Dreaming of His Snowed In Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,35
watch the children after we eat so you can go outside and get something done.” Her eyes went to the window. A wrinkle formed in her forehead. “Although it’s pouring out there. This was supposed to be the storm of the century, but as you can see, it’s all rain, and I highly doubt we’re actually going to get the snow they called for.”
“And even if we do, it’s not going to lie on the ground.”
“Exactly. Although we really are supposed to get a lot of rain. But I don’t think we need to worry about flooding, not in town, because Mistletoe is on a hill, and there’s not really any low ground between here and there.”
“No, you’re right. If this storm does what they say it’s going to, there are a lot of places in the state that are going to be dealing with flooding, but Mistletoe is not one of them. We’re good on that end. If you don’t mind, I actually will take you up on watching the kids for a while after lunch.”
“It’s contingent on whether or not you tickle me.” She lifted her shoulder like it didn’t matter to her. “The choice is all yours.”
“You might think that’s an easy choice, but the tickling is actually very tempting.”
She grunted a laugh and scooped Garrett back up, taking one step before she froze. Looking around frantically, she gasped and turned wide eyes to him. “Where’s Trevor? Have you seen him? He was just here with me, wasn’t he? Where’d he go?”
West wasn’t sure where her panic was coming from. The kid was around somewhere. Probably. He turned in a circle. “He was just here a couple of minutes ago.” He looked at Warren. “Have you seen your brother?”
In his experience, when it came to the three boys, Warren was the most knowledgeable of them with anything sibling related.
Maybe he should ask Warren for advice on his crops. Warren always seemed to have all the answers. He was definitely much more knowledgeable with Gabriella than West was.
“He was in the bathroom.”
The slight edge of panic that had pulled him, mostly because of the panic that Poppy seemed to be in, eased, and he actually felt like smiling. He turned to Poppy.
“Maybe he’s potty training himself.” His eyes went to Garrett, who had both arms around Poppy’s neck and was digging his forehead into her cheek. “Garrett. I’m thinking you might be able to learn a lesson or two from your brother about excreting your bodily fluids in the proper place.”
Garrett’s head turned toward him. His little eyes looked confused.
Poppy didn’t smile. “I wouldn’t be too smug. When a kid disappears, and it’s quiet? There’s always a mess at the end of that.”
“I think you’re borrowing trouble,” West said casually, interested that their position seemed to flip.
Poppy was supposed to be the eternal optimist, and he was the gloom-and-doom guy.
Poppy’s attention had already gone to Warren. “Where’s the bathroom?”
Warren pointed in the general direction.
“Lead me, please,” Poppy said, her words clipped and short.
“Sure. Can I still help with breakfast?”
“Of course, you can. It’s just going to be delayed a little more than it already has been.” She lifted an eye to West, irony on her face. She’d given him a hard time because breakfast hadn’t been served yet, but nothing had happened so far on her watch, either, in that direction.
Poppy followed on Warren’s heels as he walked to the bathroom.
West held out his hand, and Hazel looked at it with quiet contemplation before she took it and they followed Poppy and Warren.
He fully expected to see Trevor sitting on the toilet doing whatever it was two-year-olds did on the toilet, hopefully putting all the gunk inside of him safely in its depths. If he had as much goop inside him as Garrett seemed to, it was going to take a while to get it all out.
West had had no idea that a body so little could produce so much waste. Toxic waste.
“Oh my goodness,” Poppy said as she halted just inside the bathroom door.
Her hand went to her throat, and her breathing seemed to stop.
West reminded himself not to squeeze Hazel’s hand when his own wanted to fist. His breathing deepened and sped up, along with his heartbeat. Like they were running away, although he had no idea where they were going.
Trevor stood in front of the toilet, his shirt off along with his pants.
That didn’t necessarily shock West. He knew the boy could take his own