by K. C. Crowne
I could feel the animosity rolling off Grace in waves. It was obvious that she’d been a little nervous at first, but now that the excitement of arriving had worn off, it was clear that she was still pissed.
I’d thought I’d made some major progress with the wine joke. So much for banter.
Carly popped open one of the bottles as we took our seats at the kitchen bar. Ryan was on cooking duty, the scent of the Spanish-style fish stew he was preparing filling the house with warm, delicious scents.
Chiming giggles burst into the room. The girls were gleefully wandering around the kitchen, the two of them laughing like adorable little maniacs as they bumped into the walls, adult legs, and one another. Now that both were walking, they loved to practice and try new moves, testing out what their chubby little legs were capable of.
Carly grinned as she pushed my glass of red over to me. I took a sip, the wine hitting me just right. “Maybe you should consider covering the place in bubble wrap,” I said.
That got a laugh out of Ryan and Carly, but Grace’s expression was still as a stone. I knew I was going to have to put in some serious work if I was going to get through to her.
A thunk sounded out, caused by the two girls bumping into each other again. I turned to see both laughing like wild, swatting out their little arms at one another before turning in opposite directions and making their way around the room.
“So, how’s work, Hayden?” Ryan asked as he glanced over his shoulder for a moment before turning his attention back to the stew.
“Oh, the usual – gummed-up arteries, pacemakers on the fritz, valves in need of replacing. But it’s all good. I’m staying busy and helping people out.”
“That’s what it’s all about, eh?” Ryan asked.
“Sure is. And what about you two?”
“Ryan’s still working between the three clinics,” Carly replied. “And I’m slowly but surely moving up to principal.”
“Gosh, that’s so amazing,” Grace gushed. “You think you’re going to get it?”
“Once Mrs. Reynolds retires, she’s a shoe-in,” Ryan said with a smile.
“Now, don’t jinx it,” Carly warned. “It’s far from a done deal.”
“Aw, come on,” Ryan said with a wink over his shoulder. “There’s no way they could overlook the performance you’ve been putting in and go with someone else.”
“Well, maybe,” Carly admitted. “But you never know.”
“And how about you, Grace?” I asked. “How are things at the fat-melting factory? You tighten and tone any butts these days?” I knew I was making a big risk joking around with her like that, but I couldn’t help it. Something about Grace had always brought out the smart-ass in me.
“You mean the gym where I work?” she asked. “Oh, not bad. I’ve come up with a new strategy – I tell them that if they let their health decline too much, they might end up having to see this total jackass of a cardiologist in town. That usually scares them straight.”
“Oh, if you’re taking money out of my pocket, I think that means you owe me a dinner or two.”
Grace scoffed and rolled her eyes. I glanced over at Ryan and Carly, who were sharing a pointed look with one another.
I took a sip of my wine, and before the conversation could go any further, Ryan’s phone buzzed on the kitchen counter. He reached over and picked it up, his eyes flashing as he looked at the screen.
“Shoot,” he said. “It’s Duncan.”
“Duncan?” I asked. “As in Dr. Duncan Pitt?”
“That’s the one,” he said. “And he never calls during dinner – this must be important.”
He put the steel lid back onto the stock pot and dusted his hands on the towel tucked into his apron strings. As he started off with the phone he froze, as if something had occurred to him.
“Hey, hon?” he asked. “You mind coming up with me to the bedroom? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about really quickly.”
Carly took a sip of her water before getting up. “Yeah, sure. Something wrong?”
“Just wanted to talk about the, uh, thing. You know?”
Carly nodded as if totally understanding what he was getting at. “Give me a few minutes though. You know this fat pregnant girl doesn’t move as quickly these days!”
“’Talking about the thing’?” I asked with a smirk. “That’s got to be the worst code for ‘meet me upstairs for a quickie’ I’ve ever heard.”
Carly laughed as she got up, Ryan giving me a grin and a playful shove.
“Can you guys do me a favor and get the girls into their highchairs for dinner?” Carly asked. “Thanks!”
With that, the two of them disappeared around the corner.
“Let’s get these girls strapped in,” I said. “Before they upset the structural integrity of the house.”
Grace said nothing, instead hopping out of her chair and heading over to Rose. She dropped into a squat and reached her arms out, Rose giggling and laughing as she hoisted her up.
“Aw, aren’t you the cutest?” Grace asked in a sing-song baby voice. “Well, you and your sister, of course!”
I helped with Lily; the two girls soon strapped into their highchairs. But as soon as they were in, the association that highchairs meant food must’ve kicked in, because the shouting and banging on the little surface in front of them started right away.
“Hungry!” Rose exclaimed as she pounded her little fists on the tray.
“Alright,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and regarding the little ones. “I’m going to guess that Ryan and Carly weren’t planning on feeding the girls fish stew for dinner.”
Grace sighed. “Why didn’t they tell us how to handle this before they rushed out of here? They had to have known that they were going to want to eat.”
By this point the girls were in unison, both banging on the highchair trays and saying “hun-gry, hun-gry!” over and over. I glanced over my shoulder, no sign of Ryan and Carly.
“Should we go get them?” she asked.
“No way. They’re just a couple of kids who want something to eat.” I placed my hand on my chin, trying to figure out how to handle this. “OK, so they need something to eat, but it’s not time for dinner yet.”
“A snack,” Carly said. “Probably not a good idea to stuff them if Ryan and Carly are planning on giving them dinner.”
A thought occurred to me – just ask the girls what they wanted.
“Alright, ladies,” I said, turning to the twins, the two girls both wearing big, adorable smiles. “Are we hun-gry?”
The girls nodded.
“Well, what do we want?”
“Go-fish!” shouted Lily.
“Go-fish?” asked Grace. “What’s a ‘go-fish’?”
I knew right away what the answer was.
“Here’s the deal,” I said. “You keep them occupied for a few minutes, and I’ll get the snack ready.”
“Huh?” she asked. “How do you even know what they want?”
“Because” I said as I zipped over to the pantry and threw open the door. “I don’t know much about kids, but I know they like eating.” I found what I was looking for, taking out the big carton of Goldfish crackers.
“Ohhh,” said Grace with a smile. “Goldfish.”
“Right. Now, get the girls distracted for a moment so they don’t blow out our eardrums while I’m getting this ready.”
“OK, here’s the thing – I don’t know the first thing about handling kids.”
“What? I’ve seen you with them a million times before. You’re awesome with the girls.”
“Yeah, but that’s different. That’s me goofing around with them for a few minutes, being goofy Aunt Gracie, before I pass them back to Ryan and Carly.”
By this point the noises the girls were making were difficult to speak over. They yelled, pounded their little fists on the highchair surfaces, and seemed on the verge of blowing a gasket.
“That’s all you need to do no
w. Like, what’s something fun you do with them?”
“Well, it’s kind of corny, but I love to do the ‘got your nose’ thing. The girls go crazy over it every time.”
“Then there you go. Corny or not – whatever gets the job done.”
Grace nodded, then hurried over to the girls. I opened the cupboard and took two small, plastic cups out that looked perfect for kid snacks. Those in hand, I poured some Goldfish crackers into the cups.
“I got it!” Grace said, the girls laughing like mad as she did the trick. “I got it!”
Sure enough, cranky commotion had turned to laughter. By the time I slipped in there and placed the two cups of goldfish crackers in front of the girls, they were totally content. Their eyes lit up at the snacks, and they didn’t waste any time digging in, happily popping one cracker into their mouths after another.
Grace and I sighed in unison, both of us sharing a look that we were glad that the crisis had been averted. For a second there, I’d managed to forget that we had the incident to worry about.
“That was good,” I said. “We make a halfway decent team.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Then again, it doesn’t take Dr. Spock to come up with putting food in front of a screaming kid.” She followed this up with a slight smirk.
“Hey, half the time a kid’s upset it’s because they’re hungry. No need to do anything fancy. And besides, you’re not exactly one to complain about creativity, Ms. Got Your Nose.”
“I said it was corny!”
I reached forward, bringing my hand closer and closer to her face. Her eyes focused on my hand, and when I was close, I yanked my hand back, my thumb sticking out between my index and middle finger.
“Got your nose!” I teased. “I got it!”
The girls, noticing what was going on, started laughing.
“Real cute,” she said.
“Speaking of cute,” I muttered, glancing down at my thumb as if I were giving it a closer inspection. “This is pretty cute. I mean, I’d be lying if I were to say you didn’t have a nice nose.”
“Is that why you couldn’t resist putting your hands all over me the other night at the wedding?”
Her eyes flashed, her fingers shooting to her mouth.
No doubt she hadn’t intended to say that.
Before I had a chance to offer any word in response, however, Ryan and Carly came back downstairs.
“Well, look at that,” Ryan said, stepping over to the girls and mussing Lily’s hair as she was in the middle of chewing her crackers. “You got them to calm down.”
“Yeah,” Carly agreed with a smile. “You were right, hon – they did it.”
Grace and I shared a confused look.
“Wait, what?” I asked. “How did you know what was happening? Did you hear them or something?”
“Nope,” Ryan said. “Saw you from that thing right there.” He nodded backward, drawing my attention to a small security camera in the corner of the ceiling.
“Hold on a second,” Grace said as Ryan stepped over to check on the stew. “You did that on purpose?”
“Time to come clean,” Carly began, “About why we invited you both over here tonight.”
“We invited you both over here because we wanted to see you,” Ryan added. “But there was another reason.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said. “Because I’m ten different flavors of confused right about now.”
Carly cleared her throat. “Well, we had a little something come up with the girls and the honeymoon.”
“You had a little something come up with the girls?” I asked. “Why do I get the impression that it’s likely not a little something?”
Ryan and Carly shared a look, one that seemed to say, “no sense in putting it off – let’s get into it.”
“When we’d planned the honeymoon months back,” Ryan started, “We knew Mum and Dad would be back in New Zealand visiting Auntie Rue. So, we’d discussed the matter with Nancy, our usual nanny during the day. Together we’d worked out an arrangement where she would stay here with the girls…”
He trailed off, and Carly was right there to finish.
“So, everything looked in order. Nancy would stay here with the girls, and we’d be able to go on our honeymoon. But a few days ago, Nancy called us to let us know that her mother had a stroke.”
“That’s terrible,” I said. “Is she alright?”
“She’s okay,” Ryan said. “They’re already planning on releasing her from the hospital. But she’s going to need some care during her recovery. And that means she’s going to be staying at Nancy’s place.”
I was beginning to see where this was going. But I kept my mouth shut, as if not wanting to make it real by saying the words.
Carly went on. “Nancy can still watch the kids here during the day – she said her sister works nights, so her sister will be able to look after their mom in the daytime. But evenings are another story. Nancy says that she’s going to need to be there every night to make sure her mom’s taken care of.”
Ryan started back up. “We told her that we’d pay whatever it took to have her be able to keep watching the girls. We said that she could bring her mom here, that we’d pay to have in home care for her mom while she looked after the kids. But she didn’t budge, stating that her mom needed to be at her house, and that she needed to be able to totally focus on her.”
The couple shared one more look.
“And that’s where you two come in,” Carly said. “We need someone to look after the kids in the evenings for ten days. So, we got to talking, and figured, hey – we’ve got a best friend and a sister who are both amazing with our girls. So…”
Ryan turned to me. “We’ll just get to it – can you two look after the girls?”
I had no idea what to say. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Grace’s jaw was hanging wide open.
I sputtered out the first words that came to mind.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Chapter 9
GRACE
I didn’t know what to say.
Really, Hayden had taken the words right out of my mouth.
“Hayden!” I said, glancing over at him as if the phrase hadn’t been on my mind, too. “You’re really going to talk like that in front of the kids?”
“They’re not paying attention,” he said, sweeping his hand toward the girls, who were so focused on their Goldfish crackers that doomsday could’ve happened outside without them noticing.
“Yeah, but it’s the principal. You shouldn’t be swearing within earshot of kids.”
“See?” I said, waving my hand back and forth between the two of us. “How much more proof do you need that we’re the last people you want watching the girls?”
“But that’s where you’re wrong,” Ryan said with a smile. “Because you both already passed the test.”
I was confused as all hell. “The test? What test?”
“The one we gave you when we left the room,” continued Ryan. “You had a test, and you passed it.”
Hayden and I shared a perplexed look.
Carly began. “The girls always get really impatient before dinner, and always want a little snack before their main meal. And when they don’t get a little something to tide them over, they get cranky – to say the least.”
“So,” Ryan said. “We decided to dip out when it was time for their snack and see how you two would handle a pair of fussy kids together.”
“Wait,” I said. “That was all planned?” “Well, sort of,” Carly admitted with a smile. “We came up with it while you were both on the way over here.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever been tricked into feeding kids before,” Hayden replied. “But I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
“Just a little experiment to see how you both would handle it,” Ryan replied. “We know what it’s like, having a kid screaming and you’re trying to figure out how to get them to stop…that can be rough. And when yo
u’ve got two kids doing it? Not many people are up to the task. Especially when you’re not yet a parent yourself.”
“And we know how you two can be,” Carly said. As she spoke, Ryan checked on the fish stew.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hayden asked.
“Yeah, what’s that supposed to mean?” I echoed.
Ryan let out a laugh as he grabbed one of the bowls off a nearby stack and began ladling the stew into it.
“Let’s just say,” he went on, “That there have been more than a few times we’ve seen the twins fight with each other and had flashbacks to watching you both go at it.”
“Comparing us to the kids,” Hayden began, “That’s an ouch, but I suppose it’s not unwarranted.”
“It’s how you two have always been,” Ryan grinned. “Especially when we were all kids. Hayden would always mess with you, Grace, and you’d throw a fit which would amuse him even more.”
“You’re right, bro,” I said. “Hayden has always been a d-i-c-k since we were kids. Not sure how this makes the two of us a natural fit for watching the girls.”
“Because” Carly said. “While you two do like to bust one another’s chops, you always put that aside when you need to.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said. “It’s few and far between when I don’t have the urge to throw a glass of wine in his face.”
My words came out a little more harshly than I’d intended, but I remembered at that moment the other thing that had happened between us – the one Ryan and Carly had no idea about. What would they think if they knew that Hayden had kissed me, put his hands all over my body? Would that have made them a touch more hesitant to put the two of us in charge of the kids?
More than that, did they have a right to know? Hayden seemed to be blasé about it. Should I have been putting it behind me, too?
“You alright over there?” Ryan asked, a look of concern on his face.
“Yeah. Fine.” I cleared my throat and got my head back in the moment.
Hayden rose from his seat and picked up the bottle of wine. “I gotta say I’ve yet to decide one way or another. This still seems like a crazy idea.”