His mother was in the kitchen when he arrived. After popping the requested juice into the fridge, he went up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
“You took your time getting here.” She was smiling when she said it, so he wasn’t in trouble yet.
“And yet I still have first dibs on the bacon.” He reached around her to snag a crispy strip from the stack on the plate. She’d already fried at least two pounds of bacon, and there was a roll of paper towels conveniently close by to clean up the carnage. Those were the perfect ingredients for a Saturday morning. He thought about Piper going without bacon and decided it was her loss. He’d wanted her to come, but she’d turned him down.
He kind of wished she were here. Piper and bacon on a Saturday morning would be even better. His mother smacked his hand away from the plate but not before he’d snagged two more pieces. He took his prize and leaned against the counter.
“I’d make bacon for you on other mornings. It doesn’t have to be a Saturday-morning exclusive,” she grumbled.
“It tastes better on Saturdays?” Plus, he didn’t need to kill himself. Too much of a good thing wouldn’t help when he had to swim five hundred yards in twelve minutes. But this was bacon and exceptions had to be made.
She hummed her agreement and poured pancake batter onto her griddle. He crunched his way through the bacon, considered stealing a fourth piece, then washed his hands and moved next to her to chop potatoes. He knew the deal.
“How’s work? Did you get your contract?”
The status of said contract was a popular question. “When we get the Fiesta contract, I’ll be able to expand. I’ve got feelers out on adding a new location. It would be good to keep the command center separate from our gear, and I want to bring on some other guys getting out of the service.”
She deftly flipped a pancake onto the growing stack. His siblings ate enough for an entire SEAL unit. “You’re sure about landing the deal?”
He grinned. “It’s down to us and Dream Big and Dive. We’re going to win.”
She poured a new batch of pancakes. “That’s Piper Clark’s place, right?”
“Yep.” He slid the potatoes into a free pan. “She’s running a place down on the boardwalk.”
“How is Piper?”
He’d bet his mother had seen Piper at least once this week. The island simply wasn’t that big, and he made a mental note to check his mother’s Facebook page—and the ultimate source of island gossip—soon. If his mother had proof he and Piper were together (and while they weren’t together, they weren’t not together, either), she’d post the news for everyone to read.
“Piper’s fine,” he said carefully, not wanting to give the game away.
Better than fine. The memories of last night were the forever kind of memories. Piper in bed was spectacular. This morning had been pretty great, too, right up until the moment when she’d kicked him out. He’d liked sharing a cup of coffee with her. When they weren’t fighting, she was great company.
“Uh-huh.” His mother’s snort of laughter said it all. “How many fights have the two of you had so far?”
He counted. Zero, zip and nada. No fights in the past twelve hours had to be a record. Apparently the one place he and Piper agreed was in bed.
“We’re not so bad.”
His mother eyed the bubbles forming in the center of the pancakes and teased up the edge of one with her spatula. “You’re worse. The two of you are like oil and water. Whatever one does, the other takes issue with.”
“She’s stubborn. She always wants to do things her way.”
“And you don’t?”
“Aren’t you supposed to take my side?”
“If you want unconditional love, get a dog.”
“Isn’t this where you segue into the speech about finding a girl and settling down?”
“Piper’s still single.”
Danger. “And you just pointed out that she never agrees with me about anything. A lack of consent is going to make the I-do part of the wedding ceremony difficult.”
He had a quick mental image of Piper getting married. She wasn’t a big, puffy gown kind of person—he still shuddered when he remembered his sister’s dress—but he could see her barefoot on the sand in something simple and short. She’d look good. Not, of course, that he had any business imagining Piper getting married. Whoever the guy was who took her on, he’d probably take issue with last night’s shenanigans. Plus, Cal wasn’t ready to give her up yet.