Page 12 of Harts & Hurts

She started to say something, seemed to think better of it, paused, and finally spoke. “Something like that. Let’s just say that, with my degree in Fine Art, I’m pretty sure I can get your house to where you want it.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay. If you feel confident you can handle it, I’ll hire you. You have a price point in mind?”

“Nah, I’ll need to see the space first.” She clapped her hands together. “Moving on.”

Anistyn’s ass is efficient if she’s nothing else, I thought to myself.

“This is good. I was low-key worried about how I would make money on Jackson Island. I have a job.” She seemed to check that off the invisible list in her head. “The newborn care specialist arrives on Monday evening, just in time to show us how to bathe Melrose.” She glanced over at me. “Unless the lesson with your mother went better for you than the lesson with my mother went for me.”

“It didn’t,” I assured her.

She chuckled. “I don’t know what my mother was doing. I was trying to take notes, and she was getting her out of the tub. I was like, ‘Wait. How much baby shower gel did you use? How hard did you rub?’ Meanwhile, she just stared at me like I was crazy. Talking about, you just wash her, Anistyn, the same way you wash yourself.” She huffed. “I wanted to tell her, not the same way I wash myself because I haven’t been shitting in a diaper all day long.”

“No way you were gonna pop your shit with your mom,” I joked with a laugh.

She eyed me with a smirk. “Like I said, I wanted to tell her that. I wasn’t trying to get my lips popped at my big age. I don’t know how you Harts are living, but those Melrose women are strict.”

“They’re the same. Anyway, at least your moms actually let you be in the bathroom while she gave the bath. My old girl was like, ‘go sit down somewhere, Griffin. You’re making me nervous.’” I mimicked my mother.

She fell back on the sofa. “I feel so bad for our little niecy pooh.” She sat up and gently caressed Melrose’s cheek as the baby sucked away on her bottle. “I feel like I’m never going to know what I’m doing. She’ll be in middle school before I figure out what I’m doing.”

“No negativity, teammate. We’re both college-educated, fully functioning adults. Teenagers have kids and figure it out. We’ll figure it out. And the newborn care specialist’ll be there to help. She won’t be like our mothers. Shit, for what I’m paying her, she better treat us like we’re remedial and go as slowly as we need her to go.”

Anistyn laughed. “It’s funny because I am remedial.”

That made me laugh.

6

Anistyn

The moving truck from Ashlynn and Fisher’s home in Virginia was in the driveway of the main house when Griffin, Melrose, and I arrived on the property the next day. Griffin stopped the truck briefly and told the driver to follow him. I knew the mid-sized truck carried Melrose’s nursery furniture inside. We pulled up to the guesthouse. I had to remind myself to close my mouth because my jaw threatened to fall open. The edifice of the house was so cute and charming that I couldn’t wait to see the inside. The cream-colored siding, the dark metal roof, the large, black-framed windows, and the solid wood front door all conspired to very much give cozy cottage.

I stayed seated while Griffin parked my truck, jumped out, and directed the driver of the moving truck on what should happen. I turned in my seat to look back at Melrose. She was sound asleep in her car seat. I smiled at my niece, even as I choked back the tears that formed in my eyes.

Her entire life had been turned upside down. All of our entire lives had been turned upside down. My sister and best friend was no longer on Earth. I missed her already. Even though we didn’t see each other every day, I missed our phone calls and text conversations. I missed knowing that I could call her and ask her the best way to take care of her daughter.

“She’s the sweetest baby ever, Ash,” I whispered into the silence of the truck. “Help me. Help me to do right by her. She deserves so much more than me, Ash. She deserves you.” I sucked up my sniffles just as Griffin opened the driver’s door and peeked into the cabin.

His eyes moved over my face before he spoke, and I noticed his eyes narrow. “You good?”

I gave him a small smile. “I’m good. I’m just missing Melrose’s mother right now. She should be raising her, not having to watch from Heaven as her little sister stumbles through everything.”

His face went soft, and he nodded with understanding. “Felt. Fisher most definitely would have done a better job than I ever could.” He huffed out a sigh. “But we’re who she has, and we gon’ lock in and make shit shake.”

I offered him a shaky grin. “It’s fourth and goal.”

He laughed aloud. “What you said.”

I unlocked my door, exited the truck, and moved to the back door to unbuckle Melrose from her car seat. When I had her in my arms, she snuggled against my shoulder, and that move made both my heart and my ovaries quake. She was such a sweet baby.

“Come on.” He beckoned me with his hand. “Let me show you around before they get to unloading the nursery furniture.

I followed him toward the house. From the front door, we stepped directly into the living room, and we were facing the kitchen. “The living room and the kitchen,” he said, gesturing toward the open-concept space with his hand. We kept walking. Just past the sofa was a hallway, and we made a quick right-hand turn. He pointed to the door on the left side of the hallway. “That’s a full bathroom. There are three bathrooms in this house—one in each bedroom and one right here. The other two have stand-up showers. This is the only bathroom with a tub.”

I nodded.

“Here on the right is the secondary bedroom.”