The McEllis Boys

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four

"Cavanaugh! Cav, come look at this!" Bethany exclaimed as she came running down the stairs early Monday morning.

Cavanaugh jumped up from the couch, hand going to the gun on his hip, ready for a fight, and Nicole laughed lightly as she came out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee and laid a gentle hand on his arm, "Calm down, cowboy." she said gently.

Cavanaugh relaxed and rubbed at his thigh, which was still killing him from two nights ago when he had overdone himself trying to prove he was still young and tough. Instead he had proven that he was not only old and broken down but had a whole bucket load of stupid foolish pride to go with it.

It had been worth it though. Nicole had made sure to rub out all the kinks in that leg that night just as soon as they were alone together in that big old bed of hers. Cavanaugh couldn't help but smile at the memory as he sat back down on the couch and pulled Nicole down with him, careful to keep from spilling the coffee she was holding.

"What is it, Bethany?" Cavanaugh asked the girl as she came into the living room with what she had called an iPad. Cavanaugh noticed that Andrew was right behind her. He thought about warning the boy not to follow Bethany around like a puppy dog but since the girl didn't seem to mind it, Cavanaugh figured it wasn't any of his business. He kissed Nicole's jaw and held her a little tighter.

"People are all over Twitter about you! You should see some of these women's tweets!" Bethany exclaimed with a smile.

Cavanaugh was sure he flushed red, before clearing his throat awkwardly and taking a big gulp of his coffee. The hot liquid scolded his mouth and throat as it worked it's way down to his stomach, "Huh?" he managed to gasp through the pain as he felt his eyes water. "I'm not sure I want to see that."

Bethany looked confused, Andrew was grinning like a fool and Nicole burst into laughter. Cavanaugh normally didn't like people to laugh at him but Nicole's laugh was nice. Still it rattled him a little, "What are you laughing about?" he demanded with a frown.

"You," she replied with a gasp as she struggled to compose herself and put on a serious face. "What exactly do you think Twitter and Tweets are, cowboy?"

Images of naked women flashed through Cavanaugh's mind and he quickly pushed them away as he grinned behind his coffee cup, "Why don't you tell me what they are and then I'll tell you if that's what I was thinking?" he asked.

Nicole and Bethany both laughed as they struggled to explain social networking to him. Cavanaugh felt his head beginning to hurt and he didn't understand it any better than he did before. Though he realized that Twitter was a webpage where people shared their thoughts or something like that, and a Tweet was what they said.

He took a slow, long drink of his coffee and then shook his head and grinned, "Nope, that's not what I was thinking."

Nicole looked up at his crinkled smile and sparkling blue eyes and marveled at how much the man had changed since she'd met him. Gone were the sad eyes that had made her heart hurt every time she had looked at him. Cavanaugh looked happy. He was happy. Nicole was both humbled and pleased to know that she was responsible for the change in him.

"You have several marriage proposals and more than several one night stand proposals," Bethany informed him as Andrew's arms snaked around her waist and his chin rested on her shoulder.

"I'm not interested in either," Cavanaugh stated with a shrug.

Nicole snuggled into is embrace for several more moments and then glanced at the clock as Leslie came into the living room dressed in her scrubs, "I have to go to work," Nicole groaned.