Watson by Kathi Barton (ebook reader txt) 📕

“Yes. I believe it will take you some time to get over that feeling of having to do whatever you’re told by them. I know it would for me as well.”

Wats wondered if Aunt Holly had ever whipped Mars. She would have, he realized then, if she thought he needed it. But neither of them, he knew, would feel good about it. Her for having to do that, but Mars would have been devastated if she’d had to do it too. They all missed their aunt as much as Mars did his mom. She was mother to all of them.

“Now, I have a favor I need from you. I’d very much like to get something for the baby’s room that will be his or hers forever. I know you’ve been around a lot of new families, but I want something so much better than that for my child and wife. If you could give that some thought, I’d be ever so grateful.” He paused. “Also, something very nice for my wife. I would absolutely love to be able to show her how much I dearly love her.”

“No spa or chocolate.” Mars asked Wats why not. “I’ve heard that women, after having a baby, do not want you to think of them as fat or out of shape. That’s what they think when you give them the spa. And like you said, everyone gives chocolates. I’d skip that too. You really need to start taking Abby out more. Think of it as pre-baby dates. Because after it comes, you’re not going to have a lot of time for that sort of thing. At least that’s what I’m to understand.”

“I like that idea. Both of us have been working from home a lot, and it’s getting to the point that when my phone rings, I dread it. Something else I have to make a decision on. It’s wonderful having all this money, but I don’t think anyone knows how much work it is to keep it coming in. I guess I could just live off the interest from everything, but that would really drive me nuts. Not knowing if there was going to be another income.” He laughed with Mars. “I’m too much of a ‘saving for a rainy day’ sort of person. Also, I wanted to tell you that I’m opening the shop next week. I’m getting excited about that.”

“I will be there daily for lunch.” Mars told him he was hoping so. “Have you found someone to come in and serve your customers?”

“Yes. I hired a few high school kids to help out. Abby came up with the idea of telling them if they were to save at least twenty-five hundred dollars before they went to college, we’d match whatever they had saved up.” Mars laughed. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to meet it anyway, but it’s nice to make them have to work for some of the cash.”

“I like that idea. I thought for about ten seconds of hiring some high school kids that might be thinking about going into medicine, but I don’t want to put any pressure on anyone. There are just too many drugs and information that they could easily get into. Not that I’d not trust someone, but kids and peer pressure can be terrible.” Wats was surprised when he was told the bill had been paid. “I guess I owe someone lunch.”

The courtroom was full, he could see as he made his way into the building. They were all in the same room, the cousins and their dads, in the sub-levels of the courthouse. The women on trial wouldn’t know they were there and cause some trouble, and all of them felt much safer than they would if they had to be in the courtroom with them. They were all insane.

~*~

Rayne looked around the condo once again. It had been really nice staying here—she was going to miss it. Not that Grandda having a new place to live wasn’t going to be great, but she knew this place. She also had liked the smell of the place.

It was silly, she knew, that she had washed up Wats’s laundry and put it away for him, with the exception of one of his shirts. She’d been wearing it to bed nightly. Glancing at her bag of stuff that was going to the new place, Rayne wondered if he’d miss just one shirt. He did have a great deal of white shirts, she told herself. Then it occurred to her that he might just miss one of his shirts—she would. But she didn’t have a lot of stuff in the first place.

As she was going to her bag, Wats and his brother came into the living room and announced that they were there to get them moved. Mars moved into the kitchen, and Rayne’s face heated up when Wats smiled at her.

“You look like you’ve been caught at something bad.” He couldn’t have said anything else, could he? she thought. Her face heated up more, and he grinned at her just a little more. “Now I have to know what you’ve been up to. Did you rob me blind, my dear?”

“It was only a shirt. You’d never miss it. I can give it back, but it’s been so comfy to sleep in. I’ll give it back to you. After I wash it. Yes, after I— Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked her how he was looking at her, his voice deeper than before. There was also a cadence that she’d not noticed too until right now. “Like you’re going to taste me. Or something.”

“I want to. Right now, I want nothing more than to ask you to put on my shirt and nothing else and let me taste you.” Her body warmed, her lips felt dry. Licking them, giving them just a little moisture had Wats groaning deeply in his throat. “I’ve been thinking about you