I liked that.
It was only the first day, and I already felt like I was getting my money’s worth. After all, the monthly cost wasn’t pocket change—but I would get a lot of one-on-one time in exchange. Starting tomorrow. Ethan was coming with me to buy groceries and put together a meal plan.
On average, I’d get about ten minutes with him every day, via text, and then two workout sessions each week. I’d settled for Mondays and Fridays to surround my weekend with someone who could tell me no.
That’d been one of his questions, if I had a husband or partner or other family member around to help me, and I had confirmed I was on my own.
My homework till tomorrow was to throw out all sugar, which I’d already done.
It was a sad day.
After dumping all the pamphlets on my kitchen counter, I went to grab my laptop and?—
Crap. My phone rang. I checked the number, only to see Gray’s name on the display, and that made everything great again.
“Hey, you!” I answered.
“Hey! If it isn’t my favorite aunt in the whole world.”
I laughed and continued into my office. “Okay, what do you want?”
He chuckled, and it sounded forced. “I’m really sorry to call about this, but is there any chance you could pick up Justin from day care? They just called, and he’s got a fever?—”
“Say no more—of course I’ll pick him up.” I changed direction and headed for the hallway. “Do you want me to watch him till you get off work?”
He worked with Chloe at the inn when he wasn’t studying field medicine for SAR missions, of all things.
“Thank you,” Gray replied, the relief evident. “No need to watch him, just drive him over to the inn. He gets fussy when he’s sick, so I don’t think he’ll accept anyone’s company but mine and Dare’s.”
That made sense. Chloe had told me the boy was sensitive to certain things—and that he might be autistic or something like that. They’d decided he was too young to go through a screening.
“No problem,” I said, grabbing my car keys. “Let the day care know I’m on my way.”
“I owe you, Aunt Nat. Thank you!”
Heck, this was one of the reasons I’d moved here. I wanted to be closer to family.
“Do I pick up a car seat at the inn or at Darius’s restaurant?” I asked.
“Oh no, he has one at day care,” Gray said. “He’s got two grandmothers with sticky fingers, so we’re always prepared.”
I grinned, and I heard Chloe defending her innocent baby-snatchings in the background.
My rescue operation was uneventful and successful, and less than forty minutes later, I pulled into the guest parking outside the inn with a sniffling four-year-old. This place was freaking gorgeous. A large, three-story Victorian with a wraparound porch and perfectly maintained flower beds and fruit trees. The house sat at the end of a cul-de-sac and had nothing but tree-covered mountains as a backdrop.
“We’re here, sweetie. You ready to see Daddy Gray and Nana?” I got out of the car and opened the back to let Justin out.
He was nonverbal when he was alone with me, but he was evidently comfortable enough around me to extend his arms, a silent request for me to carry him. And that was how he made my day. Sweet darling. No wonder Chloe couldn’t stop gushing about the boys.
I unfastened his belt and picked him up, then earned myself a soft giggle when I hurried along the path toward the house. The rain was picking up.
Gray must’ve been keeping an eye out from inside, because he came out just as I climbed the porch steps.
Even though I’d seen him plenty since I’d moved up here, it was so difficult to comprehend how much he’d matured. How tall he was, how adult he looked—heck, he was growing a beard! My hockey-playing goof of a nephew was simply gone.
“Hey, you two.” He smiled warmly at the sight of us, and Justin whipped around in my arms and immediately reached out to him.
“Daddy!”
