“Ready!” Cameron hollered as he and Callie came darting back into the kitchen.
“All right, rugrats, let’s hit the road.”
Shoving my wallet and phone into my pants pockets, I stole one more kiss from Kenzie before heading out. Right before we got to the door, Callie asked—very loudly, “Brett, can we still gets donuts? You promised.”
I looked over my shoulder at Kenzie just in time to see her throw me a wink. “I’ll see about ordering that manual off Amazon.”
My girl. Always looking out for me.
“Afternoon, Lori. Looking beautiful as ever,” I told the daycare worker as I walked up to the front desk. The older woman had been in Cloverleaf since before I was born. Her daycare was the one I’d gone to when I was a child myself.
“Well, if it’s not Brett Halstead. What can I do for you today, darlin’?”
“I’m here to pick up Callie and Cameron Webster. Their mom should have put me on the pickup list this morning.”
She typed away on the keyboard in front of her before stating, “Ah, yeah. Looks like she did. I’ll just need to see your license and you’ll be all set.”
After handing my license over, Lori made a photocopy of it and slid it back to me before directing me to the twins’ classroom.
“You know,” she called out as I started to walk away. “Those kids and their momma are something else.”
I shot her a smile over my shoulder. “Don’t I know it.”
“Any man who lands them is one lucky son of a gun, if you ask me.”
“Preachin’ to the choir here.” I gave her a wink, and then made my way down the hall to their room. The minute I pushed it open, I was overthrown by two mini tornados.
“BRETT! BRETT!” the twins shouted as they latched on to my legs.
“Hey there, rugrats. You ready to go home?”
As they ran to their cubbies for their jackets, a pretty teenage girl with a shy smile approached me. “Hi there, I’m Megan, the twins’ teacher.”
“I’m Brett, nice to meet you,” I said, extending my hand for her to shake. The moment her palm touched mine her eyes cast down and her entire face flushed bright red as a girly giggle rose from her chest.
Great, a teenage girl with a crush. Yeah, I wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. Time to go.
“Hey guys, you ready?”
Seeming to snap out of it, Megan declared, “Oh! Don’t forget their art folders.” She ran over, grabbed two folders and brought them back to me. “Today’s project was for them to draw their family.”
I took the folders in my hand and raised them in a wave. “Thanks. Have a great evening.”
We made our way out of the daycare and over to my Jeep where I loaded the twins in the booster seats I’d bought to keep in my car. As I buckled them in, I couldn’t help but remember just how appreciative Kenzie had been when I informed her I bought my own seats so we didn’t have to keep switching. She showed her gratitude with her mouth…and her hands…and pretty much every one of my favorite parts of her rockin’ body for hours.
Just like Lori had said. I was a lucky, lucky man.
Walking into Brett’s house after work, I was beyond surprised to see dinner was almost finished and the twins were sitting at the dinner table coloring. In all the years I had been with Lance, he never once cooked dinner for me. That had always been my job, or, in Lance’s words, the woman’s job.
“Hi, Mommy!” Callie called when she saw me. I dropped my purse by the door and walked over to the table.
“Hey, honey pot.” I leaned down to place a kiss on her head before walking over to do the same to Cam. “You and bubs have a good day?”
“Yeah,” she answered, Cameron still silently engrossed in coloring a picture of Spiderman.
I walked over to the stove where Brett stood, stirring a pot of something that smelled delicious.
“Hey, beauty,” he said, planting a kiss on my lips.
“Hi,” I smiled. “You’re making dinner?”
“Mmmhmm. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and homemade gravy.”
I leaned over the stove, inhaling deeply before whispering, “Dear Lord, I’m so hot for you right now.”
Brett chuckled and pulled me flush against his strong, hard body, saying, “That so? Well then, maybe you’ll be willing to show your gratitude tonight.”
“Mommy,” Cameron called. “We got to go to Viwgie May’s after school. We gots to see Emmy, and Brett bought a whole bunches of yummy food for dinner!”
I pulled away from Brett with a glare and walked over to the trashcan. Sure enough, a bag from Emmy’s diner and a bunch of to-go containers filled the can.