Page 43 of Taking What Was His

“We can’t have her sneaking in here and spying on us.”

Jayden grinned. “Why?”

“Because what we’re making tonight is a family secret. It came from my grandmother, but it was passed down to her son, then to me, and now you.”

“I get a family secret?”

“Yeah. Can you handle the responsibility?”

Jayden chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I can.”

“Can your mom get information out of you?”

“Nah, we’re good.”

“All right then, let’s go. We need to cook noodles. Normally, we’d make our own, but it takes a lot of time. Next time, we’ll have to plan a whole day to do it.”

“Cool.”

They worked side by side, joking and laughing.

“Did something happen with your mom before I got here? If you feel weird telling me, then don’t. I just noticed she looked sad or something.”

“Yeah, Evan stopped by.”

“Does he do that a lot?”

“He used to do it more, but my mom started to tell him not to come so much. Today he just stopped by to get a tool he’d left here.”

Roman tensed. He had a bad feeling about the situation, and he didn’t know why yet.

“So, your mom was sad he just stopped by?”

“No, she’s sad because she knows he wants more from her, and she’s never felt that way about him.”

“Your mom has a tender heart.”

“You’re right about that.”

“I want you to know that although you and I don’t know each other well, I respect the fact that you’re the man of the house, and you’ve been taking care of your mom, but you can come to me if you need anything.”

“Thanks.”

Roman could see he affected the boy before he turned away. He would have been worried if he hadn’t seen the smile on the boy’s face.

“Let’s get this done. I’m starving.”

Jayden grinned. “It smells good.”

“You’ll love it.”

They set the table and got everything on the table before Jayden went to get his mom.

He saw the look of pleasure on her face when she walked in.

“You guys did all of this?”

“Yeah,” Jayden said. “We know we made a lot, but Roman said this pasta is great to freeze for another dinner later.”