16. Brooke
16
***Brooke***
“ D addy! That’s not how you do it.”
I froze outside of the kitchen the next morning. I was already slightly thrown off by waking up to no sign of Logan but hearing a small child just around the corner felt like too much for so early in the morning.
“That’s how Grandma made them for me.” Noah sounded tired and slightly exasperated. “And I happen to know that’s how she makes them for you, too.”
“Who are you?” The little voice was attached to a little girl with the same sandy blonde hair and blue eyes as Noah. She even had the same dimples.
I felt a jolt of shock at how similar she looked to a Noah I’d known decades earlier. She was staring up at me with wide eyes, curious but not concerned at all. I had to shake myself to be able to answer her. “I’m Brooke. And you are?”
“I’m Sinclair. Why are you here?” She inched closer, staring at me like I was an interesting science project.
“Shit.” Noah appeared from deeper in the kitchen with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry, Brooke. This is my daughter, Sinclair. Sin, this is a friend of Daddy’s, Brooke. She’s staying here with us.”
“Why are you apologizing to me?”
“Why are you saying you’re sorry, Daddy?” Sinclair looked up at me as we spoke at the same time. “Jinx! You owe me a coke.”
I scoffed. “That only works if you say the exact same thing. Plus, aren’t cokes full of caffeine that makes little kids go crazy?”
She scoffed back at me. “Daddy says people shouldn’t try to get out of their ‘sponsibilities. You owe me a coke, lady.”
I found myself grinning down at her. “Fine. I owe you a coke but don’t rush me about giving it to you. I had to take clothes from my crazy aunt yesterday so I’m not exactly in a position to be paying out cokes to little kids.”
“You have a crazy aunt, too? What’s her name? Is it Aunt Patty?”
“Nope. Aunt Karlene.” I eyed her for a second longer. “Why’s your aunt crazy?”
“This is too much for my brain this early in the morning.” Noah gripped the top of Sinclair’s head and turned her back to the kitchen. “I’m making pancakes, wrong apparently, but still edible. In my humble opinion. Feel free to eat any of the dozen Sinclair doesn’t approve of.”
Sinclair rolled her eyes. “Mommy makes them with chocolate chips. She says the chocolate makes you have a good day.”
I followed them into the kitchen and took in the massive stack of pancakes that had been deemed not worthy of the little girl. “Your mom sounds like a smart lady. Chocolate can never be wrong. I, however, will accept these chocolate-less pancakes because I’m going to get my chocolate in other forms this morning.”
She gave me a suspicious glance. “How?”
I went to my purse and pulled two kisses from my secret stash. Coming back to the island, I sat and put them next to my plate. I shot Noah a grin as I stacked my plate with pancakes and drowned them in syrup. I ate my first bite and let out a surprised moan. “Holy shit. Being a dad made your cooking better.”
He leaned against the island and studied me with heat in his gaze. “Made lots of things better.”
Sinclair saved me from answering with an embarrassingly needy response. She sat next to me and stared at my plate. “They’re okay?”
I cut a piece for her and held it out, letting syrup drip on the counter between us. When she reached for it, I shoved the bite into my mouth and laughed. “That’s how good they are.”
She huffed and then slyly glanced behind me. “What’s that?!”
I could tell I was being played but I still looked behind me, exaggeratedly turning all the way around. When I turned back to her, she was trying to shove a whole pancake into her mouth. I gasped. “No, you didn’t! I can’t believe I fell for that!”
Noah sighed. “I’m raising a criminal.”
“Blame her crazy Aunt Patty.” I grinned. “God knows Mom blamed Aunt Karlene for every bad thing I did.”
“You’re good with kids.” Noah had leaned over the island and lowered his voice. He held a cup of coffee in his hands and sighed when he saw me eyeing it. “Take it. Something I learned when we had her was that my things were no longer mine.”
I took his cup and took a long gulp. “Oh, that’s good. I needed that. Thanks, Dad.”
His eyes heated. “Really, Brooke?”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Sorry!”
Sinclair tapped my arm. “Did you get one of those for me?”
I picked up both chocolates and pretended to be in deep thought. “Well, you did steal my pancake…”
“I’ll never do it again!”
I felt an almost immediate warmth towards the little girl. She couldn’t be over six and she already had such a big personality. “Fine. I’ll share. It’s a trade, though. I give you one chocolate now and one tomorrow but I don’t have to give you a coke.”
She thought about it. “How about you give me one chocolate today and a coke tomorrow?”
I snorted. “Kid, you need to go back to school. That’s the worst bargaining I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s the summer!” She looked at me like I’d suggested she skin her dad alive. “Fine. I’ll take the chocolates. Daddy will buy me a coke anyway.”
Noah grunted. “This is fun.”
I slid her one of the chocolates and held my fist out for her to bump it. “I like you, kid. You’re smarter than your dad was at your age.”
She giggled and worked at shoving the chocolate into her mouth. Noah helped her unwrap it and then we both lost her as she focused on eating the kiss one little nibble at a time.
“What are you two doing today?”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter opposite me. “Not sure yet. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with her likes these days so I just fly by the seat of my pants most times. You?”
I sat up with a bit of pride, the first I’d felt in too long to think about. “Aunt Karlene helped me get a job doing a mural on the side of the hardware store. For tourism, I guess, so I have to come up with something to attract tourists. I’m tempted to just paint shirtless men and call it a day. This town seems to be in no short supply of them.”
“Do you need child labor? I happen to know a child.”
I grinned down at Sinclair, who was still nibbling away at her kiss. “You know what? Sure. Child labor seems great. As long as you’re there. Jesus, don’t trust me alone with your kid. Talk about flying by the seat of my pants… I love kids but I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time around them.”
“If you wanted to spend time with me, you just had to say so, B.” Winking, he walked around the island and stopped between me and Sinclair. Glancing back at me, his eyes danced with humor. “Do you need a shirt to paint in? I’d hate for you to ruin that top.”
I glanced down at where he could definitely see down the loose, flowy shirt and sighed. “Pervert.”