It was about three minutes before Tripp finally said, “You going to come over here or just keep hiding out, Grant?”
A small crash shook the bushes at the same time as Grant’s yelp filled the air. Tripp pulled out from under the hood of the car, but before he could respond Duke was up and darting over to the commotion.
Grant had fallen backward, sprawled in the bushes much like his aunt had been the other night. Tripp forced himself to hide his smile at the similarity, mainly because he didn’t want Grant to think he was laughing at what had just happened. He pulled the little boy up and onto his feet before crouching down on eye level. Grant ducked his head, hiding his face.
“You okay?” Tripp asked, holding Grant firmly by the shoulders and looking him over. It hadn’t been nearly as much of a fall as Beth had taken the other day, and besides a smudge of dirt on his pants leg, the kid looked fine.
“Yes, sir,” he mumbled.
“What happened to you looking me in the eyes?”
Grant tensed before he moved his head up, a bright red flush staining his cheeks.
Tripp let go of the boy’s shoulders, resting his forearms on top of his bent legs. “There’s no need to be embarrassed, Grant. Though I don’t know why you were hiding from me.”
Duke was circling them, sniffing all around Grant and brushing his big, furry body against the little boy’s side.
“I didn’t want to bother you. You looked busy.”
The kid was obviously still frightened. Well, Tripp was going to need to put the kibosh on that. For one thing, he had every intention of spending as much time with Beth as possible, and was therefore going to be around Grant quite often. Second, he didn’t like scaring anyone, let alone an eight-year-old boy.
“I’m working on my car, but that doesn’t mean I’m too busy to talk to you, buddy. Or let you play with Duke, for that matter. I’m guessing that’s why you came over here.”
When Tripp said Duke’s name and the word play in the same sentence, the dog sat back on his haunches, letting out a soft whine as he gently swatted at Grant’s arm.
“Yes, sir.” He nodded, reaching out and petting Duke’s head.
“Enough with this sir and mister business. You can call me Tripp. Okay?”
“O-okay.”
“You got permission from your aunt to come over here?”
“Yes, s—” Grant cut himself off. “She said it was fine. I just need to be home for dinner.”
Tripp looked down at his watch. It was a quarter past five. “What time is dinner?”
“Six.”
“That gives you forty-five minutes. You ever play fetch with Duke?”
At that the dog whined again, his tail wagging back and forth in excitement.
“No.” Grant shook his head.
“There are some balls over there.” He stood up straight, turning to point to a basket in the corner of the garage. “And a Frisbee. Be careful not to throw them in the street. Got it?”
“Yes, s—”
Tripp raised an eyebrow and Grant cut himself off again before he ran over to the basket, Duke at his side. The smile that turned up Tripp’s mouth as he went back to the car couldn’t be helped. As he leaned to get under the hood, he kept Grant and Duke in view out of the corner of his eye.
The kid grabbed three balls: one blue rubber, a tennis, and a baseball. He set them in the upturned Frisbee before walking back through the garage. The Frisbee was precariously balanced in his hands, and the balls rolled back and forth, bumping the rim before rolling in the opposite direction. Somehow the kid made it out of there without dropping one, the added obstacle of Duke dancing around him not hindering him at all.
Tripp pulled his eyes from the engine and looked over as Grant set the Frisbee and balls down on the grass. He was looking down at them as he chewed on his bottom lip like they were the hardest math problem he’d ever seen.
Duke grabbed the Frisbee between his teeth, knocking off the balls as he moved his head back up and nudged Grant’s hand. When Grant took the Frisbee, Duke took a few steps back, eyes not leaving the bright blue disk. Grant turned it over in his hands a few times, still unsure about it, before flinging it out. The Frisbee wobbled in the air as it went down, hitting the ground on its side and rolling away a few feet.
Duke was off but there was too much momentum under his big body for the short distance that the Frisbee had traveled, and he bounded right on past it. He turned around, confused, and spotted it behind him. The dog took off at a run again, barely stopping as he grabbed it between his teeth and brought it back to Grant at a trot.
Tripp watched Grant throw the Frisbee three more times with very little success—and continually looking more and more frustrated—before he straightened from underneath the hood of the car and headed out of the garage and into the front yard.
* * *
Warm water gushed from the kitchen sink faucet and the lemon-scented soap foamed up as Beth rubbed her hands together.
She felt fairly accomplished for the day considering she’d only been doing things—besides Tripp—for the last three and a half hours. A load of laundry was in the washer while another was tumbling in the dryer, groceries had been purchased and put away, and dinner was in the oven and would be ready in about thirty minutes.
Her biggest accomplishment of the day? Not following Grant next door when he’d gone over ten minutes ago. That had been a battle for sure, the desire to see Tripp again almost driving her to distraction…
She liked him. Really liked him. And though there was still that lingering fear of getting hurt, she still wanted whatever this was with him. She just needed to figure out how to do it while keeping the kids her number one priority.
Beth shut the water off, grabbing the dishtowel by the sink as she turned and looked over at the dining room table. “Whatcha working on, Lucky Penny?”
Her youngest niece was currently stationed there, working on a picture in her farm animals coloring book. As Beth watched her, all she could think was that she wouldn’t trade this precious time with Penny for anything. This time before she became a teenager and locked herself in her room for hours on end, which was exactly where Nora was at the moment…and where she’d been since they’d gotten home two hours ago. Beth’s older niece was in an especially unpleasant mood today.
Instead, Beth focused on the soft strokes of the crayons moving against the page. She loved that sound beyond words. That and the constant chatter. Penny created stories with each picture that she colored, and she also wasn’t bound to the color norms of the world. Her skies were very rarely blue, trees seldom green, the sun never yellow.
“Goats. The baby is named Thaddeus.” Penny pointed to the smallest animal that she’d colored a bright turquoise. “And the mama goat is Lucinda.” Her finger moved to the medium-size goat.
Penny named every animal that she came across. Her stuffed animals, the chickens embroidered on some of the dish towels, the lizards on the sidewalk in the morning, the owls on the wallpaper border that ran around her room—and yes, she did know all twenty-six of their names. Albert, Beatrice, Cesar, etc.—all the way through Zeus.
“I like her purple coat.”
“Li-lac,” Penny enunciated. “She’s lilac.”
Lucinda the lilac goat, mother of Thaddeus the turquoise goat.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I like her lilac coat. So what about the daddy goat?” Beth asked, looking at the last, and biggest, of the animals on the page. He was a pinkish orange color. So was he salmon or coral? That was the question.
“I don’t know yet. I thought Carlos, but that doesn’t seem right.”
So daddy goat was coral.
“What about Casper?” Casper the friendly goat, Beth thought to herself.
“No.” Penny shook her head as she looked down at the picture.
“Cedric?”
“No, that’s not his name.”
“Chadwick?”
“Chadwick?” Penny giggled, repeating
the name. “Nope, that isn’t it, either.”
Beth’s eyes traveled to the herbs growing on the windowsill. “Coriander?”
“Cor-i-an-der.” Penny said the name slowly, seeing how it rolled off her tongue. “Commander Coriander…Yes! That’s his name. Thanks, Aunt B!”
Commander Coriander the coral daddy goat. Made total sense.
“Glad to be of service.” Beth grinned as she turned back to the sink, hanging the towel on the hook by the window.
At that moment a bright blue Frisbee went whizzing by. A second later Duke came streaking across the lawn, his big white and brown body a blur of movement. Beth leaned closer to the window, just in time to see Duke snatch the disk from the air. The dog looked beyond proud of himself as he trotted back across the lawn with the piece of plastic clutched between his teeth. Beth couldn’t see beyond the driveway from this window, but she knew the dog was bringing the Frisbee back to Grant.
“Hey, PenPen. Want to go outside with me?” Beth asked, pulling herself away from the window. “Your brother is playing fetch with Duke,” she added before Penny’s customary why.
Penny looked up, rubbing the end of her nose with the back of her hand. “Okay.” She nodded, setting the crayon down on the table before scrambling down from the chair.
Beth set a timer on her phone for the dinner in the oven before she stuck it in the back pocket of her shorts. When she held out her hand, Penny’s little fingers and palm slid into place and the two headed for the front door.
It was nice outside, a cool evening with the sun still shining a pleasant warmth.
A series of barks rent the air as they went down the front steps. Tripp, Grant, and Duke came into view along the walkway. Tripp—Grant at this side—was holding the Frisbee in one hand, while the other was up in the air, balled in a fist.
“Duke, no. Sit,” Tripp commanded. When Duke listened and sat back on his haunches, Tripp indicated the ground with his hand. “Lie down.”
Duke listened again, going flat on the ground but not taking his eyes off the Frisbee in Tripp’s hand.
“That was good.” Tripp handed the Frisbee to Grant. “But try snapping your wrist a little bit more and do it when your arm is almost fully extended.”
“Okay.” Grant nodded, moving a few steps away from Tripp, the Frisbee now in hand. He shuffled his feet, getting them into position. “Ninety degrees,” he looked up for confirmation.
“Yup, and elbow up and out,” Tripp nodded.
Beth and Penny stopped at the edge of the lawn just as Grant moved his arm, flinging the Frisbee in a pretty good throw. Duke tore off the second it was out of Grant’s hand.
“Ohh!” Penny squealed, pulling her hand from Beth’s as she started clapping. “Good! Good! Good Grant!”
Her nephew spun around to see them, his eyes lighting up with delight. “Aunt B! I’m learning how to throw a Frisbee.”
“I see that, Goose.” She grinned, her gaze moving to Tripp, who was looking right back. His eyes moved over her in that way of his that made her breath catch.
“Teach me tooooo!” Penny said, running toward Tripp. “Please, Mr. Tripp!” Except she pronounced it Twipp.
“It’s just Tripp, Penny.” Grant told his little sister before turning to Beth. “He told me to call him Tripp and not mister or sir.”
“Is that so?” Beth asked, raising her eyebrows at the man in question.
“It is.” Tripp nodded.
Penny started to tug on Tripp’s pant leg and he pulled his gaze from Beth and looked down at the little girl.
“Yes?” He grinned.
“Teach me please, Tripp.” Peeeas.
Duke was back in front of them, Frisbee in mouth. “Take turns?” He raised his eyebrows at Grant in question.
“Okay.” Grant nodded, getting the Frisbee from Duke and moving to hand it to Tripp.
Tripp shook his head. “You can show her how to hold it. Where do you put your thumb?”
“On top,” Grant moved in beside Penny. “And this finger goes here,” he said as he put her index finger to the side. “And the rest curl around to the bottom.”
Grant walked Penny through it all step by step, Tripp helping along the way when something was forgotten. He stood there for Penny’s first few feeble attempts at throwing. It hit the ground hard in the beginning, like she’d been trying to lob it down into the earth.
The first time it was airborne for more than couple of seconds, it wobbled precariously before hitting a very confused Duke in the side. The dog grabbed the disc and brought it over, giving it to Grant before moving out of Penny’s strike zone.
Smart dog.
But Penny was enjoying herself, laughing with delight every time she threw it, no matter where it went. As for Grant, every time he was up to throw, it was with more strength and confidence and the Frisbee traveled a farther distance. The excitement emanating from him was palpable.
Something so simple was making both of these kids happy. Beth’s heart clutched at the sheer joy on their faces.
Tripp had done this.
As if he knew she was thinking about him he turned to look at her over his shoulder and winked.
This man and his winks. Ohhhh good Lord she was falling for him. Hard.
Her phone buzzed in her back pocket, the timer going off. Had she really been out here for twenty-five minutes now? It didn’t feel like that much time had passed at all. She wasn’t ready to walk away from this moment. Wasn’t ready to walk away from Tripp.
“Keep throwing,” Tripp told Grant and Penny before he crossed the space to Beth. “You about to leave me again?”
“Leave you again?” she asked, taking a step forward. The need to be closer to him was stronger than she had the ability to control.
“Yes.” He nodded, reaching up and tracing her hairline down the side of her face to her ear. “You left me about four hours ago. I’m clearly still not over it.”
“Are you really going to act like you’ve been pining away?”
“Not an act. I was forced to console myself with the last of the apology pie and some of the cookies I bought yesterday.”
“You already finished the pie?” she asked, her eyes going wide.
“You ask that like it was a challenge.”
“How in the world are you not four hundred pounds?”
“Vigorous activity. Generally running and lifting weights, though I did enjoy our workout last night and this morning.” He gave her that wicked grin of his. “It’s been a while since that was my cardio.”
“Oh, really now?” She looked around to where Penny and Grant were standing. They were ten feet away and watching the Frisbee soar through the air, not paying attention to Tripp or Beth at all. “How long?”
“Seven months. You?” He was fiddling with a strand of her hair now. Slowly wrapping it around his finger.
“Ten.”
“Not since your ex?”
“Not since my ex.” She shook her head.
“And what if I told you that for this particular brand of cardio, I don’t want us to have other workout buddies?”
Beth grinned. “So you’d like to be exclusive?”
“Yes.” He took a step closer to her.
“And outside of cardio?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking. What? He’d opened the door for this conversation, so she was just going to walk right on through.
“Meaning what, exactly? Dating exclusively? Was that not implied? Beth, I think I’ve already proven that I don’t do well with other guys and you.”
“This is true, but it wasn’t what I meant.”
“And what do you mean?”
Beth looked over to Grant and Penny again. They were both still in their own little world throwing the Frisbee. Her gaze returned to Tripp, and those brown eyes of his focused intently on her face.
“I’m a package deal when it comes to dating.”
“Four for the price of one.” He nodded. “I know that, Beth. I knew it the first
time I kissed you.”
“And it doesn’t scare you?” Because it sure as hell scared her. Scared her to be that vulnerable again with a man, to open herself up. Scared her to get the kids involved in any capacity.
“Now, I didn’t say that.” His voice drawled a little bit when he spoke, his smile quirking to the side.
“Tripp, I’m serious.”
“So am I.” His hand moved down, his fingers trailing across her check and to her chin. “I know what dating you entails and I’m not walking away.”
He pushed her chin up at the same moment that he leaned in, capturing her mouth in one of those soul-searing kisses that she’d only ever experienced with him. He was now cupping the side of her face while his other hand had moved to the small of her back, holding her against him.
A little giggle burst out behind them, and Tripp pulled his mouth from Beth’s. His hand at her face fell away as he turned, but the one on her back stayed steady. Both Penny and Grant were watching them, the former smiling hugely and the latter looking a little confused.
“Mr. Tripp, why’re you kissing my Aunt B?” Penny asked, taking a step forward and doing a little pirouette as she moved.
“I told you, Penny.” Grant looked at her, frowning. “It’s just Tripp. No ‘mister.’”
“Oh right,” Penny nodded at her brother before turning back. “Tripp, why’re you kissing my Aunt B?”
“Because I like kissing her,” he said simply, his hand at her back flexing.
“Oh.” She nodded like that answered everything. “Is he your boyfriend now?” she asked, looking at Beth.
And just that fast Beth’s mind went blank. A clean canvas. A white piece of paper. Nothing. Nada. How was she supposed to answer that?
“That, uh, is a topic of conversation Tripp and I haven’t exactly had.”
“Oh.” Penny nodded again. “You should come to dinner tonight, Tripp.”
“Should I now?” Tripp asked, thankfully moving right on past that boyfriend comment. They’d just have to revisit that later.
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