Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 48446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
I stared at her.
“I just… I need a break.” Her chin quivered. “I mean, I have the money. I could hire some stranger, but these are my kids, you know? I could run to my parents, or here to my brother, or even to my older brother and my sister-in-law if they weren’t going out of town for the holidays”—she was rambling—“though Rachel’s perfect and I’m not—but the fix would still end up being a stranger because they all work and my folks live too damn far away!”
“Mom, you’re not supposed to use that word.”
“I know, Tris.” She took a breath, clearly willing herself not to break down. She closed her eyes a moment, and when she opened them, they were red but there were no tears.
Jesus, what the hell was I supposed to do?
“Let me go make a call,” I said softly. “Because I gave my word to a friend, and I need to find out if I can delay my arrival there.”
She nodded quickly, and I turned to Cy.
“I already made it clear that when you’re here, whatever is mine is yours,” he said pointedly. “So please don’t ask me about using the phone.”
I smiled at him, then her, before bolting for the bedroom.
Once there, I fished my tiny address book—ancient and wrapped in rubber bands—from my backpack, then took a seat on Cy’s bed, picked up the phone, and called Aidan’s brother, Seth, in Alaska, who…was surprised to hear from a friend of his brother’s, and even more so that I was coming to work for him. Apparently, Seth had made no plans to hire me or anyone else, for that matter. December and January were his slow season. He thought there might be a job in the spring, on a friend’s fishing boat, but couldn’t say for certain. I thanked him for his time and hung up. Turned out, I’d crossed the country on a maybe instead of a for sure and could have kicked myself for taking Aidan at his word. The man had wanted to get into my pants, and that was all. I really was not that bright.
Putting the phone down, I saw a face peeking around the corner at me.
“I am so stupid, little man,” I told Pip.
“No, you’re not. Lizzie in my class, she’s stupid. She eats her boogers. You don’t do that. I’ve been watching.”
I smiled and stood up, and he reached me quickly, lifting his arms. Picking him up, I carried him with me back to the kitchen, and the second Pip and I stepped into the room, Lyn rushed over. Cy was right behind her, slipping in next to me, hand on the small of my back.
“It seems I’m needed more here, by this nice lady standing in front of me, than some guy in Alaska.” There was a lump in my throat suddenly as it occurred to me that every time I was around Cy, only good things happened.
“I don’t want to send my boys someplace I don’t know or leave them with someone I don’t trust. Please say yes, Weber.”
I turned to Cy.
“Don’t even look at me,” he grumbled. “For once you can’t accuse me of plotting. It’s not my fault her piece-of-crap hus—”
“Don’t,” I cut him off, scowling. “We do not speak ill of people’s parents, ever.”
He huffed out a breath, his hand sliding between my shoulder blades.
“Weber?”
I looked at Lyn.
“It’s only for two weeks, and then Tristan and Micah will both go back to school, and Pip’s preschool will reopen as well. I just need a temporary fix.”
“I wouldn’t feel right takin’ money from you for watchin’ your boys. It would be my pleasure to do so.”
“Yes, but it’s hard work.” She sighed. “It is. How does twenty-five hundred sound?”
“Like not enough.” Cy was indignant.
“That would be more than enough,” I told her. “And far too generous.”
“No,” she assured me. “Cy’s right. If you made twenty an hour and you have an eight-hour day, then—”
“How ’bout a thousand and I won’t feel quite so crappy takin’ you up on your kind offer.”
“Oh, Weber, a thousand is—”
“I’ll do it for that and not a penny more.”
She gasped. “Really?” Suddenly she was verging on tears, but they were the good kind. “You will? You’ll watch the boys for me?”
“Yes, ma’am, it would be my pleasure.”
“Ohmygod, thank you!”
I looked at Cy. His fingers, which had been tangling in the hair at my nape, had stilled as he held his breath. “Would that be all right if I stayed two weeks? Would you be okay with me bein’ here that long?”
He glared at me. “You have known for the past three years what I would really like, so don’t ask stupid questions when you’re already crystal clear on the answer.”
I gave Pip a squeeze and put him down, then told Cy, “Come here,” taking his hand and walking him through the great room to the glass doors. The first time I saw the giant wooden frames, I was confused. But you pushed on one side, and it angled open. When I turned to face him, I noted his smile. “Listen, I don’t know what you had planned, but that would put me here through Christmas, and I don’t want to cause any—”