Now, suddenly, he was a twenty-seven-year-old in charge of two kids under four. His new late-night sessions were now less the acoustic country-rock variety while beautiful girls vied for his attention, and more the lullaby variety, which included wails of frustration instead of screams of delight. Overzealous fans had been swapped for two enamored tiny people, and nap schedules had replaced his spontaneity.
He’d changed more diapers in the past three days than he had the past three years combined. On the plus side, he was getting pretty good at it—he hadn’t been peed on in twenty-four hours.
Somehow, he’d managed to juggle it all since he’d arrived in Havenbrook along with the rising sun, knowing, for the first time, his sister wouldn’t be there to greet him with a hug and a smile. Thankfully, he’d had help from the Havens, his second family. Rory had been a godsend, stepping in and taking charge in her Rory way, exactly how he desperately needed, considering he had no idea what he was doing.
It was late afternoon, and Owen refused to nap. Which meant the only thing his nephew was interested in doing was crying. June, on the other hand, was bouncing off the walls, though that was probably his fault. He was still learning the unspoken rules of child supervision. Namely, being the cool uncle who gave his niece ice cream for lunch had extremely short-lived benefits.
“Let’s play circus, Uncle Asher!” June cried, bouncing from couch cushion to couch cushion before taking a flying leap and hanging from his back like a spider monkey. The move jostled him, and thus jostled Owen in his arms, which only ratcheted up the baby’s cries.
He held Owen tighter, bouncing the little guy in an effort to be soothing. Quite the feat with an acrobatic four-year-old doing everything in her power to turn this house into an actual circus. “Believe me, Junebug, there is nothing I’d rather do than play with you, but your brother isn’t gonna like that much.”
She scrunched up her nose as she leaned over Asher’s shoulder and stared down at her little brother. “It doesn’t sound like he’s gonna likeanything.”
Asher smothered a laugh. “You’re not wrong.”
“Take me on a ride, then, like Daddy does!”
Just like it’d done at every mention of his sister or brother-in-law, his heart clenched, an empty ache radiating throughout his chest. And just like at every mention, he did exactly what June asked for. What else could he do?
“Okay, hang on tight.”
She squealed in response to his command, tightening her grip until he was damn near asphyxiated. No one could accuse her of half-assing anything.
As he stood, he kept up Owen’s steady bounce, even with June hanging off his back, her legs hooked around his waist as she squealed in giddy delight. She might actually be the one to blow out his eardrums—and that was saying something, considering the number of shows he’d played.
He cradled Owen with one arm as he spun to June’s symphony of excitement, his forearm braced below her bottom to make sure she didn’t slip down.
“More, Uncle Asher! More!” she demanded.
But if Asher did this anymore, he was going to puke. And, considering June’s lunch, he probably wouldn’t be the only one.
Just as he slowed his spins, the doorbell rang, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. At least now he had an actual excuse to stop. He paused for a couple seconds, just long enough to gain his balance. It seemed it was just long enough, too, for Owen’s cries to start back up, his wails ricocheting off the walls.
June wasn’t bothered by it, however, and just spoke louder so as to be heard over the commotion. “Do it again, Uncle Asher!”
“In a minute. We’ve gotta see who’s at the door.”
Every time the doorbell rang—which, in a town like Havenbrook, following the untimely deaths of two of their younger and beloved residents, meant it was fairly often. The freezer, at least, was stocked with enough casseroles to last them a month—he thought it might finally be Nat. Seeing as she was supposed to arrive yesterday but had been held up in Buenos Aires, he’d given up hope of that after her fifth text to update him on yet another delay.
Nash was on call to pick her up at the Memphis airport whenever she arrived, taking one thing off Asher’s extremely full plate. He’d assumed they’d keep him up-to-date as to her whereabouts.
But when he opened the door, there she stood, her appraising blue eyes roving over him, her full lips tipped up in that way that made her seem like she was perpetually amused. Her hair was the closest to her natural shade that he’d seen in more than five years—dark chestnut on the top, with the ends a bright, vibrant teal.
He couldn’t explain it, but seeing her had everything inside him shifting. Settling. As if he knew that her being there meant everything was going to be okay. After three days of uncertainty and turmoil, it was like a balm to his soul.
Nash’s honk pulled him out of his thoughts. His friend waved from his truck before pulling out of the driveway, and Asher could only manage a chin lift in response since his hands were full of sixty pounds of pissed-off and/or hyper children.
“He’s already late for a meeting, thanks to my delays, but he said he’ll stop by later.” Nat glanced to Owen, who was still screaming, his face a mottled red, and then to June as she clung from Asher’s neck. “Sounds like maybe you need some help.”
“Nat!” June yelled, releasing her grip on Asher to throw her arms wide.
Asher’s muscles tightened as he compensated for June’s lack of leverage, holding her up with his forearm. “Gotta hang on, Junebug, or you’re gonna be flattened on the ground like a real june bug.”
She giggled and threw her arms back around Asher’s neck, though she miscalculated and accidentally thumped Owen in the head. His screams only intensified.
“I’m sorry, Bubbie,” June said over Asher’s shoulder as she peered down at a wailing Owen and rubbed a hand over the baby’s downy soft thatch of hair. “I didn’t mean to, promise!”
Without missing a beat, Nat stepped into the house, dropped her bags next to the front door, and scooped a contrite June off Asher’s back. To him, she said, “You’ve got the screamer.”
