threshold, his wide, excited eyes on Jensen. “For Pete’s sake, child,” Caroline spoke from behind him, “I nearly ran you over. What in the world . . .” Her words died off when she saw what made Brant freeze in place. My aunt looked up with concern and shock swimming in her eyes as they bounced between me and Jensen.
Finally, a second later, Brant snapped out of his trance-like state. “Daddy!” my boy screeched before racing across the living room and launching himself into his father’s arms.
I watched with an ache building in my chest as Jensen scooped him up and rose to his feet, giving my kid a playful spin that made him giggle like crazy. That ache only intensified as Jensen clutched Brantley close and squeezed his eyes closed tight, inhaling deeply like he was trying to pull my boy’s scent into his lungs to keep forever. The expression on his face—one of pain and happiness—was one I’d never seen before. And the effect it had on me, seeing that love he had for my son radiating from every pore, made it nearly impossible to breathe.
“Hey, bud,” he said in a husky voice. “Missed you like crazy.”
Brantley began to squirm, giving his dad no choice but to put him back on his feet. “I missed you too! Did you come over to see my new bike? It’s so cool!”
“Oh, uh . . .”
At his hesitation, Brantley’s face began to fall. Unable to stand the thought of my sweet kiddo being disappointed, I found myself speaking up before I could think twice. “Yeah, kid. That’s exactly why your daddy’s here. He wanted to see your new super cool bike for himself.”
Brantley threw his little fist in the air. “Awesome! And you can talk to Momma about taking my trainin’ wheels off. Trainin’ wheels are for little babies, and I’m big. Someday I’m gonna be as big as you, right, Dad?”
Jensen looked to me to gauge my reaction before chancing a response, and I quickly put him out of his misery. “How about we leave that discussion for a another day, and right now you just go spend some time with your dad?”
He didn’t have to be told twice. Grabbing his father’s hand, he began yanking him toward the front door, and I watched, ignoring the way my chest warmed as Jensen’s mini-me dragged him away.
Chapter Eight
Shane
My aunt’s head whipped around in my direction as soon as the door closed behind them, her eyes wide with shock. “You wanna tell me what’s going on? ’Cause I get the feeling Brant and I just walked into something extreme.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I lied as I spun around and started for the kitchen.
I could hear her feet pattering after me, speed walking to keep up. “Not a big deal my behind. I felt the energy in that room crackle the moment I came through the door.”
Normally I took my aunt’s eccentric ways with a grain of salt. She’d claimed to “read” energies and auras for as long as I could remember. Her and Scoot’s house always smelled from the sage she burned regularly, and she pulled out her tarot cards after every family dinner. Meditation was her answer for almost everything, from stress to the flu, if you just meditated, you’d be fine. And she was constantly trying to get us to “aligning our chakras”, whatever the hell that meant. I usually didn’t buy into any of it, but it was times like this when her insightfulness annoyed the hell out of me.
Keeping my back to her—because I knew she’d read me like a book if she saw my face—I moved to the fridge and started pulling out everything I needed to make dinner. “Then your senses must be off, because there’s nothing going on.”
“Honey pie, you know good and well I’m never wrong about these things. And oof.” She moved around the counter, coming closer to me so she could pick at of the air above my head. “You’re aura’s all hazy and dirty.”
I batted at her hands, giving her an unhappy look. “Will you stop trying to clean my aura, please? I said I’m fine.”
She lifted her hands in surrender, but she did it with that look all parents got when they knew their kid was full of shit. “Fine, fine. If you say so.”
“I do say so,” I declared, grabbing a hunk of hamburger meat and working it into a patty. “I’m fine. It’s fine. Everything’s totally fine.”
“You