Page 19 of Harts & Hurts

I grinned. “Aww, thanks.”

9

Griffin

Cameron Field, the former point guard for the multiple-championship-winning Chicago Bison, answered the door for us at his waterfront estate.

“What’s good, my G?” he asked as he clasped one of my hands in his while pulling me into a one-armed embrace with the other. “I’m fucked up for you behind losing your brother. I know it was an unexpected shock.”

“Thanks, dawg. I’m doing my best to thug this shit out, but it hurts like hell.” I spoke softly and close to his ear. Anistyn had her own grief. The last thing I wanted to do was put the weight of my mourning on her. “Meanwhile, this is my co-guardian, my teammate, and I guess my new best friend.” I placed my hand on Anistyn’s shoulder and brought her closer to the door. “Anistyn, this is Cameron. Cam, this is Anistyn.” I took the handle of Melrose’s car seat from her.

“Hey.” She gave him a wave and a smile.

“What’s up? It’s nice to meet you.”

“And this is our niece, Melrose.”

“Oh shit. She’s a little angel, huh?”

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was when he quickly unbuckled the straps of her car seat and had her in his arms before I could even blink. “We’re having lunch on the deck.” He reached behind Anistyn and closed the door. “Follow me.”

The two of us followed him through the great room.

“You seem really good with babies,” Anistyn commented.

Before Cameron could respond, I jumped in. “He ought to be. He and his wife have four.”

“Four?”

Cameron turned around to face us, giving Anistyn a boyish grin. “I’m good with babies.”

“Shut up,” I told him.

When we made it to the deck, Brooklyn Field, Cameron’s wife, was transferring dishes from a serving cart onto the outdoor table. There was already a dude I didn’t recognize sitting there.

Brooklyn’s eyes fell to her husband. “Ooh, who do we have here?” She approached him.

“This is Griff’s niece, Melrose.”

“I want to hold her.”

Cameron handed the baby over to his wife and moved to take over the task she had been doing. Once all the food was on the table, Cameron rolled the serving cart away and rejoined us. “Baby,” he addressed his wife, who danced around, cooing to Melrose in a sing-song voice. She looked over at him. “You know Griff. This is his sister-in-law, Anistyn.”

Brooklyn’s smile was for both Anistyn and me. “Hey, Griff.” She gave me a wave before approaching Anistyn. “Hey, girl. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Annistyn pointed at Melrose. “I hear you have four of these.”

Brooklyn threw her head back in laughter. “Girl, I do.”

“Dude won’t stay off of her,” the stranger commented.

Brooklyn rolled her eyes at him. “Rude. Such a hater.”

“Don’t worry about what me and my wife do,” Cameron said at the same time. “Griff, Anistyn, this is my cousin, Will. This is Griff.” Cameron jammed his thumb in my direction. “He works down at the network with me. And this is his sister-in-law, Anistyn.”

“What’s up?” I asked before taking a seat at the table.

He gave me an obligatory head nod.