I’m gonna marry this girl, he thought.

He felt that unexpected, never-had-before thought in his gut too.

It was warm, not hot, like a slug of Fireball.

His favorite shot.

“Danny?” she called.

His voice was gruff when he said, “Sounds awesome.”

At his tone, her head did a little tick, meaning her hair did a little swish and…

Yeah.

The thought did not suck that he’d sit his ass on his counter and watch this girl make their dinner night after night for years.

“So, that kiss this morning,” he said and the packet of bacon, sleeve of American cheese slices and carton of ground beef hit the deck. He grinned slow at her and murmured, “Baby.”

This he did before he hopped off the counter to help her pick it up.

“I got it,” she said.

So they wouldn’t collide like she for sure would make them collide, he caught her hand and held it. “I’m going in. You stand still.”

Pink hit her cheeks and he wanted to enjoy that, but for her sake, instead, he crouched and got their dinner from the floor.

He put it on the counter by the stove then hefted his ass onto it, so he’d be close while she worked.

She proved she was at one with this idea when she found a bowl and set it down beside his hip.

“It was a great kiss, Evie,” he said to her bent head as she dumped hamburger in the bowl.

“I’m surprised you don’t have a fat lip,” she said to the bowl.

“I didn’t mean that one, but that one too.”

Her head came up and her eyes caught his. “It wasn’t.”

“It was.”

“I’m a klutz. It’s embarrassing.”

“It’s you. It’s cute.”

She looked down to the bowl and reached for his salt and pepper.

“Evie, I’m bein’ serious.”

“You’re being nice. That’s you. You’re…nice.”

He wasn’t sure any woman he’d ever known described him as nice.

But he couldn’t say it sucked.

“Evie—”

Her head came up and she blurted, “I’m attracted to you. You…you’re attractive. Now, do you have Worcestershire sauce?”

“No.”

“Garlic powder?”

“Maybe. Evie—”

“I’m a mess,” she whispered.

“So am I,” he whispered back. “Everyone’s a mess. Anyone who looks like they’ve got it together, they’re either putting on a show or you’re not looking close enough.”

“How are you a mess? You’re…you’re…” She threw a hand up to him and then out to his pad. “Totally together.”

Fuck.

They were in fiftieth or sixtieth date territory.

“I seem like I got it goin’ on because your life imploded. Trust me, I got my issues and I got my demons.”

She fell silent and studied him.

Then she spoke.

“Should we just have dinner and watch a movie?”

He’d give her that play, and it wasn’t purely altruistic reasons why he would.

She didn’t need to know his issues and definitely not his demons.

Not now.

He’d already let slip a nuance of what he’d seen during his tours.

That was enough.

“Honey, I’ll do whatever you wanna do to chill out,” he told her. “But first, I want it out there and I want it clear, I liked that kiss. Those kisses. Both of them, no matter what you think. I want more. I want to get to know you better. And I wanna look out for you while you’re going through this rough patch. We can talk about all that when you’re ready. For now, I gotta understand what your day looks like tomorrow so I can have you covered.”

She opened his cupboard that had his spices and was sorting through it as she answered, “I’m on for Computer Raiders from seven to one thirty. And then I’m at Smithie’s, have to be there by seven.”

This was going to be a challenge as he had to work.

“And I need my car for Computer Raiders,” she continued.

“I can drop you off when I go to work.”

She was shaking stuff into the meat, but her eyes came to him. “I do on-site visits.”

Goddamn it.

“Evan, it’s almost impossible for me to have a man on you for on-site visits.”

“Danny, I can’t call off. I’m hourly and it goes without saying, I need the money.”

Yeah.

That went without saying.

“Auggie has some time off,” he said. “I’ll see if he can shadow you. If he can’t, I’ll call in a favor from one of the Nightingale boys or Chaos crew.”

“Maybe I’ll be okay,” she suggested.

“Maybe you will. Though I’d prefer taking steps to omit the ‘maybe’ from that statement.”

She looked away to dig her fingers in the meat and start smushing.

It came quiet when she asked, “Do you think Mick’s gonna be okay?”

He didn’t give one single fuck what Mick was.

He did not say that.

He said, “We’re pokin’ around this mess. We know the street name of the guy you met. I got make and model and license plate of his car and I got friends lookin’ into that. I haven’t been briefed. I had some roadwork to do for Hawk today and my priority is you. To end, I have no idea what’s happening, so I have no idea the level of threat your brother is facing.”

She started forming hamburger patties.

He watched her hands work and noted she was not stingy with the beef.

Yeah.

Totally marriage material.

“Right now, he’s the safest place he can be, honey,” he assured her.

“Mom sounded more…Mom than her regular,” she explained why she brought up her brother, then asked, “Can you get me a plate?”

He twisted to open a cupboard and got her a plate.

She set a formed patty on it.

“He’s a favorite,” Mag said carefully.

She dug up more meat.

“Right,” he muttered. “Dinner and watch a movie.”

Evan looked to him. “She’s a favorite.”

“Sorry?”

“Mom. Carol. She’s the most important person in her life. And it bums me out and makes me sound stupid, but honestly, it’s just in this very moment that I realized that. And it’s not, you know, the healthy kind of making yourself a priority to teach your children to look out for themselves. Their hopes and goals and health and happiness. Not to give too much to someone else so you lose sight of what you need to make yourself feel right. Feel whole. It’s all about Carol Bowers. Though, runner-up for Mom is Mick. Honestly, unless Sidney, my sister, is in her line of sight, I think she forgets Sid exists. And she only remembers me when she can bum a couple hundred dollars to replace it in their joint account when she gets a little overzealous shopping and she doesn’t want Rob to find out.”

Mag didn’t trust himself to speak.

She set another patty aside and moved around him to get to the sink to wash her hands.

“It’s when you said that about Sophie’s choice,” she continued. “I thought about that and it’s true, kind of. Her first thought, how to get what Carol wants out of a situation. Then she’s all about Mick. Honest to God, if she was put in that heinous situation, she wouldn’t blink. As long as she was safe, she’d not hesitate to say ‘Mick.’”