style="font-size:15px;"> “Nonsense. You’re our guest—” She swallowed her next words. “I mean—”
Dane held up his hand. “I understand, Zoey. Really. This isn’t a normal situation. I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. I’m going to the store anyway.” She snatched up the kettle as it began to whistle and poured hot water into two mugs.
Her hand shook. They sounded like polite strangers instead of husband and wife, she thought, and stirred the coffee granules into his mug, then gave it to him.
“I’ll go with you to the store. There are some things I want to pick up.” Dane took a sip of his coffee and kept his expression neutral.
Zoey dunked her tea bag into her hot water, then spooned in some honey. “We’ll go after breakfast.”
“Mommy, Daddy was gonna play a game with me.”
“He can later. Blake has a soccer game this morning and I want to get the shopping done before the game.”
Mandy drew her brows together and formed a pout. “We always have to go to his games. Can I stay at Nana’s with Tara?”
“I guess so if it’s okay with her,” Zoey said, bringing her mug to the table and placing it on the mat across from Dane’s.
“Call her. Call her!”
“Not until you’ve cleaned your room and made your bed, young lady.”
Mandy hurriedly finished her cereal in two bites and raced from the room before Zoey could say anything.
Dane chuckled. “I didn’t know it was possible to eat so fast.”
“Mandy does everything on fast mode. She’ll be back down here in a few minutes, declaring her room is clean. Of course, when I go up to inspect it, most of the items on the floor will be shoved under her bed. She’ll moan and groan, but finally pull them all out and put them where they belong.”
“If she knows you’re gonna check, why doesn’t she put them away the first time?”
Zoey shrugged. “I think she’s an eternal optimist. She’s just sure one day I won’t check.”
“She sounds like she’s gotten more than her looks from you.”
“I’ve tempered my optimism with realism. When life slaps you in the face, it’s hard not to.” Zoey sipped at her tea, glad to have something to do with her hands. “Would you like some cereal? I know you like a big breakfast, but the only morning I have time to fix one is Sunday before we go to church.”
“I’m not used to having a big breakfast anymore. Where’s the cereal?”
“You mean cereals.” She pointed to the cabinet next to the refrigerator. “When you have three hungry children, we go through several boxes in a week. I do have some that aren’t laced with tons of sugar.”
“Actually sugar sounds good. I’ve missed it.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as Dane prepared his bowl of cereal topped with a banana. Zoey wanted to ask him about his years in the jungle, about his lost memory, but after the night before, she knew he wouldn’t say anything to her until he was ready, if ever. She didn’t want him to reject confiding in her a second time. Her battered emotions could only take so much.
Dane settled again in the chair across from her and dug into his cereal. When he was halfway finished, he looked up and speared her with his intense gaze. “Where’s Blake? I’d hoped to see him this morning.”
Zoey glanced at the clock over the desk. “He should have been down by now. I’d better go see what’s keeping him. He’s supposed to go over to Nate’s this morning before the game. I need to check on Tara, too. She should be up. I usually hear her by now.”
Zoey hurried up the stairs, stopping by Mandy’s room to see how she was progressing with her cleanup. With a quick look under her daughter’s bed, then the closet, Zoey shook her head and said, “You’re gonna have to try harder if you want to go to Nana’s this morning.” There was a part of her that hoped Mandy didn’t accomplish her task, the part that didn’t want to be alone with Dane, the part that was confused and not sure what to do.
“Oh, Mommy. Everything’s off the floor.”
“Yeah, and this time stuffed in your closet.”
“But it’s not under the bed.”
Zoey put her hands on her hips and fixed a stern expression on her face. “Young lady, you know what a clean room is supposed to be like.”
Next Zoey went to Blake’s room and knocked on the closed door. When she didn’t hear anything, she knocked again, louder. Suddenly the door swung open. He was still dressed in his pajamas with his hair sticking up at odd angles as though he had just rolled out of bed. He knuckled sleep from his eyes.
“You need to hurry and come down to breakfast before you go to Nate’s.”
“I’m not hungry,” he mumbled, his gaze dropping away from hers.
“You need to eat something. You’ve got a soccer game later this morning.”
“I’ll get dressed and walk over to Nate’s. It’s only five blocks.”
“You can’t avoid your dad, Blake.”
He scowled. “Yes, I can.”
Her son started to close his door, but Zoey stuck her foot in the doorway to stop him. “Your father is here to stay.”
“How do you know?”
His question caught her off guard. She didn’t know for sure. Dane’s job with the DEA had always been so important to him, to the point that she’d felt her and their family had often come in second. He’d told her the evening before he didn’t have plans yet, but if past patterns were any indication, Dane would be gone on some DEA assignment as soon as he felt he had recovered, and Blake needed a full-time father, especially right now. “I want you downstairs for breakfast in ten minutes.”
She didn’t wait for her son to protest her command. She hurried to Tara’s room and found her youngest playing in her crib as though she had been patiently waiting for someone to come get her. It wouldn’t be long before she needed to put the crib away and get a big girl bed for Tara. Her youngest was growing up too fast.
“Sweet pea, time to get up.”
With a big smile, Tara stood in the crib and lifted her arms for Zoey to take. “Mama, up now.”
After quickly changing Tara’s diaper and dressing her, Zoey carried her downstairs, noticing her son’s bedroom door was still closed. Blake was a good kid. He’d do what he needed to do.
As she entered the room, Dane placed his bowl in the dishwasher, then poured himself another cup of coffee. She drew in a deep breath at the sight of him in her kitchen. She’d never thought she would see that again. Then she remembered Blake’s
