Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
I bite into my lip and look away, pulling in a deep breath. “Um…” Do I?
“Yo!” is shouted, and we both look left to find a few guys from the team waiting at the edge of the building with their bags hung over their shoulders.
“Fuck. I forgot I told some of the guys I’d step in to spot for the afternoon session.”
“If you keep adding a random third workout to your day, you’re going to reach Hulk status.”
He makes a show of flexing his muscles, moving from one pose to the next.
“Yeah, yeah.” I roll my eyes with a grin. “You’re enormous. Perfect. Zero percent body fat.”
Brady sticks his tongue between his teeth and winks, jogging off with a laugh when I shove at his shoulder.
I head inside through the employee and student entrance, smiling at Granny Grace behind the counter.
“Morning.” I move toward the lockers in the left corner.
Granny Grace shakes her head with a grin. “Honey, it’s eleven thirty.”
“And I’d likely still be in bed if it were up to me.” I grin, swiftly putting my things away and tying up my hair as I walk around the back counter. “How many we got this morning?”
“Afternoon, and twelve right now, but we have three pickups in the next hour and five drop-offs a bit after that.”
I sigh happily, washing my hands and nudging the swinging door with my butt. “Well, I better get in there. See you in three hours!”
Granny Grace waves without looking my way, and I smile as I move into the main care room. I hope I’m still smiles and kind eyes fifty years from now.
“Hey, Junie!” I call when I spot her.
“Hello, trouble.”
“Trouble? Me?” I tease, spotting my favorite little guy—not that I can say that out loud, not that it’s a secret. I swoop Deaton up before he has a chance to turn around, giving him a little wiggle. “Never, huh, Little D?” I kiss his chubby cheeks, turning him in my arms, and he wraps his hands around my neck, squeezing.
“Calmy!” he squeals in his little baby voice, his attempt at saying Cammie the cutest thing ever. The nickname is adorable, and the others have started to use it more and more because of it. “I’ve ball!” He lifts the little football in his hands, patting it softly against my chest.
“Yeah, you do!” I beam, kissing his cheeks one more time before setting him back down where he was standing. I look up at Junie as she comes over, making crazy baby faces at little Bella, the new one-year-old who joined us this semester.
“Look who is here early.”
I wiggle my fingers, and Bella reaches out, leaning into my hands. I take her from Junie, bouncing her softly as I sing my words for my boss slash professor, “Anything specific you need from me to start?”
“If you want to take over here, help them wash their hands, I’ll get the lunch table ready. Ashley and Melanie are with the infants, so it’s just me and you with these five until the others come in. By the way, we’ve got some new girls starting here pretty soon. Just waiting on their papers to be signed and sent over from the director’s office. You and Ash are my only third-years, so they’ll take turns shadowing you.”
“Sounds good. Just let me know if I need to change any times or anything.”
“Yep.” She waves me off, and I move over to the little washing station and toss a towel down, lowering onto my knees and setting Bella on my lap.
“It’s time to wash the baby, wash, wash the baby…” I start to sing as I turn on the warm water, and of course, Deaton is the first to run over, his two little buddies right on his heels.
Playing with all the little ones make the hours go by in a flash. Before I know it, Payton is here for pickup, letting me know I went a little over my three-hour mark.
She beams at me as I step into the pickup area, Deaton’s hand in mine. She bends, her camera bag weighing her down further, and opens her arm for her baby boy, who doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into her chest. She laughs lightly, burying her face in his neck.
“Time for home?” He pats her cheeks.
“Yeah, time for home.” She kisses his cheek, looking back to me. “You coming?”
“Go ahead. I still need to sign out and grab my things.”
“K. Mason is picking him up the next couple days, but I’m sure I’ll talk to you in between.”
“Sounds good.” I wave at Deaton, but he’s already dragging his mama out the door.
Smiling, I make quick work of saying bye to everyone and grabbing my things, skipping out the back door again as I leave.
I pull my phone from my bag, texting Ari, but before I can hit Send, I slam into a wall with an oomph. Sturdy hands close around my biceps, and I look up into a pair of green eyes. “Alister.”