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Avery walked by her and went into the kitchen, looking for Jacob. He wasn’t there. She went into his room. Not there either.
“Dumplin’ I’m starvin’, can you whip me up a fried bologna sandwich,” her mom called out from the couch.
Ignoring the lunch order, Avery walked back into the front room. “Where’s Jacob?”
“He’s off wanderin’.”
“Wandering?” Avery repeated.
“Explorin’.”
“Where?”
“The woods. The castle. I don’t know,” she shrugged as her knitting needles clicked together.
“Mom, I told you to keep an eye on him.”
Her mom waved her hand in the air. “You can’t keep an adventurous boy cooped up in here when there’s a castle next door. It’s like one big playground.”
“A playground that has a television show shooting in it,” Avery reminded her, not that she thought it would make any difference.
“He’s fine,” her mom stated and waved dismissively. “No one likes a helicopter mom.”
Avery sighed as she walked back out of the carriage house knowing that her lunchtime was not going to be spent enjoying leftovers, instead she’d have to find her son and explain to him that he wasn’t allowed to go exploring alone. Then, she was going to have to have a serious talk with her mom about the rules, which she hoped she’d follow, or Avery would have to hire someone while they were in town.
Her mom wasn’t a bad babysitter, and Avery trusted her with Jacob. She hadn’t worried when she’d flown across the country with him alone and taken him to Disneyworld. Her mom knew not to let him out of her sight when she was in public. It was just at home, which the castle technically was, she was a lot more lax than Avery was.
Blanche Bardot was just brought up in a different time. A time when you sent kids out in the morning and told them to come back when the streetlights went on. Which Avery knew because she’d lived the first ten years of her life with her Gammy and that’s how she’d raised her.
“Jacob!” Avery called out as she walked through the wooded area that surrounded the carriage house. “Jacob!”
When she didn’t get any answer, she figured he might have gone into the castle. He’d been upset they weren’t staying in it because he wanted to sleep in a real-life castle. She’d tried to explain to him why they couldn’t, because there was a television show being made there. But he pointed out there were plenty of rooms.
Which there were. But she didn’t want to be in the way. Or run into Keaton. Actually, that was a lie. She did want to run into him, just not when she’d first woken up before she’d had coffee.
She was headed to the employee entrance off the back kitchen when she heard a familiar giggle.
“Jacob!” she called out as she rounded the corner.
“Hi, Mama!” he shouted a second before he karate-chopped a man who reminded her of Tarzan in the stomach. The guy pretended it injured him and fell on the ground. That’s when she saw Keaton. He was seated on one of the retaining walls on the other side of the courtyard.
“Mr. Keaton and Mr. Vic are teaching me to fight!” Jacob explained as he kicked and punched the air.
“Vic is teaching him to fight. I was just refereeing,” Keaton explained as he stood.
“Hi, I’m Vic.” Vic saluted her from the ground.
“Hi Vic, I’m Avery,” she introduced herself as Keaton crossed the courtyard.
Each step that he took toward her caused her mouth to water more, and her heart rate to double in speed. By the time he stopped in front of her, her mouth was Niagara Falls and her pulse was racing faster than Usain Bolt.
Keaton lowered his head and spoke quietly, “We found him wandering around. I asked him where you were, and he said working so I figured I’d keep an eye on him.”
That statement acted as a one-way ticket to Swoonville.
Jude was Jacob’s father and if he’d seen him wandering around the castle, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But Keaton, someone who’d only met him once, made sure that he was taken care of.
“Thanks,” Avery said in a breathless whisper. “Sorry, my mom is supposed to be watching him.”
