“Gross!” I heard come from behind me with a quick giggle.
Brayden threw a dish towel at his sister as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “Sis, mind your own business.”
“Coffee?” Myla asked me as she grabbed another cup out of the cabinet.
“Sure, thanks.”
She pointed to the table, setting the mugs of steaming joe down on placemats. “Don’t worry, Brayden will take care of the rest.” She winked at me. “Have you read any of the firefighter romances by Amy Briggs yet?”
I shook my head. “No. Should I?”
She squealed. “Like right now! Hold on, I have a copy of the complete series upstairs. You can totally borrow it if you want.”
“I would love that.” It was so nice to be sitting down with Myla. It had been so long since I had another girl to talk to other than Martha and Kari. They were amazing in their own right, but they were as far from book worms as it came.
She leapt up from the table while Brayden was putting our breakfasts onto plates. Sitting down next to me, he grabbed my hand. “Hope you like eggs. I probably should have asked.”
“This is perfect.” I leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”
“Did you sleep all right? You seemed to have a crazy ass dream in the middle of the night.” He remarked, before shoveling a huge bite of eggs covered in hot sauce into his mouth.
I bit my lip, it had been a long time since I had a nightmare about my foster family like that. “Just a bad dream about my shitty childhood.”
Brayden shifted a little so that he was looking right at me. “If you ever want to talk about it, I am here. But, I will never pry.”
“I appreciate that a lot.”
“Tomorrow night?” Brayden asked abruptly.
I glanced over at him, eyebrow raised. “What?” I was still so deep in my thoughts about my terrible foster father.
He shot me a cute half smirk. “We’re going out to dinner with your friends tomorrow night.”
I wanted to smack my palm right onto my face. “Oh, yes! We’re still on for tomorrow night. I cannot wait for you to meet Martha and Kari.”
“What if they don’t like me?” He asked, as serious as all hell.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “They’re going to love you. Promise.”
Chapter 13
Brayden
“Ready?” Karla grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently.
I kissed the top of her head before opening the restaurant door for her. “Heck yes. Let’s do this.”
I had pulled out all the stops for tonight. I knew that Kari and Martha were overly important in Karla’s life and if I was going to stay in it for the long haul like I was planning, I needed to get their approval. Since Karla didn’t have any family, this was like meeting mom and dad, but it was even more nerve wracking for some reason.
We were escorted to our table booth in the back of the restaurant, where three bouquets of roses were sitting, two white and one red, and they all had hand written notes in them.
Martha and Kari were already in their seats, reading their notes. It was just a simple gesture from me to them to show them how much I actually cared about them, because of how much they meant to my girl.
“Evening, ladies.” I said after clearing my throat.
They both looked up at us with tears in their eyes, smiling.
The one on the end of the booth scooted out, wrapping me in a huge hug. “I feel like I already know you. I’m a hugger. Sorry,” she sniffled.