The word “no” sat uncomfortably on his tongue. They didn’t need to intertwine their lives like this. Jessie was his responsibility. But then he thought about how much fun Jess had with Braden. He trusted her with him. He didn’t know if that was the right thing. Would Chelle have trusted him?
He didn’t know about her, but Wes did. “Yes,” he said. Braden nodded. When Wes leaned back, Braden didn’t move his hand. And Wes didn’t tell him to.
“Did she ever watch the sun rise from out here?” Braden asked.
A smile suddenly pulled at his lips. “Yeah. Yeah, she did.”
“When was the last time you watched the sun rise, man?”
Hell, he couldn’t even remember. “I don’t know.”
“Then we’ll do it. No excuses, no reason. We’ll just do it because we can, and because we want to.”
It didn’t matter that he’d been tired earlier, or that they’d be sitting our here for more hours than he wanted to count. He wasn’t sure he’d ever really wanted to watch the sun rise before, but suddenly it was important.
“Yeah...yeah, let’s do it.”
There were long periods of quiet, but also talking, too. Wes made coffee, and Braden let Jock out to stretch his legs once or twice.
When the sun peeked out from behind a mountain, pinks and oranges in the sky, he realized why Chelle would sometimes do this. Wished he would’ve done it with her. And glad he’d done it with Braden. No one else would have thought to do something like this.
“Jesus, that’s fucking beautiful.”
“Yeah it is,” Braden replied, and then pushed to his feet. “Now you can say you spent the night with Braden Roth.”
Wes looked up at him. “More like you can say you spent the night with me.”
Braden winked. “Finally.” He turned for the screen door on the porch. “Come on, Jock, let’s go.”
The dog got up and followed him, and Wes watched. Watched until Braden’s truck drove out of sight.
Chapter Eight
Around five thirty, on the fourth Wednesday that Braden watched Jessie, his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket to see Wes’s name light up on the screen. He grinned and said, “You’re bringing us dinner, right? I’m exhausted, honey. I don’t know if I can handle cooking tonight. I feel like you’re never home anymore.”
Wes briefly chuckled. “Funny.”
“Made you laugh.” He took it almost as a personal goal to make Wes laugh as much as he could. The man didn’t do it nearly enough. And he was pretty good at it.
Wes didn’t reply to his comment, and instead said, “We’re crazy around here. We have a trauma ten minutes out. Anna’s working the ER tonight but she’s not feeling well. She said she could stay until seven when someone gets in to cover for her, but—”
“But you want to help.” He already realized that’s who Wes was. He’d do more for others than he’d do for himself. “It’s cool. We got this. I’ll order a pizza or something.”
“Yay!” Jessie screamed and Braden ruffled her hair.
“Are you sure? Anna can stay if you have somewhere to go. Or I could call Lydia.”
“It’s cool. You’d feel guilty if you left her to work when she didn’t feel well. I have your number, man. We can even pretend it was my idea and you didn’t have to ask if you want.”
Wes paused, which wasn’t a surprise to Braden. He always seemed taken aback when Braden called him on something, when Braden called people on most things.
“I need to get to the ER. I...thanks.”
“No problem. Go save lives. We’ll be here when you get done.” He hung up before Wes could. Braden stood up. “Uncle Wes is going to be a little late, so we’re on our own for dinner tonight. What do you like on your pizza?”
Jessie grinned up at him. “Cheese.”
“And?”
Her nose wrinkled, as though she didn’t know what he meant.
“You only eat cheese on your pizza? You’re missing out, Squirt. Do you trust me?”
Another confused look.
“Never mind. I got this. You’re about to have the best pizza you’ve ever put in your mouth.” Braden made the quick call to order their dinner. They had time to watch a couple episodes of Tom and Jerry before the doorbell rang.
After paying, he walked over to the coffee table but Jessie said, “We can’t eat dinner in the living room. Mommy says it’s good to eat dinner at the table.”
Oh. “Cool. We can handle the table.” Wes usually worked six a.m. to six p.m. Braden usually left not long after Wes got home, so he hadn’t done the dinner thing with them except when Jessie was sick. He figured that didn’t really count, though.