Stella had warmed to the Trahans—all of them—so quickly. That should probably worry her. If something happened and she and Gabe stopped seeing each other, Stella would lose not just Gabe but also a grandmotherly figure in Caroline, a fun-loving uncle in Logan, and a boy who was already her best friend and was practically a brother.
Addison felt a little shiver of trepidation herself. They were in deep with the Trahans, and it had happened quickly.
But just then the boat pulled to a stop, and everyone removed the ear protection they wore and focused on Sawyer.
And a few minutes later, as Stella held Cooper’s hand and extended it toward the baby alligator Sawyer held, Addison knew that there was no way to slow all of this down. They just had to hold on for the ride and trust that everything would be okay.
When they were back at the Boys of the Bayou dock, Stella grabbed Addison’s hand and pulled her into the gift shop.
“Mommy, I have to get Cooper one of these, okay?” Stella took a mini-flashlight from a hook on a display rack near the registers. It was, of course, a plastic alligator, and the light came from its wide-open mouth.
Addison took the flashlight from Stella’s fingers. “You do?”
“I brought my allowance money.” Stella held up a hand and uncurled her fingers. In her palm were three dollar bills and a collection of coins.
“You’re going to use your own money?” Wow, this was important.
Stella nodded. “We were talking about it before we came, and I told him I would get him one.”
“You were talking about this flashlight specifically?” Addison asked. “Really?”
“I told him I saw it last time and told him he needs it. He wants it.”
Something nagged at Addison about that answer. “He has a whole bunch of flashlights, right?” Addison said. “Does he want this one just because it’s an alligator?”
Stella shook her head. “He needs another flashlight. But I told him this one would remind him he’s brave because he was going to pet an alligator today.”
Addison regarded her daughter thoughtfully as the nagging feeling intensified. “He needs to be reminded he’s brave?”
Stella nodded. “He thinks he’s not brave because he gets worried about things.”
Addison thought about that. “You haven’t told him he’s not brave, have you, Stell?” she asked.
Stella actually looked offended. “No, Mommy. That hurts his feelings. I’m helping him feel brave.”
Addison believed Stella hadn’t said it to Cooper, but there was something about her daughter’s answer that bothered her. “Has someone else told him that he’s not brave?”
Stella frowned. “Some kids at his day care.”
Oh boy. “And you’re trying to help him feel brave?” Addison asked. “How are you doing that?”
“I tell him that he helped me that night when it was stormy and I was scared.”
Gabe had filled Addison in on the full story, and it had warmed Addison’s heart. But this nagging feeling wouldn’t go away. “Do the flashlights make him feel braver?” Addison asked.
Stella nodded.
“Is he afraid of the dark?”
“Sometimes.”
“And he wants as many as he can get?” Addison asked.
“In case one runs out,” Stella said. “They’re little.”
“You can replace the batteries in most of them,” Addison said. She didn’t mind getting Cooper the alligator flashlight, but something was bugging her about Cooper’s collection.
“But he can’t change them by himself,” Stella said.
“His dad or his uncle or his grandma or I would help him,” Addison said.
“But they’re not always with him.”
“And Cooper is worried about needing a flashlight when his dad and the rest of us aren’t around?” Addison asked.
Stella nodded. “Right.”
Addison didn’t like the idea that Cooper was feeling worried that he might need a flashlight when his family wasn’t around. She wondered where that was coming from and if there was something she could do to make it better. She looked down at the flashlight she held. Well, at least she could buy him a light that would also remind him that he’d overcome his fear and touched an alligator today.
“You keep your allowance, Stell Bell,” she said. Addison paid for the flashlight and gave it to Stella to give to Cooper. Her daughter went running out the front door to where Gabe and Cooper were standing talking to Sawyer.
Through the window, Addison watched Cooper’s face light up and Stella’s huge grin as she gave her friend the gift. Addison’s heart expanded. Maybe Cooper was a little afraid of the dark, or afraid of the dark when his family wasn’t around anyway, but that was a normal fear, especially for a five-year-old, and if that little plastic alligator made him feel better, then she was glad to be a part of it.
Gabe held his hand out to her as she joined them on the sidewalk out front, and they laced their fingers together.
“I’m glad you guys came back,” Sawyer told them, clapping Gabe on the shoulder. He held his hand out to Cooper, who shook it. “Keep coming back. Pretty soon you’ll be doin’ the tour with me. You know a lot about gators.”
Cooper’s eyes widened, but before he could say that he had no interest in something like that, Stella took Sawyer’s other hand and pumped it up and down. “I’d be a great airboat driver,” she told him.
“Oh, I can tell that,” Sawyer said. “You and Coop can take over the business for me when you’re older.”
“Really?” she asked, her voice full of awe.
“You bet.” Sawyer winked at her. “You’re a good team.”
Stella beamed at Cooper. “We are. He’s going to be my brother.”
Addison coughed, and Gabe chuckled. Sawyer looked up with a grin. “Well, that’s good news. If I’d known, I would have let you throw an extra chicken to the gators.”
Gabe laughed. “Thanks. Maybe we can do that next time.”
Sawyer nodded. “You got it.”
They headed for the car after that. Addison wondered if she and Gabe should address the brother comment. But she wasn’t in a hurry to tell the kids that wasn’t true. Interestingly. She and Gabe could discuss it and decide what their response would be.
And she didn’t miss the fact that this kind of stuff was exactly why she’d been avoiding a serious relationship, particularly with a man with a kid.
She let them into the house forty minutes later.
As the kids ran down the hall toward the kitchen, Addison started after them, but Gabe grabbed her wrist and pulled her around to face him.
“Maybe we should do a little laundry before Coop and I go home.”
She looped her arms around his neck. “Hmm, I am feeling a little dirty, now that you mention it.”
His hands cupped her butt—a favorite move of his—and he put his lips against her neck. “You’re sexy as hell when you’re being a mom, but I would love to make you forget about everything but you being a woman and me being a man for a little bit.”
A shiver of desire went through her. She and Gabe had been getting closer, and she’d learned so much about him just being around him and his family, but they hadn’t been physical since they’d had a quickie against the door in the storage room at the community center after the meeting the other night.
“I miss stretching out in bed and being able to get at all of you and lying in your arms all night afterward,” she said, tipping her head back as he kissed his way down her neck.
He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, his blue eyes dark. “Say the word and I’ll put a ring on your left hand and make Cooper officially Stella’s brother, and we can have that every single night.”
The shiver of desire turned into goose bumps, and she had to press her lips together to keep from blurting out, Yes, let’s do it tomorrow.
She swallowed. “Noted,” she said. Breathlessly.
He looked part reli
eved and part turned on. “I still need you in the laundry room tonight, Ad.”
She nodded. “Also noted.”
He kissed her again, hot and hard, and then took her hand, and they headed to the kitchen to feed the kids.
Dinner was, as usual, a loud, messy, happy event. The grilled hamburgers made the peas tolerable, according to Stella, and both kids ate everything. Then, Cooper, the sweetheart, said that he would love to wait about an hour before eating his ice cream for dessert. Because Addison and Gabe were fully on board with another hour of time together, they simply shared a look and agreed that Cooper had a great plan. Including the part where he suggested that he and Stella could spend the hour playing swamp-boat tour-company owners in Stella’s room. Stella didn’t have any stuffed alligators, but she had plenty of stuffed animals that could be alligators with the right noses and tails made out of construction paper.
The whole game sounded like something that would take even more than an hour in Addison’s estimation, and she happily turned over the construction paper, kids’ scissors, and tape.
Once they were happily coloring and cutting and jabbering about their swamp-boat company, Addison and Gabe made their way downstairs. And nonchalantly headed straight for the laundry room.
Gabe had the table pushed against the door and his shirt off by the time Addison had her shoes kicked off and the first few buttons of her shirt undone. She paused to take in the sight before her. She reached out and ran her hands over his chest and shoulders. She loved the way they bunched as he moved to touch her back, finishing the job she’d started on her buttons.
“I’m so glad our kids get along and can keep each other busy,” Gabe said, pushing her shirt off her shoulders and reaching for the bra clasp between her breasts. He freed the mounds and took them in hand, thumbing the tips that immediately stiffened and shot sparks of heat and need to her core.
“Me, too,” she said, arching closer, needing more pressure and friction . . . pretty much everywhere.
“They’re good for each other,” he said.
“Mmm-hmm—” She broke off with a gasp as he bent and took a nipple into his mouth. Her fingers curled into his hair, and she marveled at the way his tongue could turn her into a quivering pile of sensations almost instantly.
“We’re good for each other, Ad,” Gabe said against her breast, licking again before bringing his lips back to hers.
She agreed. But she didn’t want to stop the kissing to tell him. They were all good for each other. They were all good together. Thoughts of the kids together upstairs, laughing and planning and playing, went through her mind. Stella had always made friends easily, but there was something about Cooper that seemed special. Stella was almost protective of him, Addison realized. Stella was always making sure Cooper was beside her. She waited for him if he was lagging behind. Sure, she sometimes gave him a heavy, put-upon sigh, but she always waited. It had been so important to her today that Cooper pet the alligator. She’d given him a pep talk as they’d driven to the dock and had then literally held his hand as he’d touched the animal. And she’d insisted on buying him a flashlight. She’d been willing to use her own money for it, in fact. And he’d clipped that little plastic alligator to his belt loop immediately and hadn’t taken it off since.
She pulled back from Gabe. “Did you know Cooper is afraid of the dark?”
Gabe blinked down at her, clearly surprised she’d cut off the kiss. Frankly, she was a little surprised, too.
Gabe shook his head slowly as her comment sank in. “No, he doesn’t have a problem with the dark. We use night-lights because he gets up to pee at night,” Gabe said.
Addison frowned. “Well, I don’t think he’s afraid at home, no. But there’s something at day care that makes him nervous.”
Gabe pulled back. “What are you talking about?”
She took in his naked chest and felt a flash of regret go through her. Dammit. They weren’t going to have sex in the laundry room tonight, either. “I’m worried about Cooper.”
It hadn’t fully hit her until she said those words out loud, but it was true. Something had been nagging at her since the gift shop, and she couldn’t shake it. Now, thinking about how protective Stella was, Addison knew she needed to figure out what was going on. “I’m sorry, but it just hit me when you mentioned how good Stella and Cooper are together,” she said.
Gabe searched her eyes for a moment. Then he blew out a breath and reached behind her. He snagged her bra and handed it to her. “This laundry room is such a good idea. Why can’t we pull it off?”
Addison tugged the straps up her arms and closed the little hook in front. “Because we’re parents.”
He nodded and bent to grab his shirt. “Okay, what’s going on?” he asked as he shrugged into it.
She pulled her shirt on, too, buttoning as she said, “Stella said that he’s collecting flashlights because he’s worried about the dark at day care.” She frowned. “Does that make any sense? He’s not there when it’s dark, is he?”
“No. Never.” Gabe was frowning, too.
“Has he ever been there during a storm or something when the lights might have gone out?” she asked. That would make some sense.
Gabe shook his head. “Not that I can think of. Not recently.”
“Well, maybe it was a while ago?”
“He started collecting the flashlights about a month ago.” Gabe ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t even know he had them all. When I asked, he said that he got the first one from Stella. She said you had it at home and never used it. Then I guess he took the one off Mom’s key ring. And then started collecting others.”
Addison frowned at that. “Stella gave him the first one?”
“That’s what he said,” Gabe said. “Stella told me the night of the storm that one of them was from her.”
Addison slid off the dryer to the floor, fully dressed. “That’s . . . interesting.”
“How so?”
“She said that he’s afraid of the dark and wants to be sure he has flashlights with him all the time and needs more than one in case they run out of batteries. But he’s only worried about it when none of us are with him.”
“That’s only day care,” Gabe agreed. “Otherwise it’s you, Mom, Logan, or me all the time.”
Addison nodded. “I guess it just sounded funny to me. It’s probably nothing.”
Gabe didn’t look convinced. At all. “I think we need to talk to the kids.”
“You sure you want Stella and me there?” Addison asked.
“I think Stella makes him brave,” Gabe said. “Maybe that will encourage him to tell me what’s going on.”
“You don’t think he’d tell you anyway?” Addison asked.
“Apparently not,” Gabe said drily.
“Hey, guys.” Gabe tried to keep his voice normal and easy as he and Addison stepped into Stella’s bedroom where she and Cooper were coloring a sign that said BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE BAYOU.
“We don’t have to go yet, do we?” Cooper asked immediately. “We’re not done yet.”
“Nope, we’re not going yet,” Gabe assured him. “But Addison and I were talking, and we wanted to ask you guys something.”
He and Addison each took a seat on the floor. Addison leaned back against Stella’s bed, and Gabe propped up against the wall by the window. They didn’t want to intimidate the kids or make this a bigger deal than it really was, but considering they didn’t know what was going on, it was hard to hold back from demanding to know what was with Cooper and the flashlights.
Dammit, he’d wondered. His kid suddenly collecting flashlights? It seemed . . . off. He’d told himself not to worry. It was harmless. It was practical, even. It was always a good idea to have a flashlight handy.
But five-year-olds weren’t supposed to be practical. They weren’t supposed to think about things like the lights suddenly going out or emergency preparedness.
Gabe felt the tension in his neck and worked t
o relax as he glanced over at Addison.
She was a couple of feet away, out of reach, but just like at the support-group meetings, she met his eyes and gave him a smile, and he knew what she was thinking—this was good, and they were in it together.
“What do you want to know?” Cooper asked him, setting down his markers and focusing on Gabe.
Gabe smiled slightly at his son’s inability to do two things at once. “Day care,” Gabe told him. “We were just wondering what you both like about where you go to day care. We were wondering if you like the same things or different things.”
That wasn’t 100 percent accurate, but it would start the conversation.
“I like my day care,” Stella said, making the word GIRLS a bright, bold yellow color.
Bright and bold. That was Stella.
“What do you like the best, Stell Bell?” Addison asked.
“They have a million markers,” she said. “And lots of clay. And we do art every day.” Stella didn’t even look up.
Addison nodded. “How about you, Cooper?” she asked. “What do you like at day care?”
“I like the markers, too,” Cooper said, looking at Stella. “And story time.”
Yep, Gabe knew that. He felt a little better. Cooper loved books, and he’d always said that Miss Linda, the head of the day care, did great voices when she read them stories.
“And what do you not like, Stella?” Addison asked.
Stella shrugged. “Quiet time.”
Gabe couldn’t help but grin at that. He shot Addison a look, and she gave him a little eye roll and a smile. “How about you, bud?” he asked Cooper.
Stella’s head came up at that, and she looked at Cooper.
Cooper frowned at the paper in front of him. “Quiet time,” he said.
Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy) Page 19