Surrendering to Us by Chelsea M. Cameron

right wall. I grabbed a bag and started filling it with my favorite flavors, including buttered popcorn and toasted marshmallow. I had the feeling Lucah would like those, given his love of s’mores. I filled several bags and then moved to the gummies. Sharks, bears, worms, octopi, even ones shaped like some of the presidents. I looked at my haul and I didn’t even want to begin to figure out how many calories and grams of sugar were in this one basket. I looked around and found Lucah. The red hair was easy to spot.
    I snuck up behind him and poked him in the ribs.
    “Hey, what have you got?” He turned and the grin on his face was similar to the one that he’d had when he showed me his car. I’d have to add that to the list of Things That Make Lucah Giddy.
    “They have these.” He held up what appeared to be two graham crackers with a marshmallow in between that had been dipped in chocolate.
    “I also got chocolate and toasted marshmallow jellybeans.” I pointed to the bag. Lucah put his basket down and held my face in both hands.
    “I love you.”
    “I know.”
     

     
    We ended up having to get a third basket, because I knew Sloane would be very upset with me if I didn’t bring something back for her, so I got some mango jellybeans and some gourmet chocolate from Switzerland.
    “We definitely shouldn’t eat any of this in the car,” Lucah said with a serious face after we’d checked out.
    “No. We should save it.” We put the bags on the backseat and stared at them for a minute.
    “Fuck that,” we both said at the same time. I went for the chocolate covered potato chips and Lucah grabbed three of the s’mores bars.
    We drove the rest of the way trading bites back and forth and licking the chocolate from each other’s fingers as my music played and we argued about which song we should listen to. Lucah pulled off the highway and drove down tree-lined streets and past homes that were definitely built recently. People biked on the sidewalks, kids played kickball in a few of the backyards and everything was bright and shiny and new. It was fucking Mayberry.
    “Wow, this is really nice.”
    “Yeah, it kind of freaks me out a bit coming here. This is one of those towns that you see on the news and everyone says that nothing bad could ever happen there, and then you find out there’s a serial killer or a meth lab or something.” He shook his head and turned onto a side street.
    “Pessimistic much?”
    “It’s been my experience that places like this are ideal for hiding things. But it’s not my choice to live here, and the schools are good, I guess, and there aren’t any sex offenders.”
    “How do you know there aren’t any sex offenders?”
    “Because I checked. I also checked to make sure there weren’t any convicted criminals. Tate asked me to, but don’t mention anything about it. April doesn’t know.” Was it possible for something to be both creepy and sweet at the same time? Because that was. If he was that protective of his nieces, I couldn’t imagine how protective he’d be over his own children.
    Our children. Whoa. That was a thought I was not ready to think. Not even close. Go away, baby thoughts! I did joke about having his ginger babies, but that was just for fun. I wasn’t serious about it . . .
    “We’re here,” he said, pulling into the driveway of one of the houses. I had to be honest, it looked pretty much like all the others, except for the two pink bicycles in the yard, and the trampoline. Lucah turned Bluebird off and got out. And I started to panic.
    The front door burst open and two little screaming girls emerged, hair flying behind them as they threw themselves at Lucah and he caught both of them, twirling around as they shrieked.
    I got out and braced myself on the car for a minute as I walked around to join them. Lucah had tossed both girls down on the ground and was tickling them into submission.
    “Hey, hey,” he said, pulling them up. I remembered that