“What’s up, Buttercup?” I teased as I approached Laurie meticulously pulling weeds in the garden.

“Oh, a whole lotta nada,” he replied with a grin as he tossed a handful of weeds into the the small compost pile he was compiling.

Tanya looked up from where she was helping Kiki pick tomatoes. “Seriously? Are you two still using the same tired greetings after all these years? Get some new material.”

“I know, right?” Laurie grinned. “It’s like, hello? We aren’t teenagers anymore. Surely our vocabularies have expanded enough that we could find some new rhymes.”

“Speak for yourself, you’re only as old as you feel. Besides, I like our old standbys,” I grinned. After two weeks, it still didn’t feel real that Laurie was actually home to stay. After so many years of missing him, he’d slotted right back into my life—along with his three little angels.

“Don’t you have chores to do, Dean? Maybe somewhere that’s not here?” Tanya asked with a raised brow.

I blew a raspberry at my cousin, making Kiki giggle. “For your information, Miss Thang, I just hired a new part-time farmhand. While he feeds the animals, I thought I’d talk our Laurie here into a field trip.”

Laurie looked up at me curiously. “Field trip? I mean, I appreciate our fields as much as the next guy—but I don’t particularly want to go walking through the wheat right now.”

“I didn’t say anything about fields. I said field trip, as in, let’s get off the farm for an afternoon.” Squatting down next to him, I helped him clear the patch of weeds he was pulling while we talked. “Kade wanted me to extend an invitation for a free month of lessons at his studio, if you think Kiki might be interested. Not that the boys wouldn’t, but I—“

Tanya and Laurie’s laughter stopped my nervous babbling. After he’d sobered, Laurie glanced at me with a grin. “Tanya was telling me about Kade’s dance studio. I think that’s a fantastic idea for Kiki. Chris? I don’t know, maybe? Although, to be fair—he’ll probably be more interested in putting his ear to the floor to feel the vibrations.”

“But I don’t want Matty to feel left out,” I said. “After my mom’s attitude when we were kids, the last thing I would do is keep a boy out of dance class if that’s what he wanted to do.”

Tanya was still laughing but Laurie simply put his hand on my forearm as he smiled gently. “You don’t have to backpedal, Dean. I didn’t take your invitation as being misogynistic. I took it as you having gotten to know my kids. Kiki is all about the dance, Chris is a wildcard since he can’t hear the music and Matty would rather be here learning to ride the horses. At best, I might be able to interest him in Little League at some point.”

Relieved, I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. But anyway, my brother texted me a few minutes ago. Apparently he’s starting a new round of classes today and didn’t want your kids to miss out if you were interested. And since he doesn’t have your number, he reached out to me.”

“Plus there’s the fact that the two of you are always joined at the hip when you’re living close to each other like you are,” Tanya said. “I swear, it’s like the last decade never happened with you two. Thick as thieves, I say. But yeah… why wouldn’t Kade expect you to be close enough to pass the word on to our Laurie here?”

Laurie blushed lightly as he smiled in agreement. “It really is like I never left, isn’t it? It’s nice to be home again—and especially good to be among friends.”

“Well, if you’re interested in checking it out, then you might want to give this a break and round the kids up. The class starts in an hour,” I said.

“Kiki, go tell your brothers to wash up and put on some clean clothes. We’re going into town,” Laurie instructed.

The little girl looked excited, but seemed torn as she looked back at Tanya and the tomatoes. Tanya smiled gently at Kiki’s concern. “Go ahead, love. The tomatoes will still be here when you get home. Go on now, do like your daddy said, I’ll finish up here and we can pick more later.”

Kiki bounced up, clapping her chubby little hands together before dashing off to do as she’d been told.

“You sure have some good kids, Laurie.” I stood and held a hand out to help him up. Laurie readily accepted my hand as he slowly pulled himself to his feet.

“Thank you, I’d like to think so,” he said proudly. He removed his gloves and set them in the small basket that contained his gardening tools, picking it up to go put it in its place on the back porch as we walked.

“Did I hear you say something about hiring a part-timer? And you got the road graded last week, too. Hmm, the farm must be doing well this month,” Laurie commented as we walked.

I shrugged. “Honestly, old man Simmons owed me that grading job. I gave him a hand over the winter with feeding his livestock when he was laid up for a few weeks. And as for Chuck, most of his salary goes into the room and board. We’re paying him a pittance above that. But yeah, the sale from those hogs I butchered last week didn’t hurt us any.”

Laurie shuddered, he’d never liked to hear about animals and butchering—a fact I’d completely forgotten about until the words came out of my mouth.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, man. You didn’t name them this time, did you?” I elbowed him in the side with a grin, as I reminded him of the time back in eighth grade when he’d named all the pigs—just days before his grandpa had arranged for them to get butchered.

He flashed me a glare, but shook his head. “Nope. I learned my lesson about that one. Unless it’s got meat that’s too stringy to eat, they don’t get a name from me.”

“Yeah, I sure hope your kids don’t make that mistake. I might have to absorb the cost of a steer or two if one of those angels had a name for the damn thing.”

Laurie shook his head. “You big softy. You probably would too, wouldn’t you?”

I was saved from answering by the back door flying open and the three kids running out. Matty slowed down to a walk when he saw me there with his dad. I bit back a grin at his tough guy act.

The kid had taken to following me around, and seemed to take my every word to heart. This was both flattering and terrifying to me… Now I had to watch everything I said and did, because I never knew who might be watching—or listening.

While Laurie handled his kids, I excused myself and went to check on Chuck. Something about the guy didn’t quite ring true to me, but hell, what did I know. I kept reminding myself that I couldn’t be suspicious of every stranger that rolled in town. Chuck was most likely just the simple drifter between jobs that he’d said he was. But still, I’d be keeping my eye on him.

* * *

“Laurie Dixon, are you freaking kidding me, right now? There is no way you popped three kids out of that tight little body.” Kade came rushing over to hug Laurie. “And who, pray tell, are these adorable little minions you’ve got in tow?”

Laurie hugged Kade hard, their bodies rocking from side to side as they greeted each other.

“Holy cow, Kade. You look pretty darn amazing yourself,” Laurie said as he pulled back to look more closely at my brother. “Let me introduce you to my babies. We aren’t holding up class, are we?”

Kade shook his head with a broad smile. “Are you kidding me? I gave my brother the wrong time on purpose so that we could have a few minutes to catch up before the rest of the group arrives. We have about half an hour, give or take.”

Laughing at my brother’s subterfuge, Laurie stepped back and began to sign as he introduced the children. Kade looked intrigued, but didn’t ask. He’d either heard about it from Tanya already, or planned to ask me later. With my family, it could go either way.

“This is my oldest, Matty. And then we have Chris,” Laurie paused to explain. “Now Chris is deaf, but he can feel the vibrations that sounds make. If you see him lying on the floor and pressing his ear to it? That’s gonna be him getting lost in the vibrations. I figured I’d warn you about that right out of the gate, because I can already see that happening.”

Turning to Kiki, Laurie brought her forward with a hand on the back of her head. “And this is Kiki. She’s probably going to be your only actual student. I make no promises for my boys.”

Kiki looked up at my brother with fascination. “Mister, your hair is pink! It looks like the cotton candy that my daddy bought me at the fair for my birthday.”

My brother did a pirouette, then bowed before a giggling Kiki. “Now that, young Missy, is the best compliment I’ve had in ages. Do you know why?” Kade waited for Kiki to shake her head before answering. “Because cotton candy is the best, duh!”

He turned to Matty next. “I understand if you’re not interested in dancing, but will you give it a try for me today? Just try one class—that’s all I ask. Once you start school and meet all the other kids in town, you’ll find out that I’ve asked them all for the same favor. Give dance a try, that’s my motto. And pretty much everyone takes me up on my offer.”

Matty screwed up his face distastefully. “I don’t think so, sir. No offense, but dancing’s for girls.”

My brother gasped theatrically before falling dramatically against me, as though mortally wounded.

“Hold me, baby brother. Did you hear the horror? And to think those words were spoken here—in the sanctity of my studio. I feel like the world just flipped back in time twenty years,” Kade moaned.

Knowing full well that my brother was hiding his own childhood pain beneath his act, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I would show Laurie’s son that alphas dance too, and maybe also manage to smooth a balm over my brother’s soul. I turned to him with a jaunty grin.

“You know what I think, Kade? I think the kid doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Because, I’m a boy—at least, I was the last time I checked anyway. And not only am I a boy, I’m also an alpha. But, if memory serves me right, didn’t we take dancing lessons together as kids?”

Kade sucked in a large breath as if remembering a forgotten secret. Flashing me a knowing wink, he flitted across the studio to where his iPod was plugged in.

“That’s exactly right, little brother. I’d almost forgotten about my poor bruised toes. As they say in the movies–shall we dance?”

Music began to play, as my brother floated across the wooden floor with a hand extended to me. Letting him pull me out to the center, we easily slid into a familiar foxtrot while Laurie and the kids watched in awe. When the song changed, Kade pulled me over to Laurie and grabbed his hand.

Pushing us together, Kade announced that it was our turn. “I’ve danced with my little brother enough for one lifetime. Your kids need to see their daddy cut a rug.”

Starting with a simple waltz, Laurie and I danced around the room while his kids watched in amazement. When I spun him around then tipped him over my arm, we looked over to see Matty watching with interest. Laurie started laughing, then tipped his chin over at Chris.

I grinned as I pulled Laurie up with a flourish and gave him another spin before we began to dance again. Chris, as expected, was laying in the corner of the room with his ear pressed to the floor.

My brother had Kiki dancing with him. She was standing on his feet as he led her through the steps. I couldn’t get over how great it felt for us all to be here like this. I smiled when I glanced over again and noticed Matty’s toe was tapping involuntarily.

Pulling Laurie closer so that I could whisper in his ear, I spoke just loud enough that he could hear me over the music without being overheard. “Damn, I sure do love your kids.”

When I dipped Laurie again, there was a fleeting moment of awareness as we smiled into each other’s eyes. Honestly, dancing with my best friend while his daughter’s giggles filled the room? This was probably one of the best moments of my life.

I opened my mouth to tell Laurie just that, but stopped when I realized how weird that might sound. I mean, I wouldn’t want him to think I was hitting on him or anything. Not only because I wasn’t into guys, but damn... his husband had only been gone a few weeks.

I shook my head at my foolishness. Like Laurie would ever think that I was into him that way. One of these days I’d have to share this strange thought process with him—he’d probably laugh. Right?