And Ellie was not wrong. She did have a pinchy face and after the initial impact of her looks, her words, attitude, anger and inappropriateness colored those looks and she was not nearly as beautiful as I’d thought.

“Fine,” she bit out then started stomping to the door.

I picked up the pastry bag and went back to decorating even as I listened hard.

Therefore I heard Brock rumble low, “You cool down, you reflect on this, Olivia. You do this shit one more time, and I mean any of it, from your start of showin’ two hours early to take my boys to finish with you throwin’ a shit fit in front of them and my woman, I warn you, I’ll take action.”

“Go f**k yourself, Slim,” was her hissed retort.

“Jesus,” was Brock’s muttered reply.

My eyes slid to Cob to see his mouth tight, his jaw hard and his eyes aimed at the counter.

He must have felt my look because his head came up, his gaze caught mine, he schooled his features into a smile that did not reach his concerned yet angry eyes then he released my gaze and reached out to wrap a big hand around Rex’s head and pull him into his side.

“That’s a big cake, boy, so big I’m thinkin’ I can talk Tess into lettin’ me stay so I can bum a piece,” Cob said to Rex.

“I don’t know, we were all gonna take quarters,” Rex said back and Cob grinned at him.

Brock showed, stalked to the end of the bar and looked between his sons.

“You guys all right?” he asked.

Joel shrugged and kept his gaze steady on the cake so I went back to decorating it even though I knew this non-answer actually meant a big, fat, hairy no to his father’s question.

“Yeah, Dad,” Rex mumbled.

“Right,” Brock whispered disbelievingly but let it go. Then, “Tess?”

“I’m good, honey,” I told the cake then asked it, “You want me to get you a beer?”

“I’ll get it,” pause then, “Dad?”

“Sounds good, Slim.”

“Boys?” Brock called.

“We can have a beer?” Joel asked.

I looked to him to see him looking beyond me to where Brock was at the fridge and I saw him grin at whatever look Brock was giving him then he said, “Okay, I’ll take a pop.”

“Me too,” Rex chimed in.

I went back to piping.

“Wow, Tess, the boys didn’t lie. You can barely see your hands move,” Cob noted.

“Practice,” I muttered.

“I can see that,” Cob muttered back then he said something that made warm gushiness flood my belly and my hands freeze mid-squirt. “Could be he’s my son but been around men as a whole a long time. Women who can pull off lookin’ beautiful bein’ barefoot in a kitchen wearin’ a t-shirt and glasses and no makeup with their hair pulled back in a ponytail while they decorate a cake that makes your mouth water just lookin’ at it, well,” my eyes had gone to him and he smiled gently at me, “don’t know a man alive or dead that I met in my sixty-eight years who wouldn’t want that woman above all others in his kitchen.”

He didn’t need to reassure me after my first acid encounter with Olivia.

But it was still a nice thing to do.

“Thanks, Cob,” I whispered.

“Don’t thank me for tellin’ the truth, sweetheart,” he whispered back.

Brock’s front hit my back and Cob’s beer hit the counter in front of him as Brock set it there while he joked, “Quit flirtin’ with my woman, Dad.”

This made Rex and Joel emit boy snickers and Cob to mutter, “I’ll try, Slim, but it’ll be hard.”

“Jesus,” Brock muttered back then I felt him take a swig of his beer.

I went back to piping but I did it smiling.

* * * * *

“Here you go, Cob,” I said softly, handing Brock’s father a fresh beer.

Dinner (and cake) consumed, visit with Gramps (and Dad) over, Brock was off taking the boys back to Olivia and her husband Dade’s house and I was hanging out with his Dad at his place.

Why Cob was still there, I wasn’t sure. I was still there because I was spending the night.

I curled in the seat across the sectional from him with my peppermint tea and tried not to be obvious as I studied him while he studied the fire Brock built.

When silence stretched as we sipped at our beverages and Cob’s look went from reflective to dark, I whispered, “Hey,” and his eyes came to me. “You okay?” I asked quietly.

Cob didn’t delay in letting me know what was on his mind.

“When he was datin’ her, I felt joy,” Cob stated and I stared at him. “We weren’t close, still aren’t close, but I was around. Looks like that and sugar sweet,” he muttered then went on to say, “Turns out saccharine.”

Oh man.

He was talking about Olivia.

His eyes got intense and he said softly, “Not my place, lost that place and I ‘spect you know it but I’m gonna say it anyway and I hope you know I got my son’s best interests at heart but, like Olivia, you are far from hard on the eyes and, like Olivia, you’re sugar sweet and I need you now, Tess, to promise me what’s under all that frosting,” he jerked his chin at me, “tastes just as sweet.”

I felt my heart melt at a question from a man who was facing sickness, pain and possible death and wanted to face it knowing his son had good things in his life and I whispered,

“What you see is what you get with me, Cob, I promise.”

He studied me, nodded then looked back at the fire.

Then he said to the fire, “Jill told me you’re a survivor.”

This unexpected blow caused me to pull in breath, close my eyes and look away. I opened them when he spoke again to see he was looking at me.

“My girls and me, always close. Always been better with females than males, ‘cept Fern but that’s because I been a jackass for forty-odd years. I don’t know where Slim stands but far’s Jill’s concerned, it’s all in the family and what I want you to know is, where I stand, that’s the God’s honest truth.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“A man hurt you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

He stared at me and he did it long and he did it hard then I watched with some shock and a lot of other, stronger feelings as his eyes went bright.