9. CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE

A t least one of them always tried to meet the kids at the bus stop and walk them back up to the houses. This time, Bennett made a point of being the after-school greeter.

The kids were usually exhausted, until they got a snack in their bellies. Then that second wave of energy turned them into little wildlings. He was thankful every day for their acreage and how safe it was. Now that Emme was nine going on fifteen and super responsible, she was able to look after her sister and cousins for a few hours after school, until Bennett and his brothers finished work. When the weather was nice the kids could roam the hillside behind the houses for hours and burn off steam. They picked wildflowers, caught grasshoppers, came up with games, and sometimes just lay in the grass, and watched the clouds float by. And almost all of this was done without shoes on, and in some cases—depending on the heat—shirts too.

"Hi, Daddy," Aya greeted him as she stepped off the bus, appearing to be in a much better mood than she'd had been that morning.

"Hey, Little Bug. Good day?" He held her hand while the rest of the children, including Emme, walked and chatted behind him.

She shrugged her boney shoulder, hitching up her enormous backpack. He'd tried to talk her out of such a massive thing, but she refused to hear reason. It was not a hill he was interested in dying on. "Not bad. Carnation pushed me off the play structure at recess."

"Give me that thing," he said, taking her backpack from her and slinging it over one shoulder. "Tell me more about Carnation and the pushing."

Carnation was a girl in Aya's class and she was known to be a bit of a bully. He and the girls had numerous discussions about how to handle Carnation, and how to avoid Carnation.

Aya shrugged again. "Yeah. I mean, I'm tough. So it didn't hurt when I fell. Just made my knee a bit red. Then I told her that was unkind and I asked her why she was being unfriendly. Like you've told me to. She said it was because she wasn't friendly. That she doesn't want to be my friend, so she's not going to be friendly to me. She's going to push me."

"Oh, wow. Then what happened?"

"I told her she's going to have a hard life if she keeps treating people like that. And if I become a doctor and she comes to my hospital, maybe I'll chop off her leg when she's sleeping as payback."

"Oh shit," Bennett murmured, dragging his hand down his face. "Okay."

"She laughed and said I can't be a doctor because I'm not smart enough."

"Mhmm."

"I told her I am smart enough, but if being a doctor means I have to go to more school, then maybe I'll become something else, like a police officer, and I'll arrest her. Or a firefighter. Then I won't put out her house if it catches fire."

"Mhmm."

"She told me she didn't care. I told her I hope her arms fall off and she has to wipe her butt with her feet. Then the bell rang, and we ran back to class."

"That's it?"

"Yeah." She didn't seem worse for wear. So although Bennett was still processing everything he heard, he pushed it to the back of his mind, nodded at Emme to come join them and took both his daughters' hands.

"So, I have something to tell you both."

They blinked at him, waiting.

"Cabin five, which is where Justine is staying, had a big flood today."

"Oh no! Did Justine drown?" Aya asked, exaggerated fear in her soft-brown eyes.

Emme snorted. "Probably not."

"No, she didn't drown. But she can't stay there until we fix the damage."

"She can come stay with us!" Aya announced. "I can sleep on the couch and she can have my room. I'll clean my room real good, Daddy. I promise. Pick up all my stuffed animals off the floor and put them in their hammock. And I'll throw all my boogie tissues in the garbage."

"Well, you should do that anyway. But believe it or not, she actually is going to stay with us until the RV I've rented arrives on Saturday. She'll be in my room, and I will sleep in the study and use your bathroom. It's only right that we give the guest her own room and bathroom."

Emme's eyes glowed and Aya started to jump up and down.

"Oh my gosh! It's like we have our own Brooke, now." Aya turned around to Talia, who still wore a hot pink cast on her left arm after she was struck by an SUV in their pub parking lot a few weeks ago. "We have our own Brooke now!"

Talia wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Huh?"

Bennett cleared his throat, feeling the need to correct his youngest child. "Justine is temporary. She will move out at the end of the week."

"We thought Brooke was temporary too. Now she lives with Uncle Clint and Talia. It could happen with Justine too," Aya practically yelled. "Justine could become forever."

Inappropriate sparks of desire for that to be true flickered in Bennett's gut and he did his best to ignore them. "I just wanted to give you guys a head's up because she might be at the house when we get there and I didn't want to surprise you."

"But I love surprises," Aya said. "And Justine moving into our house is a great surprise."

They hadn't even gotten home yet, and already his daughter was dangerously attached to Justine living there.

This had bad idea written all over it.

And yet, the idea of her staying anywhere else sat so uncomfortably in his craw he couldn't bear to think of her living at Dom's or Wyatt's. Or even worse, at Jagger's. Even though he had the most amount of space, he was also the biggest playboy and flirt. And just thinking of Jagger flirting with Justine made Bennett want to punch his little brother in the face.

They reached the gate that separated the commercial part of the property from the private. The kids liked taking turns punching in the code on the keypad that unlocked the man door on the side.

This time, it was Silas's turn.

"Remember to say the wrong numbers out loud as you punch in the right numbers so anybody listening in the woods gets it wrong when they try it," Jake, Wyatt's oldest son, said.

Silas nodded, bunched his brows and concentrated. "Three." He hit "five". "Seven." He hit "two". "Nine." He hit "eight ". "One." He hit "two" again . "Six." He hit "zero". Then beamed when the door clicked open.

Emme patted him on the back. "Good job. First time you got it right on the first try. Well done, Si."

Silas puffed up his little, six-year-old chest and put a bit of a cocky saunter into his stride as he walked through the now open door.

"Brooke said we can all come to my house after school. She baked cookies," Talia announced, hustling forward to lead the pack.

"I want to go see Justine first," Aya said, glancing up with hope at Bennett. "Can we, Daddy?"

He nodded. "Okay."

Talia and the boys went to her house while Bennett and his girls went to his. At first, he thought maybe he should knock, since he didn't want to startle her, but he didn't even get to make that decision since Aya nearly broke down the door with her eagerness.

"Justine! You here?" she called out.

"In the kitchen."

Aya kicked off her shoes and didn't bother to put them on the shoe rack before she beelined it for the kitchen.

Bennett cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Miss McEvoy, is that how we enter this house?"

She stopped mid-stride, one foot in the air, hovering above the floor. Her eyes held confusion and irritation.

"Your shoes?" Bennett said gently.

Aya was about to roll her eyes, but then thought better of it and quickly pivoted, ran back, and hastily stowed her shoes where they belonged. Then she resumed her impatient haste and raced to the kitchen. "Justine!"

Emme was calmer by nature and put her shoes away, hung up her backpack, and removed her lunch kit and homework, carrying them to the kitchen. He could always rely on her to follow protocol, stick to the rules, and keep the rest of the kids in line. His brothers and he didn't know what they would do without her there to help wrangle her sister and cousins.

Bennett sucked in a big breath as he followed his older daughter into the kitchen, only to find Brooke sitting at the table with Justine, both of them holding mugs of steaming tea.

Aya had one arm draped around Justine's shoulder and she was twirling Justine's ponytail. Thankfully, the woman didn't seem to mind.

"Just wanted to come over and welcome the new neighbor," Brooke said with her Hollywood starlet smile.

"You never told me the Brooke you were mentioning was Brooke Barker," Justine said to him, shaking her head. "Was quite a shock when she knocked on the door."

"Bennett doesn't see me as a famous actor. He sees me as the mermaid that washed up on his beach and made his brother turn into a lovesick idiot, right?" Brooke chuckled.

"You're precisely right," he teased, unpacking Aya's lunch kit and tossing all the empty food containers into the sink. Emme was responsible enough to do that herself. She also put the plug in the sink and started to fill it up with hot, soapy water.

"Brooke's been filling me in on all the island gossip. So Naomi, from the winery and her cousins, they're all after the same plot of land as you guys?" She sipped her tea gingerly and his dick twitched in his jeans at the way her lips puckered so she could blow on the steam.

Glancing away from her mouth, he nodded and blew out a breath. "Yeah, them and over a dozen more interested parties. The women who run the cidery, the dads who run the distillery. It's choice land and we all want it. We all need it."

"I'm so glad you're moving in with us, Justine," Aya said. "We can stay up late and paint nails and braid hair. You can have breakfast with us and dinner. It'll be great."

"Well, Justine is here for a vacation. She's just staying with us until her RV arrives. She doesn't have to actually spend any time with us though. If she wants to sleep in, or go to bed early, or not braid little girls' hair, that's her choice and we need to respect that." He grabbed the bowl of prewashed strawberries from the fridge and put it on the table for his girls' after-school snack. "Healthy food first if you're going over to Talia's for cookies in a little bit."

"Oh! Do I have a gaggle of children at my house right now?" Brooke asked, her green eyes widening. She took a big sip of her tea and grimaced. "Ooh, too hot for such a big sip. Ouch." Then she stood up. "I should go before they eat all the cookies." She leaned forward and rested a hand on Justine's arm. "It's so nice to meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better. Text me if you want to do something, like grab lunch or go for a hike. Now that I don't have someone out there trying to kill me, I'm free to roam."

"Like a free-range chicken," Aya pointed out. "Shoes are optional."

Brooke and Justine both snickered. Then Brooke waved and was gone in a flurry of blonde waves and generous hip sways.

Emme claimed Brooke's seat and Bennett removed Brooke's tea mug, adding it to the pile of dishes in the sink.

Emme and Aya dug into strawberries.

"You can have some too, Justine," Aya said with her mouth full.

"Aya, close your mouth, please," Bennett asked. "Emerson, do you have homework?" He shifted his gaze to his older daughter.

"Just spelling words, some math, and I need to label this body diagram." She pulled out a sheet of paper which had a human body silhouette on it and the organs exposed. Straight lines with arrows pointed to the various body parts, both interior and exterior.

"Justine, you're a doctor. You can help Emme, right?" Aya asked with enthusiasm. "You know all the body parts. Like even what this is called?" She pointed to an arbitrary spot on her neck. "Like this, here. What is this?"

"Uh … your neck?" Justine asked.

"No, but like, what's on the inside ?" Aya probed.

"That side of your neck has your jugular veins. There are three pairs of them. So six in total. They are the interior, exterior, and anterior veins, and they return deoxygenated blood from your brain back to your heart."

Aya blinked at her. "Yeah, but like, what is it?"

"I … I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Like what is the thing called that helps you breathe? And helps the food go from your mouth to your belly?"

"Oh! Well, the trachea is your windpipe. So it carries oxygen to your lungs and then carbon dioxide out of your lungs. And your esophagus carries the food down from your mouth to your stomach. So you actually have two different tubes in your neck."

"A kid in my class is allergic to strawberries, and he has a special pen in his backpack. He says if he eats a strawberry, it'll make him stop breathing. Is that true?" Aya's eyes were wide with wonder.

Justine nodded. "That's called anaphylaxis. It's very dangerous. If you're allergic to something and anaphylactic, your tongue and throat could swell and cut off your airway. So the pen he has in his backpack will give him medicine to help open up his throat again."

"What's that word again?" Aya asked. "Esparagus?"

Justine and Emme both giggled. "Esophagus," Justine said. "But that's the one that carries food to your stomach. The trachea is the one that carries oxygen."

Aya's eyes squinted and slowly nodded. "Esophagus. Es-o-pha-gus . Okay." She stared fiercely at Emme. "Write that down."

Emme looked at her sister like she'd lost her damn mind. "That's not one of the options. There's no arrow pointing to the neck."

"Well, there should be," Aya argued. "Mr. Flannagan is a bad teacher if he doesn't think the neck is important. Add it anyway."

"Mr. Flannagan is a fine teacher," Bennett quickly corrected. "Aya, go change into your free-range chicken clothes, please."

Aya huffed like he'd just asked her to do his taxes and not change into clothes that he didn't care if they got stained or ripped. She peeled herself away from Justine and hoofed it upstairs with enough dramatic flair he was sure the Golden Globes would be sending her a nomination letter any day.

"Can you help me, please, Justine?" Emme asked. "Maybe I can get extra credit if I label more body parts that aren't on the list."

Justine glanced at Bennett. "D-do you mind?"

"Not at all."

Emerson smiled and opened up her textbook, scooting her chair closer to Justine's chair where the two of them hunched with their heads together and began to fill out the diagram.

He was torn as he stood at the sink washing dishes.

On one hand, he was so glad to have Justine there. That she agreed not to leave. But on the other hand, her time there was temporary, and she was there—on vacation—with the purpose of healing after a traumatic event rattled her life and career. She didn't deserve the chaos that was his life. And his daughters didn't deserve the disruption to their world. They also didn't deserve to grow attached to someone who would ultimately leave.

He knew it was wrong on nearly every level, but a small, selfish part of him just couldn't bear the thought of her leaving.

He barely knew the woman, but what he did know intrigued the hell out of him, and he wanted to know more. He wanted to know everything.

Like he did every day, he finished washing all the lunch containers, dried them with the tea towel, then went right back to filling them all again for tomorrow's lunches. It was monotonous and time-consuming, but he could do it with his eyes closed and one-handed, he'd done it so many times.

"Are you staying for dinner, Justine?" Aya asked, rejoining them in the kitchen in her play clothes, complete with several stains, rips, and frayed hems.

"Oh, I don't want to impose. I'll go grab something from the pub tonight. Let you three do your thing and stick to your routine." She pointed to what appeared to be the tibia on the diagram and waited for Emerson to say the correct body part.

"Daddy, what does impose mean, and how can we make sure Justine doesn't do it?" Aya asked, climbing onto the kitchen chair again and reaching for another strawberry.

Bennett's gaze slid from his youngest daughter to Justine. Her cheeks pinked up and his pulse quickened. "We're just having a chicken teriyaki stir-fry. With carrots, broccoli, and peppers. I always make more than enough. You're welcome to stay."

"Can you make edamame too?" Aya asked.

He nodded.

"And jasmine rice instead of babsmati?"

"Bas-ma-ti," he corrected Aya.

"That's what I said."

"Yes, I can make jasmine rice."

"I …" Justine started.

"Oh, please stay," Aya pleaded. "Please. If you don't, I won't eat all my vegetables. I won't eat any of them. Just chicken and rice. And edamame, ‘cause I love edamame." She sat back on her heels and put her hands on her hips, flipping her gaze between Justine and Bennett with confidence, like she'd just pulled off the ultimate negotiation.

Bennett smothered his smile by turning around and fixating on the girls' lunch kits.

"I don't negotiate with terrorists," Justine said. "Are you a terrorist?"

"Daddy, am I a terrorist?"

"A terror? Yes. A terrorist? That's yet to be determined. But in this case, we'll say no."

"I'm not a terrorist. So we can negotiate. What does that mean?"

He didn't have to see Justine to know she was smiling. He could just feel her joyful energy. "It means compromising. But if I agree to stay for dinner, you'll eat your veggies?"

"Yup. Doctors love people to eat their veggies, right?"

"They do, yes. Veggies are very good for you."

"Even tomatoes?"

"Those are fruit," Emme corrected.

"And gross," Aya added.

"I don't think they're in a stir fry anyway," Justine replied.

"Dad, do you put tomatoes in your stir fry?"

Bennett rolled his eyes to the rafters, calling on the patron saints of patience. "No. I do not. You know that."

"Just checking. Just negotiating here."

He snorted, and he's pretty sure he heard Justine and Emerson snort.

Justine hummed for a moment. "All right then. Deal." He spun around to see her holding out her hand to Aya. "I'll stay for dinner, but you have to eat all your veggies."

Aya took her hand, her face completely serious. "Deal." Then a smile split her adorable little face, and she looked up at Bennett, all proud of herself. "I negotiated, Dad."

"You did. Maybe you can be a lawyer when you grow up."

"Does that mean I need to go to more school?"

"Yes. At least seven years."

Her eyes went the size of saucers, then she pouted. "Hard pass."