The Sheriff's Son | Harvey #2

Chapter 10

Light was too bright when Nicole opened her eyes. She sat up and had a dull ache in her head. She felt a little sick, but it wasn't too bad. She got off the couch. The living room smelled like fresh laundry. She walked towards the washroom and found Ashton inside, folding his clothes and softly humming.

"You know," she began, making him jump. His gaze darted to the clothes he was folding and he slid them off the towels he'd stacked on the washer. "I knew you had to do your own laundry, but it's weird actually seeing you do it." She glanced down at the clothes he'd moved, but couldn't really see them.

He smiled at her, his hands still busy folding. "Well, I have to do it. Mom doesn't stop by once a week or so to wash my stuff. It'd be nice but it doesn't happen." He shrugged and picked up the towels. She backed up so he could get out. He walked into his bedroom, and she followed. He began stacking towels in his bathroom. She watched and when he noticed, his cheeks turned red. "What?"

She shook her head. "Just watching."

"Oh." He pushed past her and quickly came back, carrying more fresh laundry. He stuffed them in a drawer before she got a good look at what he had. She followed him back to the washroom and he took out several shirts, dropped them on the washer, and began folding.

After he'd done a couple of shirts, she nudged him over and corrected his folding. "They get wrinkled like that." She finished the first shirt and realized he was watching her. She turned to him. He had one hand on his hip and was leaning on the dryer with the other hand. His amusement came through his smile. She felt herself blush a little and went back to folding. "Um, what?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. I just never thought about you folding my clothes before."

She smiled a little. "What did you think I might be doing at some point after I move in after we get married?"

He shrugged, his eyes shining. "Baking?" She turned to him, hands on her hips. He laughed. "Okay, so maybe not just that, but I'd kill for some good homemade cinnamon rolls." His eyes seemed to see something she couldn't.

She went back to folding his clothes. "Well, maybe I'll make you some tonight."

His eyes lit up. "Really?" She smiled at him and looked up at him through her lashes and nodded. He grinned. "Sounds good." He watched her fold for a while longer. She finished the shirts, and he picked them up. She followed him across to his bedroom where he put them away. "So, I'm free the rest of the afternoon."

She nodded. "I think maybe we should go ahead and start packing. You know, make sure we got what we need before we leave so we don't get there and realize we left something."

He sat on his bed, bouncing a little. "I was just going to do that tomorrow." He kept bouncing and she raised an amused eyebrow. He grinned at her. "What?"

She just laughed and shook her head. "What should we do, then?"

He flopped back and stared at his ceiling. "Mmm, I don't know. Maybe get what we need to make the cinnamon rolls. In case you were wondering, I don't bake much. Like, ever."

She laughed and joined him. "Do you have a recipe? Or do you know what that is?"

He gasped playfully and reached for his pillow. He hit her gently with it. "Take that back. Of course I know what a recipe is!" She giggled. He squinted at her and pursed his lips. "It's like a set of pictures, right?"

She took the pillow from him and hit him with it. He laughed and rolled off the bed. "You know what it is!" She laughed and joined him on the floor. He tried to take the pillow back, but she didn't let go. He laughed and tugged it free. She jumped up and got his other one and hit him with it.