16. Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
“I’m talking to my house.”
On Friday morning, Abe met Lucia at his house to get it ready to bring Kai home. He wasn’t quite ready to be on his own with Kai, but at least the house would be safe when he decided he was. He’d been there a few minutes when she arrived and knocked on the door.
He opened it. “Hey. Come on in.”
She had a grocery bag in her hand, and she stepped in and said, “Oh my.”
“You’ve been here before.”
“No. I haven’t. But I’ve heard about it.”
“It’s just a house.”
She shook her head. “No. This is a guy’s house.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
“Where do we start?”
“Let’s start in the kitchen.”
Abe headed for the kitchen with Lucia right behind him. His phone was sitting on the counter, still connected to the charger. “Right where I left it.” He unplugged it and stuck it in his pocket.
Lucia set the bag on the counter. “First thing, let’s put locks on all the cupboards.”
“Locks?”
“Yes. You’ve been in Gentry’s kitchen, right?”
“Yes. But I didn’t rifle through his cupboards.”
“Well, we don’t want Kai rifling through yours.” She pulled out a plastic cupboard lock. “That’s what the locks are for.” She took a moment to show him how they worked and where to place them.
“Okay. I can work a screwdriver. I’ve got this.”
“While you do that, I’ll go look around and see what else needs to be done. Is that okay?”
“Sure. I’ve got no secrets.” She raised an eyebrow, and he smiled. “Other than a two-year-old. But in all fairness, he was a secret kept from me, too.”
She motioned toward the cupboards. “Get screwing. Or…you know what I mean.”
Abe laughed as she left the room.
When he finished in the kitchen, he found Lucia in the living room, standing next to his exercise bike with her hands on her hips. She glanced at him as he came up beside her. “What are we going to do about this?”
“My Peloton? Nothing. It’s not like he can take off on it.”
“Maybe just keep it unplugged when you’re not using it.”
“I can do that.”
“I put covers over all of your outlets. If any of the things on the lower shelf of your bookshelf is important to you, you should move it higher.”
“Is he going to read my books?”
“Toddlers love to look through books. So, if any of those magazines are…inappropriate, you might move those.”
He smiled at her. “You think I have inappropriate magazines lying around?”
She shrugged, then blushed. “You never know. You’re a single guy.” She shoved him. “Stop.”
“Those are motorcycle and car magazines that Kai is welcome to look through.”
“Okay. Next is your…man cave.”
“You mean my spare bedroom?”
“Yes. You should probably keep the door closed unless you’re in there working out.”
“I can see how that room might be slightly dangerous.”
“Your bedroom seems okay.” They walked into the room. “You’ll need to move the bed over to make room for the crib. He’ll need to sleep in here with you if you’re not willing to give up your man…spare bedroom.”
Abe looked around the room. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that he’d have a full-time roommate now. At some point, he might need to consider giving up his exercise room. Lucia was right. It was his man cave, and he really liked having it.
She looked at him. “What?”
He sat on the bed. “How did you safely raise twins through this toddler phase? I want to wrap Kai in bubble wrap and follow him around with a pillow to land on.”
She sat next to him. “One good thing about having twins is that they entertain each other. In some ways, it was easier.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Besides, I had two years with them before getting to this point.” She put a hand on his arm. “The girls and I will be happy to come entertain Kai. They can’t wait to meet their new cousin.”
“Cousin. Wow.”
“Kai is very lucky to have found his way into a family with lots of uncles, a couple of aunts, and several cousins. Not to mention loving grandparents.”
Abe turned to her. “I know you haven’t known me that long, but do you think I can do this?”
“Yes. It seems the Buchanan men are natural nurturers.”
“I’m not like Justin, Gentry, and Milo.”
“Sure you are. When you grow up with parents like yours, it’s inevitable, even if you’ve tried to suppress it for thirty years.” She got to her feet. “Now, what are you going to do about Maggie?”
“Um…wow. We talked last night and landed on friends.”
“For now?”
“For the foreseeable future.”
“I don’t know if Justin told you this, but I had no plans to get involved with anyone until the girls were headed for college.”
“He mentioned that.”
“So, don’t rule out the possibility.”
“I’m just taking it one day at a time.”
On Friday, Abe returned to work and, for the first time since Wednesday morning, almost felt like himself again. With the rodeo in full swing for the weekend, they were busy. It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that he had time to take a break.
He was behind the restaurant, sitting on a milk crate, when Maggie came out to check on him and bring him the small pizza he’d put together for himself. “Hey, are you okay out here?”
“Yeah.” She handed him the hot pizza with sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and ham. “Mmm. The Abe special. How is it in there?”
“For the moment, quiet.” She took a deep breath. “You can smell the river today.”
Abe took a bite of his pizza. “Better than the horse manure if the wind is blowing the other way.”
Every year, on the Saturday of rodeo weekend, Rocco’s closed at two and manned a booth at the rodeo. This year, Gentry and Luke would be working the booth, leaving Abe and Maggie with the evening off. He glanced at her. “I don’t suppose you’d like to come with Kai and me to the rodeo.”
She smiled. “You’re taking him?”
“I thought he might like it.”
“I’d love to come with you guys.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure how late I’ll stay. He might hate it. But the kids' events are in the afternoon. I know he’s not quite a kid yet, but still.”
“I’m sure he’ll love the animals and all the excitement.”
“Yeah. I think so, too. Then I’ll be bringing him home to my place for our first night alone.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Semi-confident. He’s been sleeping in my room at Mom’s. So, I think we’ll be okay.”
“I’m sure you will.”
“So, you want to meet me at my house at three?”
“Sounds good. Are we taking the truck?”
“My mother told me I can’t put Kai in the front seat, so I borrowed her SUV until I can get something.”
“Of course. Makes sense.” She smiled.
“What?”
“That’s probably hard for you. Giving up your truck.”
“I’m not getting rid of it. I still need it to haul my bikes.” He took another bite of pizza. “Assuming I ever get to ride them again.”
Maggie put a hand on his shoulder. “You will.”
“I’m signed up for a race next month.”
“I’ll babysit for you.”
“Really?”
“I told you I wanted to help.”
He nodded. “We’ll see how the next few weeks go.”
Abe stopped by his house after work to make sure it was ready for Kai to come tomorrow after the rodeo. He stood in the living room. “Okay, house. We can do this. I promise not to let him destroy you if you promise to keep him safe.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m talking to my house.”
He did a quick pass through the house, then left and headed to his parents’.
Milo’s car was there, and Abe parked next to it.
So far, only Luke and Justin had met Kai.
Abe would introduce him to Gentry tomorrow at the rodeo, and Wes planned to come by the house on Sunday evening after Abe got off work.
That would be all the adults in the family.
He was sure he’d meet the kids before too long.
Abe went into the house and found Milo and John in the living room. Kai, with damp hair and in his pajamas, was sitting on Milo’s lap with a book. Milo looked up at Abe.
“Quite the smart kid you’ve got here, Abe.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. He’s damn near reading this book to me.”
John laughed. “For the fourth time.”
Kai pushed the book away and held his arms out to Abe.
“Okay, buddy. I missed you, too.” He went to Kai and picked him up. He kissed Kai’s damp hair, which was even curlier when it was wet, then tucked a strand of it behind his ear. The curl popped right back out, and Abe laughed.
Milo nodded. “I knew it.”
“You knew what?”
“That you’d be a good father someday.”
“How did you figure that?”
“You’ve always liked kids, no matter how much you tried to hide it.”
“I’m still not coming into your class on Career Day.”
“How about Adventure Day?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a new one. Parents who do adventurous things.”
“I don’t have a kid in your class.”
“You have a nephew in my class. That’s close enough.”
“So, racing motorcycles?”
“Yeah. That and horses, climbing mountains, extreme hiking, snowboarding. Not to mention volunteer firefighter.”
Abe set Kai on the floor, and he ran over to John, who put him on his lap. “All things I may never do again.”
John shook his head. “Son, having a child doesn’t mean your life is over.”
“It kind of feels like that right now.”
“You’ll find a balance.”
Milo grinned. “Yeah, and in the meantime, you can come tell my kids about all the things you used to do.”
Abe picked up a pillow and threw it at Milo.
John held up a hand. “Boys.”
Milo laughed. “Sorry. Of course you’ll do at least some of those things again. Then you get to teach your son to do them when he’s old enough.”
“Hmm. I could get him a tiny little motocross bike.”
Allie came into the room. “Oh no, you don’t.”
Milo ignored their mother. “A tiny little snowboard.”
“I can get a backpack carrier thingy and take him hiking.”
Allie went to John and picked up Kai. John smiled at her. “Here we go again, sweetheart.”
Allie walked past Abe on her way to the bedroom and put her hand on his shoulder. “Welcome to the next twenty years of endless worry and sleepless nights.”
He smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.” He patted Kai’s back. “We are going to have so much fun.”