"Dolly." I swallowed back a laugh at the shocked look on Abraham's face. You would think after two days with her in Savannah he'd be a little more used to the fact that she didn't have anything even close to a filter. "A simple ‘hello' would have sufficed."
"Well, I did miss him and he should have come to see us." She sent me a quick glare and pout before turning back to him, all smiles. "We have a new house. I have my own room. And my own bathroom."
"That's pretty cool." He recovered quicker than I thought he would, bending down and picking her up, settling her on his hip as if she wasn't a solid sixty plus pounds of excited, wiggly kid. "So cool, in fact, that I thought we needed to celebrate so I brought you pizza."
"Pizza!" Her shout was loud enough to have both me and Abraham jolting. He lost his grip on her and she slid to the floor, which turned out to be for the best since as soon as her feet touched the tile she was running out of the room yelling that there was pizza for dinner. Abraham and I stared at each for a moment before he said, "If you're looking for some sort of school activity for her, I would recommend choir. Or drama."
"She definitely wouldn't need a microphone." Crossing the room, I rose up on my toes and took his lips in what was intended to be a short kiss. Of course, the instant I was pressed against him, he wrapped one arm around my waist, sinking his other hand in my hair and deepening the kiss. I drew back enough to murmur, "The kids are going to be down here any second."
"And?" He kissed the corner of my mouth, scratching my scalp lightly. "I don't know how to break this to you but they should probably get used to the sight of me kissing you because I plan to do it as often as you'll let me."
"Still." My brain went fuzzy when he flicked his tongue over my earlobe before giving the sensate skin a quick bite. "Uh, still. We should probably not be so... obvious." I was pretty sure that was the word I was looking for but I wasn't certain. I'd never met a man who could wipe out all thought processes with so little effort. Actually, if I was being honest, I'd never met any man who could turn my brain off the way Abraham did. Pushing that thought aside, I whispered, "Why did you close the bar?"
"Because I wanted to come see you-and the kids-and there was nobody to run things while I was gone." He turned us until he was able to trap me between his body and the counter, continuing to massage my scalp as he moved on to kissing my neck. "It's okay. The bar can stand to be closed for a night. I couldn't stand not seeing you for another day."
"Abraham." Something skittered over my nerves and I started to pull away, freezing when he tightened his grip. Meeting his gaze with mine, I said, "I'm trying. But I need you stop pushing. I'm not too proud to admit when you say things like that, some part of me starts to panic."
"You ever think maybe it would be good for you to panic? Let go of some of that control you're so proud of?" He stroked his hand up and down my back, scraping his thumbnail over the vertebrae with each pass. "I get you've been on your own for a long time and maybe you don't think you have anybody to lean on but you do. I'm right here."
Before I could ask him for how long, I heard the already too familiar sound of footsteps clamoring down the stairs. This time when I tried to pull away he let me and I gave my hair a quick finger comb before Dolly and Conway ran in to the room, Tammy and Kitty following at a more sedate pace. Forcing my lips up in a smile I hoped was more easy than macabre, I said, "Look, our first guest. And he brought us food."
"Pizza." Tammy didn't sigh but her shoulders slumped and her face darkened. "I can't eat-."
"Hold on there, kid." Striding over to the island, Abraham pulled the bottom box out of the stack, spinning it around opening the lid, presenting it to Tammy. "Very, very light sauce and I had Sally cut back on the spices." He held the box out to her, waiting patiently while she stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Had to listen to her complain about how I'm committing sacrilege and destroying the sanctity of food but she did it."
"Thank you." She took the box, continuing to stare at him as if she was actually noticing him for the first time. After a moment, she turned to Kitty and said, "Do you want to share? You were saying earlier you had some heartburn."
"Oh, that probably would be for the best." Kitty shot me an apologetic look, as if she should be ashamed over a basic bodily function. I noticed she did that quite often, something which only made me dislike her parents all the more. "If I don't nip the heartburn in the bud, the baby will spend all night kicking me and I won't get a wink of sleep."
"Conway wants cheese tonight." Dolly looked at him for confirmation, waiting until he nodded before turning to me with her hands on her hips. "Me, too. Please."
"At least you remembered to say ‘please'." I scrubbed my hands over my face before turning a slow circle. "And now I have to remember where we put the plates."
"One of those boxes doesn't actually have pizza." Abraham nudged me out of the way, spreading the boxes over the counter and opening each one. "I told Sally you probably weren't going to be in the mood for dishes so she loaded you up with paper plates and napkins. And there are drinks in the car but I didn't have enough hands."
"Oh." I tucked my tongue in my cheek to keep from asking him how much everything had cost. Something told me it would start an argument I didn't have the energy to see through to the bitter end. "Tammy, why don't you and Kitty go get the drinks while we get everything sorted out in here?"
"Sure." Shooting Abraham another suspicious look, she set her pizza box on the dining table, hooking her arm through Kitty's and dragging her toward the hall. I stared after her for a moment, wondering what the hell was going on in her convoluted mind, before shaking my head and turning to Dolly, still standing with her hands on her hips. "You said cheese, right?"
THREE HOURS LATER, I collapsed on the sofa next to Abraham, leaning my head back against the cushions with a groan. "I don't think I'm ever going to move again. I don't remember it being this much of a headache when I was younger."
"You probably had less stuff. And no kids." He reached down and grabbed my ankles, lifting them and swinging me around until my back was against the arm and my feet were in his lap. Running the heel of his hand over one arch, he said, "But nobody died."
"That's what I keep telling myself." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from groaning again, this time in ecstasy, when he started massaging the ball of my foot. "I'll give you a hundred or so years to stop that and then I'm going to get mad."
"Funny girl." He smiled but it seemed to not quite meet his eyes but he shifted his gaze to my feet too quickly for me to be sure. He was silent for a few minutes, all his concentration on his work, before he cleared his throat and said, "I know we're supposed to go eat lunch with my parents tomorrow."
"Don't worry, I managed to find a dress which was meet-the-parents appropriate." And that I hadn't worn to a funeral. I might have spent the majority of the time in Savannah shopping for the kids but I'd taken the time to get a few things for myself. Cotton Creek wasn't the type of place where you needed a new outfit every time you went to church or to a school function but you needed to have some sort of variety in your wardrobe and mine had been sadly lacking. "It even has a Peter Pan collar, which apparently is a thing again."
"Honey, I don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about but okay." He set my foot down and picked up the other, his touch hesitant, as if I'd suddenly become fragile. "And while that's nice, you don't have to go."
"Oh." I was pretty sure what I was feeling was puzzlement and not hurt. After all, I hadn't wanted to go in the first place so why would I be hurt that he was giving me an out? "Well. If you think that's for the best."
"Jeannie." He stopped, taking a deep breath and holding it until my own lungs started to ache in sympathy, exhaling slowly. "I know I pushed you in to saying ‘yes' and I did it because where my parents are concerned I'm a coward. I always have been."
"Don't say that." I straightened, leaning over and resting my hand on his cheek. "You were a child. Every child wants to make their parents happy, to make them proud."