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“Harlan is watching her for a few hours for me.”
“Harlan is watching a baby?” Cassie asks, her tone odd.
“Yeah.” I draw the word out. “Otherwise, I would have had to bring her, and I didn’t want her to be a distraction.”
“Harlan’s the oldest of his siblings, Cass, he knows how to handle himself with kids seeing as he was about six when Boone — the youngest — was born.”
“I know that. I just … it’s just hard to picture him babysitting an infant.” Cass’s gaze goes contemplative. She laughs. “Can you imagine him changing a diaper?”
I smile and offer, “Rhett and Jedd struggled to get her in her diaper when I was in the hospital. I don’t think Harlan’s had to change one yet.”
“I don’t doubt that with those two. But Harlan changing a diaper paints a funny picture.”
“He’s actually really good with her,” I say.
Dawn smirks at me. “I just bet he is. Next time bring her along. I haven’t gotten good baby cuddles in a while, and I wouldn’t mind watching her when we meet.”
Next time.
The offer hits me somewhere between my chest bone and my diaphragm.
Will I even be here for another meeting, or will I be someplace else, where no one knows me and I’m alone again?
“I’d like that,” I say, hiding my inner turmoil on my own thoughts.
The meeting dies down, and after helping Jem to clean up, I pack my laptop and supplies.
“Girl. You killed it. I’m so happy for you.” Jem grabs my hands and hops around for a few minutes.
“Thanks. I had a lot of fun. I thought...”
“That it’s stuffy and boring because it’s all business based? Nah. We like to chat and catch up on each other’s lives and businesses.”
Jem’s phone buzzes in her pocket, and she pulls it out before chuckling.
“Girl. You need to get home.”
Panic at whatever message she just got makes me pull my own phone out of my pocket. “What? What happened?” I ask when I don’t see any messages or missed calls.
Jem giggles and tucks her phone back away. “It’s nothing serious or even bad. They’re all fine. Boone just sent me an update I don’t think you’re going to want to miss.”
I grab my bag and say bye to Jem before booking it to the car and driving back to Harlan’s place.
What the hell are they doing that would be that funny? Audra’s usually asleep by now, so it can’t be about her, right?
I pull into Harlan’s driveway and leave my laptop in the car as I climb the front porch steps.
The door eases open when I turn the handle and the reason for Jem’s laughter hits me right in the face as I poke my head around the alcove that leads to the front door.
There are six bearded burly men, on all fours in various stages of coaching and cheering my daughter — who’s also on all fours — into crawling.
The six of them circle her, her baby blanket spread out on the living room floor, with her in the middle of it. Harlan — or one of his brothers — must have pushed the coffee table off to the side since it’s against the fireplace.
“You’ve got this, Audra. You can do it.” Finch holds out a rice puff in front of her face, trying to entice her into moving to grab it.
“Get out of the way, who wants to crawl toward your ugly mug?” Rhett says, shoving against Duke’s shoulder.
“The food is her motivation, not me, dumbass.”
