Page 58 of Night Moves
“Go ahead,” Drake said. “I’ll clean up.”
Clay gaped at him. “You gone loco, man? Volunteering to clean up?”
“Just accept it before I ask you for help.” Drake chuckled and stacked up the plates and silverware and carried them into the cabin.
His mother was in the kitchen mixing bread dough in a tall bucket. Keeping enough bread to feed this hungry hoard was almost a full-time job. He searched for Natalie, but she was nowhere to be seen. His dad sat in a chair reading a book, and Willow was still at the table, the castle starting to take shape. Erik and Pong were on the floor by the fireplace with Logan, who was hugging Pong and giggling. Erik obviously didn’t make it to the bedroom yet, and Drake didn’t have the heart to tell his brother to head to bed or Pong would follow, leaving Logan alone.
His cabin didn’t have a dishwasher, so he set the dishes in a sink of soapy water and started to wash them.
“I’ll do that,” his mom said.
“I can help.”
“I’d rather you go talk to Willow again. She’s still been sulking, and I hate seeing her so down. She seemed to warm to you, so could you give it a go?”
He rinsed his hands and dried them. “I can’t even imagine what she’s going through. At her age, my biggest trauma was getting picked last for the baseball team.”
His mother chuckled, but quickly sobered. “Our family is so blessed, and it’s up to us to share those blessings with these kids.”
“Agreed.” He hugged his mother’s shoulders. “Thanks for being the best mother a guy could ask for.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She smiled up at him. “Raising you all is my greatest accomplishment, and I’m so proud of each of you. At least most of the time.” She laughed again.
He gave her another squeeze and set off toward Willow before his mom moved on to her matchmaking with Natalie, which she was prone to do whether the female subject was in the room or not. In this case, with Natalie missing, his mom might really go to it.
He assumed Natalie was putting Sadie to bed as his favorite two-year-old wasn’t in the room either.
Drake had hoped to spend a bit of time with Logan today, but Erik and Pong were engaged with Logan right now. Drake sat at the table with Willow, who was chewing on that lip again and clutching the alarm that hung around her neck. Drake wanted to give her a chance to start talking if she wanted to, so he watched his brother to see how he handled the little boy.
“He’s really your dog?” Logan asked.
“Yes.”
“I like him.” Logan petted Pong’s head. “He’s pretty.”
Erik looked horrified at his rugged dog being called pretty but said nothing.
“Can he do tricks?” Logan asked.
“Hmm. Well. He sits, stays, and rolls over on command. And he’ll give you his paw if I tell him to.”
Logan’s eyes widened. “Tell him. Oh, please tell him.”
Erik smiled at the boy. “Hold out your hand near his front feet.”
Logan poked out his hand and gave Erik an intense look. “Like this?”
“Perfect.” Erik turned his attention to Pong. “Pong. Paw.”
Pong placed his paw in Logan’s hand. Logan giggled, and then hugged Pong, who started to move away.
“Stay,” Erik said, and Pong froze in place and accepted the hug.
“I like him,” Logan said, releasing the dog.
“I like him too.” Erik smiled.
“And I like you!” Logan threw himself at Erik.
