“So, pancakes?”

Jack looked at Nick. Nick stared back at Jack. Some silent communication going on.

“So . . .” Jack said, eyeing him. “Can we have the chocolate cereal in the cupboard?”

Luke hid a smile and held back the laugh bubbling up his gut. The boys had snooped in the cupboards while he’d been carrying in their mom.

Before he said yes, Nick confessed, “Mama doesn’t let us eat that.”

Luke leaned down and gave in to the boys because he didn’t think Sarah would mind a treat for them under the circumstances. “I won’t tell her you ate it if you don’t.”

The boys gave him huge toothy grins.

He’d confess to Sarah later and let her know it was his idea. It was his favorite cereal.

Okay, sometimes he ate like a kid.

“Take a seat at the bar. I’ll get the bowls.”

Luke set a bowl in front of each of them, poured the cereal and milk, handed both boys a spoon, and they all dug in. While he fed the boys, his mind was on the woman upstairs in his bed. Sarah deserved a nice long nap.

“Will Mama be up soon?” Jack asked. “Cuz we don’t have to do school today. We could just play.”

Luke hid his smirk. “We could, but then you’d have double the work to do tomorrow and you wouldn’t get to play as much. So maybe we’ll go to your grandma’s and make sure you get today’s work done so you can play today and tomorrow.”

Jack scrunched up one side of his face. “If we have to.”

Nick tipped up his bowl and drank all the chocolate milk. “Done.” He let out a big burp.

Jack laughed.

Luke couldn’t help but join in. He’d had his fair share of burping contests with his brother, Jason, over the years. Being with the boys always took him back to those happy times and made him want them to be his family.

“Let’s head over to your grandma’s now.” He took all the bowls to the sink. He heard a phone ringing upstairs. “Hey, give me two minutes to grab your mom’s phone. I don’t want it to wake her.”

Luke left the boys in the kitchen and ran up the stairs just as the phone stopped ringing. He found it in Sarah’s jeans pocket and stuffed it in his own. He stared down at her sleeping soundly, her breath slow and even, the dark circles under her eyes still very prominent. But damn, she looked good in his bed.

He kissed her forehead then headed back downstairs. The boys were sitting on the leather sofa staring up at the wood beams on the tall ceiling.

“Let’s go, boys.”

They bounced off the couch and ran for the front door and his truck. He wished he had that much energy.

Jack managed to open the door and climb in. Nick needed a boost.

Sarah’s phone rang again as he settled behind the wheel. He started the truck, checked the caller ID, accepted the call, then turned the truck toward Margaret’s.