Summer Days

Chapter 42

I fell on his couch in exhaustion. He flopped down next to me. "Good job, Sean." I said, managing to turn my head to look at him. "Everything looks great."

He smiled at me. "Thank you Pookie. I'm really enjoying the time spent in the kitchen." He admitted, reaching for my hand.

"I'm glad to hear that. I think we'll work together on cooking off and on for the rest of the summer."

"Please." He said. "I can't wait for the next thing you will show me."

"Well." I said, thinking for a moment. "We've got a good dinner down, a breakfast that isn't just a pop tart and a dessert. I guess we should work on a soup in the crockpot tomorrow morning that we can have for lunch when we come home before we have to make dinner for Owen."

"That sounds interesting. Is that enough time to cook it?"

"Sure." I smiled. "If you wanted it for dinner, you'd cook it all day on low, we want it sooner so we'll cook it on high instead. And it is a soup that the boys all love so you could absolutely pull one over on them by making it. They'd think it was me."

His face lit up. "A chance to prank Luke? Oh, count me in Pookie." He laughed. "I can't wait to pull that one off." He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it before turning over and kissing my palm.

"Well then, we'll just have to make sure it happens." I said in a breathy tone of voice. My air supply had been sucked right out of me at the touch of his lips on my skin. I shifted, leaning over him and studying him for a moment.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, looking up into my eyes.

I reached up with my free hand and gently caressed his cheek. "Do I still make you happy?" I asked softly. "As much as I did when you first met me?"

His green eyes sparkled before they grew serious and he reached out with his free hand and caressed my face the way I was touching him. "After all this time, this summer we have planned, you have to ask?"

I shrugged. "I don't get a lot of one on one time with you and Owen. It can be a bit overwhelming for me because of how much I love all of you. I never want to risk losing any of you simply because I didn't remember to make sure you individually still want me around." I leaned in and brushed my lips gently against his. "Lily said it's important." I murmured in his ear.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in tight, holding me on his lap and hugging me tightly at the same time. "I love you Sang." He said seriously, brushing his lips against my temple. "With every breath I take... my heart beats faster when you're around." He rested his cheek against my hair. "I can't imagine life without you, I think everything is better when you're around."

"From the day I met you?"

"From the very first day when I saved you from Mr. McCoy." He said, reaching between us to tilt my head up. "You make me so happy." He said, gazing into my eyes.

I smiled. "You make me happy too." I said. "I love your sweet, funny side. I absolutely enjoy the giggle cures so much that I often think of trying to giggle all day long when you aren't with me so that you'll have to come find me and administer them."

He beeped my nose. "That might be unfair to those you're with."

I shrugged and grinned. "They don't administer the cure, what can I say? I can only be treated by the best." I said softly. "My first kiss..."

"I didn't realize that at the time or I would not have kissed you while we were laying down on my bed. Owen was right to chastise me, it was a shade past appropriate."

"I wouldn't have wanted it any other way." I said. "I cherish that memory. It was the first time I didn't feel so lost about what to do. The boys would all get so close and then hesitate. I didn't know what was going on, that they were having to restrain themselves to keep from kissing me. It was confusing. I may have felt a little lost because then I was learning how to kiss but once we'd kissed, everything fell in line so easily."

He smiled. "Well, I don't regret it, that's not what I meant. I think I would have just rather kissed you out on my deck, in the moonlight that night after we'd managed to get rid of Owen."

I laughed softly. "Did he only stay because he was worried about my virtue?"

He chuckled. "Maybe a bit. If you recall, we may have had a bit of an argument about his treatment of you. I called him out on his behavior and pointed out how conflicted he made you feel. Next thing I know, he's trying to figure out how to apologize to you and he picked up the game. He started playing around with it and I eventually went to bed. I didn't realize he'd stayed all night and played your game until I got up in the morning."

"I'd wondered about that. I did feel a bit uncomfortable." I admitted. "I heard you talking. I stopped walking because it dawned on me I shouldn't have left my shoes and game in there but then you were arguing and I didn't want to go back in so I left things where they were."

He pressed his lips against mine, kissing me gently, leading me deeper into the kiss as he had the first time he'd kissed me. "No harm done, Pookie." He said, pulling back to look at me. "Everything happens for a reason and I believe that was a turning point for our boy."

I smiled. "Well, he certainly did seem to like me better after that." I said before shifting in his arms so that I could still be on his lap but rest my head on his shoulder. "We ARE doing the right thing, aren't we...?"

"Oh, it's absolutely the right thing, Pookie. My brothers are happier than they've ever been." He said. "And that's with knowing Owen for over 10 years and the rest of them for almost 7 years. You calm our fears, chase away the shadows and help us face our demons. We couldn't do it without you."

"Thank you." I murmured before kissing him lightly again. "Someday, I want to hear stories about my little Academy boys. I know a bit about how you and Owen hooked up, thanks to Mrs. Rose at the camping trip but I need stories now. Especially how you managed to recruit five little boys who were basically the Robin Hoods of their school."

He chuckled and beeped my nose again with his finger. "Maybe the next family meeting. We have dinner at the Lee's this weekend and we'll be talking about the Florida trip. Perhaps the next weekend we can have a sharing weekend and talk about the good old days."

"Sounds good to me." I said, glancing at the clock. "Shall we go check to see if the pie is as good as we think it is? I need to make sure we have everything for the lunch soup."

"That works. I have vanilla ice cream in the freezer, that'll be nice with the pie." He commented, helping me up off of his lap before he got up from the couch and pulled me close to his side, his arm around my shoulders. I slipped my arm around his waist to keep my balance as we headed to the kitchen.

"I think that's an excellent idea."