“Okay, so, um…just to be clear, you know Lug?”Nadia asked.
Back to confused.
“Yes.I met him at The Link,” I answered.
“Jaeger?”Lillian asked.
I shrugged.“I haven’t met him, but I know Hutch knows him.He met him in town for a game of one-on-one the other night, and they went out for a drink.”
“Add Doc, Harry, Rus, maybe Bubbles, definitely Jace and Jesse, and occasionally Cade, and that’s Hutch’s bestest buds friend posse,” Lillian shared.
It was then it hit me.
“Oooooooooooooooooh,” I said.
“Yeah.Sorry, we’re here checking you out,” Nadia admitted.
I started laughing softly.“That’s okay.”
“Well, Lillian is here to check you out.I’m here to do that too, but also to possibly recruit you and Hutch as pinch-hit babysitters when Riggs’s mom or Kimmy are out of commission,” Nadia added.
“And me and Harry,” Lillian put in.
“And you and Harry,” Nadia agreed.
“And Cin and Rus and Cade and Delphine.Not to mention Celeste,” Lillian kept at her.
Nadia smiled and said, “Just you wait.Youthinka babysitter list will be a mile long, but it’ll seem super short when your mother-in-law is out of town, Kimmy is stapling Christmas lights to someone’s house and there’s a double bill ofSunset BoulevardandChinatownyou’re dying to see at the Misted Lake.”
Lillian’s lips turned up in a gentle way.“We have Ronnie and George right next door.”
“Oh.Right.With Ronetta around, when you have a baby, you might find yourself needing an appointment with her to see it,” Nadia joked.
Lillian laughed.
I peered down at the rosy-chubby-cheeked baby girl in her chunky, cable knit sweater, thermal leggings, baby hat with a big bow at the side, and fuzzy socks, and said, “I’m all in for babysitting.”
“I also thought you and Hutch could come over for dinner,” Nadia went on.“Maybe next week?”
I was about to tell her I’d like that, and I’d talk to Hutch, but she kept going like she had to convince me.
“He would never admit it, but I know he likes to be with Gia.He misses his kiddos when they fly the coup.”
I was sensing this the closer we got to tomorrow, and he’d have to say goodbye to his current round.
“I’ll ask him,” I promised.“He’s letting go all three of the dogs he has tomorrow.We’re heading out to pick up the next litter Saturday.But new doesn’t erase old.It might be good he has a distraction and the reminder that, when he places his dogs, they’re with people who care about them.”
“Yes,” Nadia agreed.“Should we trade phone numbers?”
“Absolutely.”
She and I did.Lillian and I did.
And Nadia left with two of Gemma’s candles, one of Melissa’s scarves, and the black cat sitting at the bottom of Cicely’s stroller that she crowed Riggs was going to hate.Lillian left with more sugar scrub, green tea mask and a nightlight that could only be plugged into one kind of room, so I had a feeling it gave something away, and I was happy for her and Harry.
After the bell over the door rang again to herald their departure this time (and another half-hearted, goodbye roo-roo from Tonks), I was bapping the POS tablet to close out the sales as Abigail approached.
“They were cool, right?”I asked her.
