of the bed. He looked from Jacoby to her, one corner of his mouth tilted into a small grin. “I hope you guys like marshmallows.”
“Marshmallows are perfect.” She ignored the fluttering in her stomach and handed the smallest of the three mugs to Jacoby. “Here you go. Careful, it’s going to be warm.”
She took one of the remaining mugs and sipped. “Hmm, good. Almost as good as having a bed to sleep in again, huh, Jacoby?”
“I wouldn’t know,” the boy mumbled, his gaze on the cup in his hands. “I’ve never had one before.”
Gina’s heart lurched. “Never had one what?”
Jacoby took a long swallow from the mug before he spoke. “My own bed. Or even my own room.”
She blinked hard to fight back the sudden stinging in her eyes. The surprise on Justin’s face told her this was the first time he’d heard this. “Aren’t you lucky, then?” Gina kept her voice light. “You get both in one night.”
Jacoby leaned in close, his small brown eyes locked with hers. “I always wanted my own bed. Usually I’d have to share one with my mamma or sleep on the floor in a smelly, old sleeping bag,” he whispered. “But I didn’t know…”
His voice faded, and when he didn’t continue, she asked, “Didn’t know what, sweetie?”
“How scary it would be.”
Chapter Six
Justin couldn’t believe it. That’s the reason Jacoby wouldn’t go to sleep?
He thought the kid would be excited about finally having his own bed and his own room. Growing up, Justin had often craved a room of his own. Then again, there had been times when he’d been like Jacoby, when he’d been glad to know his brother Billy Joe was there in the dark with him.
But what in the heck were he and Gina going to do now? The night-light wasn’t going to solve this kind of issue.
He took a sip from his mug, meeting Gina’s eyes over the rim. The lukewarm chocolaty sweetness pooled on his tongue. Powerless to look away from the compassion he saw in those blue depths, he knew calling her had been the right thing to do.
For Jacoby.
Gina looked at the boy again. “So, what can we do to make it less scary?”
“You could spend the night, too.”
The kid’s words caused the mouthful of chocolate to rush down Justin’s throat. It took a couple of fist thumps to his chest before he could breathe again. He dared a glance at Gina, but her gaze was glued to the marshmallows in her mug.
“Ah, no, I don’t think that’s possible,” she said.
“Why not?”
Yeah, Gina, why not?
Whoa, where’d that come from?
As if she could read Justin’s mind, she looked at him, peering beneath long, dark lashes, and that pink blush he’d seen many times before was back on her cheeks.
Bewitching and innocent, what a combination.
“I have my own bed at home,” she said softly and then broke the spell by turning back to Jacoby. “And I have my own teddy bear who will wonder where I’ve gotten to.” She smiled and touched the kid’s stuffed bear on its black button nose.
“You have a teddy bear?” Jacoby asked. “Really?”
“Really. Now, tell me what you don’t like about the room. Maybe we can do something about it.”
Jacoby shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Justin pushed away his musings about Gina. He was sure the kid had something in mind, and equally sure he wasn’t about to admit it aloud.
“Hmmm, I wonder if having curtains on the windows might make it easier to fall asleep,” Gina said, before taking another sip of her hot chocolate.
Curtains?
Justin studied the room’s two windows. They looked like all the others in the cabin. Less than a month old, double-paned for better insulation and uncovered. He preferred them that way. After spending seven years never looking out a pane of glass that didn’t include bars or security threads running through it, he needed to see the surrounding woods without obstruction.
“There’s nothing out there but trees and the lake,” he said.
“And animals,” Jacoby added softly.
“It’s going to bother you if a deer or a raccoon sees you in your pajamas?”
The kid hesitated and then jerked his head in a quick nod. Justin started to roll his eyes, but a stern look from Gina stopped him.
“The scenery is beautiful, but don’t you have a couple of sheets or drop cloths you could nail over the windows?” she asked.
Her voice was soft, but Justin didn’t miss the underlying firm tone. He opened his mouth to protest, but all it took was a simple