conspiratorial whisper. “We have to eat all our lunch before we can feed the chickens. You think you can do that?”
More head nodding.
“But you know what we gotta do before we eat?”
“Clean,” Payton announced, pointing at the fort, which was quite possibly his most impressive to date.
Keegan kinda didn’t want to take it down before Kaden and Bristol returned to see it for themselves.
“Let’s get a picture first,” he told the girls. “Then we’ll clean it all up.”
Kate strolled over, held out her hand for the phone.
After passing it over, Keegan joined the twins in front of the fort. He got down on his knees, grabbed them around the waist, and tucked them under his arms while they giggled uncontrollably. All three of them made funny faces for the camera.
Kate clicked away, then announced, “All good.”
As they’d done plenty of times before, Payton and Paisley turned to the fort, and began dragging the pillows and blankets down, which was quite the feat for them. As was their routine, they shoved everything in his direction.
While Kate took the barstools back to the kitchen, Keegan grabbed the blankets, folded them neatly, and piled them on the end table. He left the pillows for the girls, waiting until they were ready to heft them up onto the couch.
“The chickens don’t really need to be fed, do they?” Kate asked, her lips hardly moving as she spoke under her breath.
Keegan laughed. “What do you think?”
She rolled her eyes. “Those birds are gonna get fat.”
Maybe. But seeing his girls giggle and smile made it all worth it.
Of course, they would wait until Bristol and Kaden got back from the store so they could handle the chore as a family.
After all, that was what they did.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Of course, I have to thank my wonderfully patient husband who puts up with me every single day. If it wasn’t for him and his belief that I could (and can) do this, I wouldn’t be writing this today. He has been my backbone, my rock, the very reason I continue to believe in myself. I love you for that, babe.
Chancy Powley – You continue to come through for me in every way. You even tolerate my inability to answer my text messages in a timely manner. I will apologize for that now and for all future instances because we all know, I’m horrible at it. Just keep in mind, you are the absolute best friend I have and I am forever grateful for your friendship.
Jenna Underwood — Because you continue to be my friend despite the fact that I am the world’s worst friend. Thank you for always being there for me and for the postcards. They make me smile.
I also have to thank my street team – Naughty (and nice) Girls – Your unwavering support is something I will never take for granted.
I can’t forget my copyeditor, Amy at Blue Otter Editing. Thank goodness I’ve got you to catch all my punctuation, grammar, and tense errors. I also want to say thank you to Rebecca at Fairest Reviews Editing for giving me a different perspective and making some terrific suggestions.
Nicole Nation 2.0 for the constant support and love. You’ve been there for me from almost the beginning. This group of ladies has kept me going for so long, I’m not sure I’d know what to do without them.
And, of course, YOU, the reader. Your emails, messages, posts, comments, tweets… they mean more to me than you can imagine. I thrive on hearing from you, knowing that my characters and my stories have touched you in some way keeps me going. I’ve been known to shed a tear or two when reading an email because you simply bring so much joy to my life with your support. I thank you for that.
ABOUT NICOLE EDWARDS
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nicole Edwards lives in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with her husband and their youngest of three children. The two older ones have flown the coup, while the youngest is in high school. When Nicole is not writing about sexy alpha males and sassy, independent women, she can often be found with a book in hand or attempting to keep the dogs happy. You can find her hanging out on social media and interacting with her readers - even when she's supposed to be writing.
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