He hadn’t yet stocked the fridge, so he ordered pizza for dinner. To keep it within his budget, he kept the order simple—one large cheese pizza and one large pepperoni pizza with a gallon of sweet tea on the side.
While he waited for dinner to be delivered, he did some unpacking in the master bedroom. His king-sized bed was put together, but it still needed to be made up. After putting sheets and a comforter over the mattress, he decided it was time to check on his sister. The longer he waited, the tougher their next conversation would be.
She picked up on the second ring. “How are my favorite nephews?” she demanded.
“Missing you.” The tremor in her voice filled him with concern. “We all are.”
“You can always distract them with ice cream.” Her chuckle held a sad note. “How’s the move going?”
“It’s going.” His voice was dry. “No issues with the drive here or the unloading part. As for everything else, it’s a long story. It might be best if you share an update on Belinda first.”
A snuffling sound met his ear that was suspiciously like a sob. “Not so great, I’m afraid.”
“The surgery?” he prodded.
“She made it through.” Jen drew a deep breath. “But they didn’t get all of the tumor. They couldn’t. Not without causing irreparable harm to her eyesight and goodness knows what else. She’ll have to undergo another surgery, followed by some radiation treatments. It’s going to be a long haul. That’s all I know right now.”
He could hear the question she’d left unspoken about her extended absence from him and the boys, so he rushed to offer some assurance. “I’m glad you can be there for her and Logan. I know it means a lot to them.”
Jen, Belinda, and Logan weren’t casual friends. They’d been a tight-knit trio since they were children. During their high school years, both Jen and Belinda had fallen madly in love with Logan, but they hadn’t let it come between them while Belinda dated Logan and eventually married him. It was a tough position for Jen to be in and probably had something to do with why she was still single. It was Owen’s best guess, at any rate.
“If you need me to, I can be there by the time you start work on Monday,” Jen offered in a piteous voice. “Just please understand I’ll need to remain on standby for Jen’s next procedure.”
That she was willing to do so much for him and the boys touched Owen deeply. “Nah, just stay where you are, sis. No need to run yourself ragged. As it turns out, I’ve found a temporary nanny.”
“What?” She half-laughed and half-gasped out the question. “You’ve been there all of one day without me. I never expected you to replace me so soon!”
“Nobody can replace you, and you know it,” he shot back. “That’s why I called it temporary.”
“Whatever,” she sputtered. “How did you find someone so quickly?”
He caught her up to speed with the complications surrounding the sale of Garrett Farm. “I don’t usually make snap decisions, but it felt right to offer Halle Garrett a job.” It still did.
When he finished telling his tale, his sister sighed, “Man, Owen! If anyone ever deserved to be behind bars, it sounds like the thug she was engaged to does. Now that you’re on the case, though, his remaining days as a free man are numbered.”
“Let’s hope so.” He appreciated her vote of confidence. The ring of the doorbell made his head swivel toward the door. “Sounds like our pizza just arrived. Gotta run!”
“Tell the boys I love ‘em and miss ‘em like crazy,” she begged.
“Consider it done.” He missed her, too. “Keep me posted about Belinda, will you?”
“I will.” She blew him a kiss and disconnected their call.
Owen paid the pizza delivery guy and carried the pizza and tea to the kitchen. His conversation with Jen had gone better than expected, which was a good thing. It was time to focus on being a dad again.
He said grace over the food and ate standing up at thebar. Across from him, Halle and his sons perched on the barstools. Naturally, the boys didn’t stay quiet for long. They were soon telling chicken jokes.
“What’s a chicken’s favorite vegetable?” Ryder could barely get the question out between giggle snorts.
Owen had no idea. “Corn on the cob?” As best as he could recall from various conversations with Jensen, chickens enjoyed eating corn, seeds, grass, and bugs.
“No,” his son chortled. “They like eggplant, Dad.Eggplant. Do you get it? ‘Cause it has the wordeggin it.”
“Yeah, I get it, kiddo.” Owen reached over to ruffle his hair. Ryder tried to duck away, but he wasn’t fast enough.
“My turn,” Cooper announced grandly. “How do chickens make their cakes?”
Owen made a comical face that drew a round of laughter from his sons. “I wasn’t aware chickens baked cakes.”
