“I… Do I know you?” I mumble, frowning at Jax, whose body is shaking with silent laugher.
“Oh, God, I’m sorry.” She pulls away. “I’m Ashlyn. I probably should have said that before I mauled you, right?,” she lets out in one breath while laughing.
“It’s okay. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You wook wike a pwincess,” Hope breathes, and Ashlyn’s body turns toward her and her face lights up.
“You must be Hope.” Hope nods and Ashlyn steps forward. As she runs her hand over Hope’s hair, she tells her, “I think you’re the one who looks like a princess.”
“I have a princess bed, and now a princess room in a castle,” she informs her, smiling from ear to ear.
“You’re a very lucky princess.”
“I know, and now we’re having chocolate chips for breakfast.” Hope bounces where she sits on the counter.
“Chocolate chips?” she asks, looking at Jax.
“Jax just told Hope that his favorite pancakes have chocolate chips in them, so now Hope wants to try them,” I explain to her while Jax moves, giving my side a squeeze before pulling down another coffee mug from the cupboard.
“Ahhh. Well, chocolate chip pancakes are my favorite too. Do you mind if I stay and have one?”
“Mama, can—” Hope pauses then looks at Ashlyn again.
“Hope, this is my sister, Ashlyn. Ashlyn, you already know Princess Hope,” Jax introduces them.
“I do.” Ashlyn curtsies, making Hope giggle and me smile.
“Here, Ash.” He hands her a cup of coffee, which she takes and nudges his shoulder with hers, muttering, “Thanks.”
Watching the two of them, I know that if things had been different, if my brother had lived, this is what our lives would have been like. We were always close, and after my dad passed away, we came to depend on each other even more.
“Mama, can Ashlyn stay?” Hope asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Of course.” I smile at her, dipping the ladle in the mix and pouring it on the griddle.
“The key to the perfect chocolate chip pancake is the sprinkling of the chips,” Jax tells Hope, picking her up off the counter, holding her on his hip. “Do you think you can help sprinkle them?”
“Yes.” She nods vigorously, sticking her hand into the bag. She dumps a handful of them on one pancake before he can show her what to do, making him chuckle.
“Like this, sweetheart,” he says quietly, making a smiley face on one, and then a heart on another. Watching, she leans her head on his shoulder, and my heart flutters inside my chest so hard it feels like a bird beating against my ribcage.
“My mom was saying you’re a hairstylist.”
Pulling my eyes from Hope and Jax, I look at Ashlyn, who is leaning with her elbows on the countertop, her coffee cup between her hands.
“Yeah, for a few years.” I nod, picking up my cup and taking a drink of coffee, wondering how Jax knew exactly how I liked it without even asking me.
“You have great hair.” She smiles, and I self-consciously run my hand down my tangled strands.
“I’m sure it looks crazy right now. I didn’t take the time last night to find my blow dryer after I washed it,” I mumble, and she shakes her head.
“It looks sexy, wild,” she assures me, which catches me off guard. Most of my life, I have been surrounded by women who are quick to cut you down or give a backhanded compliment. But there was no malice in her eyes when Ashlyn spoke. I’m getting the feeling the Mayson’s are all just very good people, and I really need good people in my life right now.
“Thank you,” I say for what feels like the billionth time in the last seventy-two hours.
“Just speaking the truth, girl.” She grins then looks at Hope, who is laughing at something Jax said. “She’s really adorable, and seems to have already wrapped big, bad Jax Mayson around her tiny little finger,” she whispers, winking at me.