CHAPTER ONE #2
“No. Today is our date day. We are going to eat here, then me and the kiddos are going to the fair,” he replies, and my eyes bug out as I realise he heard me.
The little girl glances up at me. “They have the best food stalls.”
“Can I go?” Milly asks, licking her lips.
Maddox shrugs. “Sure.”
“You can’t just take my sister without asking me first,” Malia snaps.
His eyebrows scrunch together. “Why?”
“Um, it’s kidnapping,” she retorts sharply.
“She literally just asked me,” he replies slowly. “It’s not kidnapping. And I’m good with kids. Never used to be, but I found I have the knack for it.”
“Is he for real?”
Makayla reaches for a slice of pizza, eyeing them both like she’s waiting for them to start fighting. “I think it’s best if Mill stays here and we can take her another day.”
“Suit yourself,” Maddox mutters before glancing at Malia.
“I do early mornings, I wasn’t lying about the food, and you won’t be out of pocket because I’ll discount whatever we eat.
If something we haven’t discussed needs doing, I will talk to you about it first. And I will warn you, the last female household we worked on, they kept walking around in their underwear or would accidently drop their bath towel in front of us.
Most of us are in happy relationships so all it will do is piss us off.
And our partners, and you don’t want to mess with them.
Right! Now that’s sorted, I’ll get a date sorted for when we can start. ”
He grabs another slice of pizza, leaving Malia standing there with her jaw open. He takes the baby from Freya.
“Oh, you have company,” he declares.
“W-what?” I ask.
There’s a knock on the door and my head snaps toward it. “How did you... How?”
“I’m a Carter,” he replies, holding his hand out to his little girl. “I’ll be in touch, Malia.”
Malia points at me and then Freya. “We will be having words after,” she warns.
“Yo, Landon, your missus is here,” Maddox calls.
I race toward the door, hoping a brawl isn’t about to happen because her guy is here. Freya said they were cool, but she’s also in love with Mark who clearly inherited his family’s habits because he’s already demolished one pizza.
A beautiful brunette with red tinges in the strands stands next to a younger version of herself, who I happen to know is Paisley.
We met at a barbeque not too long ago at the Carters’ house.
The older woman is dressed in a pair of worn-out jeans with a black T-shirt tucked in at the waist. Paisley is wearing a summer dress that outlines her perfect figure.
The older lady steps forward, her smile filled with warmth. “Hello, I’m Liza, your neighbour,” she greets, her head tilting a little. “Well, as much of a neighbour as I can be with this many acres between us. This is my daughter, Paisley. She owns the bed and breakfast on our land.”
Malia takes her outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
Paisley smiles at the greeting. “We would have been here sooner, but we’ve both been swamped.
We finally managed to get some time to come over and bring you this as a welcome to your new home gift.
” Liza passes Malia a green crock pot stacked with another crock pot on top.
“It’s lasagne. Mum makes a fantastic lasagne.
She also made a vegetarian one in case you didn’t eat meat.
It’s the top one. It still tastes just as good. ”
“Thank you,” Malia replies, then hands them over to Makayla when Maddox doesn’t move from where his car is parked, his gaze on the food. Then she quietly orders, “Do not let him back in.”
Liza, having clearly heard, grins. “Maddox, there’s one in the truck for you to take home. I heard you were here.” Landon freezes near Paisley, his head slowly turning toward Maddox. “Landon, you have some back at the bed and breakfast. Don’t worry.”
He relaxes, which makes me chuckle.
Paisley sighs. “How bad were they inside?”
“Love, I did nothing,” Landon argues.
“He’s right,” Malia answers, then jabs her finger at Maddox. “It was that one.”
Weight rams into my side and I look down to find Milly, her arms wrapping around my waist. “He’s eating all the food.”
“Oh no, were you already eating? We can go,” Liza stresses.
“You’re fine,” Malia assures her, then turns to yell into the house. “Mark, if you want future babies then get away from the bloody food.”
“We should be going anyway. We just wanted to invite you to come to my opening for the spa on Friday. We have hot tubs and free spa treatments happening. But you can just chill out in a hot tub,” Paisley offers.
Milly’s nose scrunches up. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”
Paisley laughs but it’s Liza who addresses Milly. “That’s okay. You can come and help me feed the animals, if it’s okay with your sister,” she offers.
“You have animals?” Milly whispers in wonder.
“We do. Horses, pigs, cows, chickens...”
“And a duck,” Paisley adds.
“I wouldn’t really call that thing a duck, babe,” Landon remarks, his lips twitching.
“Why? Because he’s spending so much time with Rex and now thinks he’s a dog and likes to cause mayhem?”
“Babe, he was causing mayhem before we even introduced him to Rex.”
She rolls her eyes before turning back to us. “The party begins at eight. Milly is welcome to join us, but if you’re comfortable with it, Mum can watch her. She loves having kids in her home again.”
Liza smiles fondly at her daughter. “You will always be my kids.”
“We’ll be there. I know you’ll be busy, but I would like to talk to you about our plans for the land, so we don’t disrupt what you are doing at the bed and breakfast,” Malia explains.
“That’s cool of you,” Paisley answers with a nod.
“There is one more thing before we go. Your grandparents had horses roaming the land. We were feeding them but we haven’t seen them in a while.
Do we have permission to go over your land to search for them in case they’ve come back?
I promised your grandparents that I wouldn’t let anything happen to them. ”
“Have you already been looking on our land?” Malia asks, and I spin to face her, hearing the relief masking her fear.
Liza’s eyebrows pinch together. “No, sweetie. We stopped coming over the minute we got news of your grandparents passing. Why?”
Malia freezes, so Makayla quickly jumps in. “We thought we saw a tent patch not too far from the border, and what looked like track marks.”
“Where?” Landon demands sharply.
“Over near the huge willow tree by the stream,” Malia answers warily.
Liza clears her throat. “I can get my sons to take a look for you and maybe set up some cameras for you. If you have trespassers, you have to be careful. We will also mend the breach in the fence for you. We know you don’t have plans to keep this as a farm, so leave that to us and get back to making this house a home. ”
“Thank you. We couldn’t possibly ask you to do that though,” Malia whispers.
“It’s no problem,” she tells us. “We need to do a perimeter sweep soon anyway. But I really would like permission to search for the horses.”
“Of course. But if it’s okay with you, can you let me know when you’ll be doing them? I can give you my number,” Malia offers.
After they exchange numbers, and we say our goodbyes, we all go back inside. I glance at Malia. “Liza seemed nice,” I comment, then warily ask, “Is there something I should know?”
“Yes! I will murder that man if he goes near my food. Sort it out,” she tells me, before grabbing her food.
Well okay then.
Guess I’m the one on the hook for the Carters.
This is going to go really well.