Zero Forks - Cat Johnson Page 0,24
to introduce Stewie to the fam. This was going to be interesting.
I pulled up to the barn and parked next to Cash’s truck.
Walking around to the passenger side, I tackled the challenge of extricating Stewie from his confines.
His eyes wide, he asked, “This is your house?”
“Yes, it is. But not just mine. My whole family lives here.”
He looked around us, amazed. His eyes popped wider and he started to try to get out of the seat even before I’d disengaged all the straps.
“Whoa there, buddy. Hang on.”
“Horse.”
I smiled. “Yup. We have lots of animals. Chickens. Cows. Lots of cows actually. And cats. And your friend from yesterday, Romeo.”
“Can I ride the horse?”
I drew in a breath. He was going to want to play. But I had work to do first.
Though I had a plan for that too. Fingers crossed it would work. “Sure. But later. First we get to drive the tractor.”
“The tractor?”
“Yup. A real big one.”
“Yay!”
So far so good. I lifted him out of the seat and set him on the ground, and of course he took off toward the fenced pasture where he’d seen the horse.
“Hang on. This way first, dude.”
“I wanna see—”
“I know you do. And you will. But first we have to say hi to my mother and father. And I bet Romeo is still in the kitchen too, having his breakfast. You want to see him, right?”
Stewie nodded.
“Good. Come on.” I held out my hand and he put his tiny one in mine.
I really should have had my cell phone out and cued up to take video, because the expressions on Stone and my parents’ faces when I walked in with a kid in tow were pretty priceless.
Cash, of course, was grinning as he enjoyed their reaction as much as I did. He knew who Stewie was. Amazingly, he hadn’t told the family, judging by their reactions.
As my mother’s jaw dropped and my father got a deer in headlights look, Stone let out a breath.
Shaking his head, he said, “Boone. Explain.”
That, of course, made me want to not explain anything, just to fuck with him. My older brother acted more like a dad than my actual father.
Smiling, I said, “This is Stewie. Stewie, this is my brother Cash. My other brother Stone. And this is my mother and my father. Can you call them Mr. and Mrs. Morgan?”
Stewie nodded. But his attention was already off my family and on the dog, laying in his bed next to his food bowl in the doorway between the kitchen and the pantry.
He tugged away from me and ran for the pup, who greeted him with a tail wagging wiggle and a lick.
Purposely being evasive, I spotted a plate of food next to the stove and headed that way. “Ooo. Bacon.”
Snagging a piece, I leaned back against the counter and began munching on the aromatic meat.
Cash couldn’t control his smile, while Stone’s eyes had narrowed to slits. Cash and I might fight sometimes. And he did tease me, and I him, but there was one thing we always agreed on. That was, that the most fun thing to do was fuck with Stone.
We were both enjoying that now.
Finally, my mother said, “Well, I know he’s not yours so you might as well tell us who he belongs to so we can all get to work.”
I frowned. “How do you know he’s not mine?”
Why I was trying to get myself in trouble was beyond me. I guess I didn’t like people making assumptions—even if that person was my mother.
“Because he looks nothing like you. If there’s one thing I know after having three sons, those Morgan genes are strong. You all came out looking the exact same. Any son of yours is going to look just like you. So who is he?”
She was right. Stewie had dark hair and blue eyes. Meanwhile, my brothers and I all had light brown hair and hazel eyes.
Accepting that reasoning, I put my plan into action. I was going to pull out the military card and hope it played on their sympathies.
“His mom is in the National Guard. She got deployed sooner than she expected. His aunt is renting the Van de Berg house from Brandon for the next few months. But she works. So while Stewie’s mom is away, fighting for our freedom, I’m going to be his nanny.”
Stone folded his arms. “Why don’t I believe you?”
I let out a laugh. “I don’t know. Trust issues?”
My mother stood. “You’re a good boy, Boone.