“Hey, honey bear.” Brody’s deep voice yanked Beth back to the present. “Think you can carry this box for me?” He pointed to one of the biggest boxes in the back of his truck.
Jamie laughed again. “Uncle Brody, that one’s too big. Mommy can carry it. Give me a littler one.”
“You sure? Let me see your muscles.” He made a big show of examining her arm when Jamie flexed. “Well, you seem pretty strong, but let’s give you one a little bit smaller.” Her daughter held her arms up and Brody handed her a much smaller box, one holding kitchen towels and pot holders.
“Be careful, sweetheart,” Beth called out.
“I’ve got it, Mommy.” Jamie took deliberately slow steps up to the porch and then turned to look at her. “Where should I put this box, Mommy?”
“That one goes in the kitchen, baby.”
Beth drew in a deep breath, watching her little girl head through the front door with her precious cargo. Jaime had been through so much in the last months, being uprooted from the only home she’d know, and then losing her father. She was handling things better than anybody could ask. Jamie never complained, always had a smile for everyone. One day she knew she’d have to explain why her daddy wasn’t around anymore, but right now she was too little to understand. And really, what could she say? Tell her daughter her daddy was a monster and needed to be locked in a cell to keep her safe?
Brody strode past her, arms stacked with boxes, and she couldn’t help noticing the way his muscles moved and flexed beneath his navy blue T-shirt. He moved with the confidence of a man comfortable with himself and the world around him, and she only wished she had a smidgen of his calm demeanor. Instead, she felt like the biggest fraud, because nothing in her world felt right. Everything seemed off-kilter. She didn’t even fit in the skin she wore like armor, keeping away the ills of the world. If she was honest, it had been like that for longer than she cared to admit. Even before Evan had started acting elusive, she’d felt uneasy, off balance. Now, after the revelations of her ex-husband’s duplicity, her self-esteem and confidence in herself as a wife, mother, even as a woman, had been chiseled away until she felt like a hollow shell.
Brody walked past her and back down the porch steps, with Jaime trailing behind him like a shadow. Beth forced her feet to take one step and then another, following them to Brody’s truck. Reaching into the back, she pulled one of the remaining boxes forward and headed for the house. There really weren’t that many. Most of their belongings were still in North Carolina, in a locked storage unit she paid for monthly. Straightening her spine, she carried the box into the master bedroom and set it on the end of the bed.
Turning toward the door, she gasped when she spotted Brody in the open doorway, two boxes stacked in his arms.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Where do you want these?” He nodded toward the unlabeled boxes.
She pointed toward the floor inside the bedroom. “Just put them there by the door.”
“No problem.” He flashed a smile as he followed her instructions. “Only a couple more to go.”
“Thank you. I appreciate you helping me…us get settled.”
“That’s what family’s for, Beth. You’re Tessa’s family, and by extension that makes you part of the Boudreau clan.” He winked before heading down the hall, and Beth felt that ever-present-around-Brody-Boudreau fluttery sensation in her stomach again. There was something about Brody that made her blood sing.
“Stop it,” she muttered, dispelling the spell he seemed to put her under. It was too little, too late. She wasn’t ever falling into the relationship trap again. Been there, done that, and wouldn’t wear the lousy T-shirt on a bet.
Voices from the front of the cottage drew her attention toward the door, and she spotted Rafe and Tessa, along with Douglas and Ms. Patti, standing on the front porch. Tessa grinned and waved, and Beth motioned for her to come in. Ms. Patti and Tessa walked into the living room, while Rafe and Douglas headed back down the steps of the front porch toward their cars.
“Brody mentioned he’s almost finished bringing your stuff in. Ms. Patti and I brought along a few supplies to help stock your fridge, so you don’t have to worry about doing grocery shopping for a few days.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.” Beth’s eyes widened as Rafe and Douglas strode past her toward the kitchen, arms loaded with grocery bags. “Guys, that’s far too much—”
“Nonsense.” Ms. Patti pulled her into a hug, and thumped her on the back. Beth squeaked a little at the bear hug. Ms. Patti was remarkably strong for such a tiny woman. Then again, Beth mused, having raised a passel of boys from youngsters into men, she’d have to be. Tessa grinned at the blonde-haired dynamo, and Beth linked arms with her sister, following her inside. Ms. Patti marched into the kitchen and began giving orders to Rafe and Douglas, who stood in the center of the room, looking lost and confused. She reminded Beth of a drill sergeant, her no-nonsense attitude getting the job done, her will indomitable even facing down two men bigger than her by nearly a foot.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Brody place a couple more boxes against the wall in the living room. His lips quirked up in a grin as he watched his mother ordering around the others, softly chuckling when they hurried to fulfill her every request.
“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Tessa’s words were whispered, and Beth nodded. “This is nothing. You should see her with the wedding plans. She’s got people jumping, bending over backward, ready to accomplish whatever she wants. People in Shiloh Springs practically worship the ground she walks on. Honestly, I don’t think
