Saving Us (Mitchell Family #6)(41)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to me. “Just turn on the fan and lay with me. I’m too tired to move.”

Conner got up and turned on the ceiling fan. The cool air started to hit me before he was back down beside me. I cuddled my naked body into his. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

The following morning Van asked me to watch Noah while she took Christian to the doctors. I was going to head over to their house, but he just showed up on one of the golf carts. He came walking right in the kitchen door. “Aunt Amy, are you in here?”

I came around the corner and saw the kid standing there in full camouflage. “Hey, I would have come to your house.”

“Dad said I could come here instead. Uncle Conner lets me watch that show he records. Dad doesn’t let me watch it.”

I poured myself a glass of milk. “Did you want some?”

“You got any cereal?” I looked down at his feet and saw that he was wearing his favorite cowboy boots.

“Just pick out what you want. You know where the cabinet is.”

I grabbed the bottle of chocolate syrup and started pouring it into my glass of milk. My mouth was watering just imagining how the chocolate was going to taste. Noah grabbed a box of Lucky Charms and I handed him a bowl. He started to pour it and cereal went everywhere. It wasn’t just all over the counter, it was also all over the floor.

“Oh no! I’m sorry, Aunt Amy.” He looked as shocked as I was.

“Noah, it’s fine. I will clean it up.” I poured some milk into his bowl and handed him a spoon. He sat down at the kitchen table and started eating, while I got down on the floor and started picking up cereal. When I heard a scratch at the door, I got a better idea of how to clean up the mess.

Sam went wherever Noah went. That dog was so attached to the kid. I opened the kitchen door. “Come on, Sam. Look what I got for you.” Right away, he started eating up the spilled cereal. Noah started laughing and watching him.

Once I got the counter cleaned up, I looked down to see that the floor was clean. Sam was sitting next to Noah, waiting to drink the rest of his milk.

I left Noah in the kitchen while I straightened up the living room. After a few minutes, I heard the kitchen door open and shut. “Noah?” I walked into the kitchen and saw that he was still sitting there. “Did you open the door?”

He shook his head and pointed toward the corner of the kitchen that I couldn’t see. “No. That man did.”

Chapter 26

Conner

My day was going just like every other. Colt and I were working on a broken fan in one of the chicken houses. After nearly three hours, we weren’t any closer to getting it to work. Once it was time for lunch, I decided to head home and eat where there wasn’t the smell of chicken shit around me. Colt decided to come with me, since Amy was watching Noah.

We were pretty far away from my place, so Colt drove us in one of the ranch trucks. “What kind of lunchmeat you got at your house? I ain’t eatin’ that liverwurst shit again.”

Liverwurst was this awful shit my mother used to buy. It tasted like liver; cold liver. “We don’t buy that nasty ass shit. Amy likes roast beef and turkey. Sometimes she buys me bologna, but she calls it a flat hotdog.”

“A what?”

I laughed. “She says that bologna and raw hotdogs are the same damn thing. Since she hates both of them that is what she says when I want to eat it. Last time I asked her to buy it, she slapped it on two pieces of bread with mustard, ketchup and relish. Now, I hate to say this, but it did taste just like a freakin’ hotdog.”

“You probably ate the whole thing, too. Simple. That’s what you are.” Colt just shook his head and kept driving.

“Come on, I know there has to be somethin’ Van cooks that makes you shake your head like that.” Colt may act like Van was perfect, but every woman has some flaws.

He started to laugh. “Yeah, there was this thing she went through where she was watchin’ all those cookin’ shows on television. She would write down how to make it and try somethin’ new every night. A couple things were pretty good, but a bunch more were just plain terrible. The first time she asked me to be honest, so when I told her I hated it, she went to bed cryin’. After that I would tell her that I liked it, but not enough to have it all the time. She started to get the hint, but it’s a touchy subject. Over the years she’s learned what we all like and she cooks those things. That woman can make one hell of a breakfast though.”

I knew she could. I’d eaten there enough to know that. “I agree.”

“You should have called and told her I was comin’ with you.”

“Why is that?”

"Who knows what you all do?" I looked at Colt like he had three heads.

"Your son is at my house. Surely you don’t think I would do somethin’ while he’s in the next room. I mean, don’t get me wrong, if Amy wants to get freaky, I’ve never turned her down."

Every man I’d ever been around had taught me that. I knew to never turn down your woman’s offers. Even if I was mad, it was always worth it.

We walked up to the kitchen door and I opened it for Colt to go inside first. Once he was past, I followed behind him. I should have known that something was wrong when the television was blaring. We both walked into the living room to find Noah sitting in front of the television with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.

Colt grabbed the peanut butter out of his son’s hand. "Boy, you know better."

"I got permission."

I wandered around the house looking for Amy, before coming back into the living room. "Hey, where’s Aunt Amy?"

He shrugged and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "She told me I was a big boy and that I could take care of myself."

That wasn’t possible. Amy would never do that. If something was wrong, she would have called me. I looked around the room and spotted her cell phone and purse. "Where did she go?"

"She didn’t say." He was still watching his show and not paying attention to how serious this was.

I think Colt could see the worry in my eyes. He turned off the television. "Son, your uncle is askin’ you a question. You best get to answerin’ him."

He turned around looking annoyed that we had interrupted him. "She didn’t say where she was goin’. She just told me to be a big boy and wait for you or mom to come get me. Can I watch my show now?"

"No!" Colt and I both yelled.

I squatted down to his level. "Was she hurt?"