care of my son. I love doing that.”
“Of course you do,” Izzy replied quietly.
“So you guys should do what you want to do. Go out. Have fun. Spend the night at Johnny’s. I’m used to taking care of Brooklyn alone so it’s not like I’m in new territory, just,” her lips twitched, “in a different place in familiar territory.”
“Now you have us,” Johnny said, and both women’s eyes came to him.
“You don’t have to—” Addie started.
This wasn’t Shandra and her dipshit brother.
This was Izzy and her strong, smart, funny, loving sister.
So he didn’t let her finish.
“No. Now you have us so you don’t have to do it alone,” he reiterated.
Addie shook her head. “It would really make me feel better if you guys just did your thing.”
“We will,” Johnny told her. “We are,” he stressed.
“It’s not the same,” Addie pressed.
“It’s life,” Johnny said.
She stared at him a beat before stating, “Okay. I don’t mind you guys helping out, only when it fits. But if you don’t go camping because I’m on shift and someone has to look after Brooks, forget about it. The daycare does Saturdays but Deanna said she’d pitch in if I need it until I’m settled. And I appreciate you offering to talk to Margot for me but I don’t know her that well, and it wouldn’t be cool at this juncture to unload my kid on her.”
Johnny was going to get into the fact that Margot wouldn’t think of it as unloading a baby on her, but before he could, Izzy entered the conversation.
“It’s not bad, is it, that for a while we look after you?”
Addie looked to her sister, her face setting firm.
“Like when you warmed up soup for me?” she inquired.
“Ad—” Izzy began.
“Or when you helped me with that report about The Call of the Wild?” Addie went on.
“It’s what—” Izzy tried again.
“Or when you and Mom made me stay inside when you went out and buried our cat that had died?”
Izzy’s face got sad. “Doll—”
“Be with your guy and go camping, Iz,” Addie ordered.
“We can—”
Addie leaned into her. “Be with your guy and go camping, Iz,” she repeated. “I’ve got this. I’m fine. You’re giving us a home. You know how appreciated it is. But when we’re here, we add to your life, not take from it.”
“You never take from it,” Izzy returned.
“I’ve been taking from you since Mom loaded us up in that car in the middle of the night and we left Dad,” Addie shot back.
Iz shut her mouth.
Addie looked down to Brooks and back to her sister.
“He’s not hard work,” she whispered.
“No,” Izzy whispered in return.
More whispering when Addie said, “Love you, Iz.”
“Love you too, Addie,” Izzy replied.
“Be with your guy,” Addie urged.
“Okay,” Izzy agreed.
Johnny looked back out the window, raising his mug and taking a sip in order to open a throat that had closed.
When he was finished and nothing further had been said by the two sisters, he spoke.
“I’m dismantling that table and putting it and the chairs away, and if either of you two women even look like you’re gonna offer to help, I’m wringing your neck.”
There was a moment of stunned silence.
And then he heard two women bust out laughing.