A Taste of Spring novel Chapter 35

Cord pushed his large frame out of the patio chair and met Dez halfway. They did the universal male embrace/clap on the back hug.

"I hope so. I need more testosterone in my home, man. With Winter, Andy, Rhea, Val, and Onyx...I'm feeling like I'm trespassing."

"Where is Val? She didn't fly in with you guys?"

"Uncle Dez!"

"Dez!"

Dez looked out over the yard, finding the girls in the pool. The two of them climbed out and came running toward him, dripping wet but with huge smiles. He hadn't seen the girls in person for almost six months.

Rhea got to him first, hugging his right side. Andy wrapped her arms around his left.

"Girls," Winter said as she passed holding salad dressing in her arms. "You're getting Dez all wet. Go. Get dried off so you can eat."

Andy pouted but looked up at him. She crooked her finger at him so Dez bent low to the girl's eye level. "Did you bring them?" Andy asked.

"I did," Dez said.

"The colors?" Rhea whispered.

"The exact ones you're requested," he said with confidence.

"Love you, Uncle Dez," Rhea said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"You're the best, Uncle Dez," Andy sang, kissing his other cheek.

The girls backed away and ran for the house, passing Fallon on the way in. As Fallon approached, he shook his head.

Fallon twisted his lips and rolled his eyes as he and Dez walked to the patio table. "What did you buy them this time?"

Dez sat beside Cord. "Hey, I'm not like you. I have to work hard for a girl's attention."

Cord laughed. "Yeah," he said, "some of us almost have to die for it."

Winter narrowed her eyes and said, "I fell before you almost died so stop lying."

Dez chuckled at their light-hearted mention of the incident. Some folk can't move on from trauma but Winter wasn't one of them.

"I hear you have a woman now, Dez," Cord said as he took a cola from the cooler beside him. "Seems we have a Winter and a Spring now."