met someone who tempted me to get real before I’d met that brilliant and beautiful woman. That was more likely. Because, damn. She affected me like no one ever had.
And she was gone. She must have crept out this morning quiet as a church mouse, because I was a light sleeper and I hadn’t heard a thing.
I’d just set the skillet on the stove when I heard the chair scrape at the kitchen table behind me, which told me that Cheyenne had followed me in and was getting settled. I couldn’t quite stand to look at her, wasn’t ready to face the emotion that seeing her looking so disheveled and vulnerable brought up in me. All these feelings that had been surfacing since yesterday were not something I was quite ready to deal with. So I busied myself, brewing coffee and frying up some bacon and eggs.
When they were ready, I set a steaming mug and plate full of food in front of her and then carried mine over to the table to join her.
She leaned forward and breathed in the aromas coming off of the food and coffee, closing her eyes and losing herself in them. I smiled, warmth flooding my chest. I’d forgotten how good and simple and just plain satisfying it felt to take care of someone. But hopefully I’d have plenty of opportunities to remind myself in the future.
“Smells good but it tastes better,” I said as I sat down with my own plate.
She leaned back in the chair and let out a long, contented sigh. Then, as if suddenly coming to life, she pulled her legs up and crossed them on the seat of the chair as she leaned forward, grabbed the fork I’d set on the edge of the plate, and dug in.
My eyes widened. “Oh shit, you used to do that all the time when you were a kid! I totally forgot about it until just this minute.”
She tilted her head to the side, her eyes drawn together in puzzlement.
I jutted my chin toward her legs, still crossed on the seat of the chair. “That,” I clarified. “Every time you got so excited about the meal in front of you that you just couldn’t contain yourself, you’d pull your legs up and do crisscross applesauce right before you started eating.”
She glanced down, surprise covering her face, as if her legs weren’t a part of her body but rather something completely outside herself. “Oh, God! I’m so sorry. That’s such awful table manners. Grandmother and grandfather would be horrified if they saw me doing that. It’s such a terrible habit—”
I cut off her self-deprecation. “I don’t see either of them around here. This is my house and you do whatever makes you feel comfortable. That’s my definition of good table manners. Besides, I’m kind of enjoying watching you Hoover up the breakfast I cooked and loving every last drop of it. Makes a cook feel appreciated. And it’s nice taking care of my baby sister again.”
She smiled, the warmth of it lighting up her entire face and filling my heart with one fell swoop. Her shoulders relaxed. Damn, I hadn’t even realized how tense they’d been until she relaxed them.
After a few minutes of eating in silence, a sly little mischievous glint appeared in her eyes as she peered at me through thick lashes. “So, I woke up about halfway this morning when I heard some shuffling around in the living room and the front door opening. Was I still dreaming, or did I see Reagan sneaking out of here in the early dawn hours?”
I was silent for a long moment, trying to figure out what the right response would be. It was nobody’s business that Reagan had spent the night, even if Cheyenne had caught her.
When I didn’t answer, Cheyenne shrugged and went back to eating her breakfast. Between bites, she clarified, “Then again, what do I know? I’m pretty hungover. Maybe I dreamed it.”
The smirk I spied after she said that let me know that she didn’t believe those words any more than she’d believe the sky was purple, but it was a sweet way of giving me an out so I wouldn’t have to say anything about it.
Yeah. She’d always been a sweet kid. I was happy to see that all those years hadn’t changed her. Emotion welled up in me as I said, “Hey, Shadow?” She looked up, face open and expectant, and I smiled. “I’m really glad you’re home.”