“I’m good, honey,” I told the cake, then asked it, “You want me to get you a beer?”

“I’ll get it.” Pause, then, “Dad?”

“Sounds good, Slim.”

“Boys?” Brock called.

“We can have a beer?” Joel asked.

My eyes went to him to see him looking beyond me to where Brock was at the fridge and I saw him grin at whatever look Brock was giving him.

Then he said, “Okay, I’ll take a pop.”

“Me too,” Rex chimed in.

I went back to piping.

“Wow, Tess, the boys didn’t lie. You can barely see your hands move,” Cob noted.

“Practice,” I muttered.

“I can see that,” Cob muttered back.

Then he said something that made warm gushiness flood my belly and my hands freeze midsquirt.

“Could be he’s my son but been around men as a whole a long time. Women who can pull off lookin’ beautiful bein’ barefoot in a kitchen wearin’ a T-shirt and glasses and no makeup with their hair pulled back in a ponytail while they decorate a cake that makes your mouth water just lookin’ at it, well…” My eyes had gone to him and he smiled gently at me. “Don’t know a man alive or dead who I met in my sixty-eight years who wouldn’t want that woman above all others in his kitchen.”

He didn’t need to reassure me after my first acid encounter with Olivia.

But it was still a nice thing to do.

“Thanks, Cob,” I whispered.

“Don’t thank me for tellin’ the truth, sweetheart,” he whispered back.

Brock’s front hit my back and Cob’s beer hit the counter as Brock set it there while he joked, “Quit flirtin’ with my woman, Dad.”

This made Rex and Joel emit boy snickers and Cob to mutter, “I’ll try, Slim, but it’ll be hard.”

“Jesus,” Brock muttered back and I felt him take a swig of his beer.

I went back to piping but I did it smiling.

* * *

“Here you go, Cob,” I said, handing Brock’s father a fresh beer.

Dinner (and cake) consumed, visit with Gramps (and Dad) over, Brock was off taking the boys back to Olivia and her husband Dade’s house and I was hanging out with his dad at his place.

Why Cob was still there, I wasn’t sure. I was still there because I was spending the night.

I curled in the seat across the sectional from him with my peppermint tea and tried not to be obvious as I studied him while he studied the fire Brock had built.

When silence stretched as we sipped at our beverages and Cob’s look went from reflective to dark, I whispered, “Hey,” and his eyes came to me. “You okay?” I asked quietly.

Cob didn’t delay in letting me know what was on his mind.