“I didn’t know construction had started.”
“Grady and Pops worked out the details. Grady was supposed to tell you. Oh gosh, I hope it wasn’t a surprise. I’ll feel terrible if I ruined it.”
“I’m sure with everything else going on, Grady just forgot to tell me.”
“Forgot to tell you what?” Grady asked, walking into the bedroom and throwing himself on the bed.
“Construction started in Texas?”
“Damn! Yes, I forgot! I found your designs in the bin and sent them with Pops back to Texas along with a check to cover the costs.”
“You used my designs?”
“Of course.” Grady grinned, closing his eyes. “It’s going to be a sweet little ranch house.”
“Grady caught me up. It’s all good,” I said into the phone.
“I heard. Glad all is well. The boys just pulled into the driveway so I better get off the phone. Pops keeps eyeing his shotgun and muttering things like: damn foolish offspring and wring their scrawny necks.”
“Sounds about right. And, Hattie?”
“Yes, sunshine?”
“I love you. I’m not sure I’ve ever said that, but I do. You’re my rock.”
“And you’re the sunshine that brightens my days. Love you too.”
I set the phone on my desk and walked over to the bed, sitting beside Grady.
“You okay?” Grady asked, rubbing my back.
“She didn’t want to know what happened when I was a kid.”
“I bet she guessed a long time ago. Pops too. They’re wiser than the rest of us fools. We all should’ve figured it out.”
“None of you are fools. I lied. It’s that simple. And I’m not proud of it.”
“You didn’t lie. You just left out a few years of your past. I get it. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you for keeping it a secret. But I want you to know you can count on me to unload that shit. You don’t have to hide it from me.”
“You were right, though. It was eating at me.”
“And now?”
“And now we deal with it,” I said, turning to take his hand. “Together.”
“Finally,” Grady said, pulling me back to lie on top of him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I was up by five in the morning, but when I walked into the kitchen Lisa was already there. She handed me a cup of coffee and filled a plate with French toast and sausage for me.
“Would you like syrup or glazed strawberries and whipped cream on your French toast?” she asked.
“Neither. I just want coffee.”
“You have to eat,” she said, spreading a layer of the strawberry topping on before adding a dollop of whipped cream from a nearby bowl.
I ignored her and took my coffee into the dining room where I leaned over the portable crib to look at Abigail. “Your mother’s a nut,” I whispered.
“I heard that,” Lisa said, walking in and setting the plate of food and a set of silverware next to my coffee. “She’s at an impressionable age. You shouldn’t talk to her like that.”
“How should I talk to her?” I snorted, sitting in my chair and sliding the plate away.
“I’ve been teaching her the ABCs. You could practice them with her.”
“And when she’s old enough to focus on a book for more than the three seconds it takes her to drool on it, maybe I will.”
Whiskey lumbered down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. He returned a moment later with a cup of coffee, taking the chair next to me. I slid the plate and silverware his way.
He smiled broadly as he looked down at the sugary concoction. “Why’s the silverware wrapped all fancy in the napkin?”
“I thought it would be more efficient,” Lisa explained before returning to the kitchen.
Since the rooms were designed with an open layout, I watched Lisa as she emptied the coffee pot into a carafe and then scrubbed the pot until it gleamed. Then, and only then, did she proceed to make a new pot of coffee.
“Did you sleep last night, Lisa?”
“I did. I feel great this morning.”
Donovan was walking through the front door and heard us. He looked at me and shook his head.
“You’re still staying at home today, right?” I asked her. “Just in case I need some help.”
“Are you sure you need me? I was hoping to work at the store for a few hours.”
“The truth?” I asked.
She looked up from her task of scrubbing the kitchen faucet. “Were you going to lie to me?”
“Sort of. But if you want me to be honest, I think you’re losing your mind. I don’t have a grasp of what the hell is going on with you, but I don’t think everyone else needs to be worried you’ll have a mental break in the middle of the store.”
“I’m not losing it!” she yelled, throwing the bottle of Lysol into the sink.
I raised an eyebrow and waited. Her right eyelid started twitching before she growled and picked the Lysol bottle back up and washed the outside of the bottle.
Donovan sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead. “Lisa, I need you to stay with Kelsey today. You’ve been up since two this morning, and I need to know you’re with someone while I work for a few hours at Aces. Please. Just stay here, and I’ll try to finish work early.”
“You’re all being ridiculous! But fine. I need to clean the bathrooms anyway,” she said before storming into the main bathroom and slamming the door shut.
Whiskey pointed his fork at the strawberry French toast. “This is really good.”
I ignored Whiskey and turned back to Donovan. “What was she doing up at two in the morning?”
“Steam cleaning the basement carpet,” he answered, falling into a chair. “If you want, I can ask someone to cover for me at Aces.”
“No. We’ll be fine,” I said before going to the kitchen to retrieve a cup of coffee for Donovan. It was typically a help-yourself household when Hattie was away, but he looked desperate.
When I returned and slid the cup in front of him, he looked up and grinned. “Thank you, sunshine.”
I laughed. “You’re welcome, Donovan.”
“Are you two laughing at me?” Lisa yelled as she walked back out of the bathroom.
“We weren’t even talking about you. And stop yelling before you wake the whole house up.”
“Too late.” Anne yawned, walking down the stairs.
Sara trailed after her, dragging her blanket. Nicholas swayed, only half awake, down the hall, slamming himself into my hip and wrapping his tired arms around me. Abigail started to cry, and Whiskey reached into the crib to pick her up.
“Finally,” Lisa said, moving back into the kitchen. “I was getting nervous no one would get up for breakfast. Give me a minute to serve everyone.”
Anne looked at the clock before looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head and sat, pulling Nicholas onto my lap in the process.
~*~*~
Two hours later, Anne, Whiskey, Katie, Tech, Alex, Goat, and Bones left for the Changing Room to work the busy Saturday shift. I convinced them at the last minute to take Nana with them. I was pretty confident that between Carl, Lisa, and the kids, I’d have my hands full. Donovan went to work at Aces, and I sent the kids to their rooms to get dressed and brush their teeth. I went back to the bedroom to check on Grady. It was near seven, and he was usually up by now.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” I said as I opened the door and walked into the room.
Grady was awake and setting his phone on the nightstand. “Hey, beautiful. Please tell me you’re coming back to bed.”
“Can’t. I’m on kid duty today, remember?”
“Yeah,” Grady groaned, leaning back and scrubbing his hands down his face. “I remember.”
“Don’t look so stressed. I signed up for duty, but you’re off the hook. You can do whatever you want today.”
“Really?” he asked, watching me with an eyebrow cocked.
“Yes, really. You’ve tak
en more than your fair share of shifts lately. Take the day off. Lisa will be around if I need help. And your trainees are all working crowd control at the store today.”
“Shit. What do men do with free time? It’s been so long, I forgot.”
“I don’t know. Belch and watch sports?”
Grady laughed and climbed out of bed. “Coffee and a long run sounds more my style. You sure you’re good?”
“I’m sure.” I pulled the blankets off the bed and stripped the sheets and pillow cases.
“What are you doing?”
“Washing the bedding. Why?”
He laughed. “I’ve never seen you do something so domestic.”
“I’ll have you know that I change the bedding every week when I’m home. I just normally do it when you’re not around.”
“That’s funny. Because I’ve been doing it too.”
“Weekly?”
Grady nodded. “Ours, Nicholas’, and Carl’s sheets get washed every Tuesday. We have to work on our communication skills, babe.” Grady winked at me as he dragged on a pair of sweatpants before walking out of the bedroom.
I reached across the bed for the last pillow, but knocked Grady’s phone off the nightstand in the process. Walking around the bed, I picked up his phone, setting it back on the stand. The backlight flashed, showing the last caller was someone named Sebrina. I didn’t know any Sebrina, but there were a lot of employees at Silver Aces I didn’t know yet.
I snorted, remembering the time I suggested to Donovan that we host an annual picnic for the employees. He asked what we would do with the clients if everyone had the day off, and I shrugged and said we should invite them. He didn’t think that the high-level CEOs and celebrities would be as agreeable. I suppose he was right, but who doesn’t like a good picnic?
“Mom?!” Nicholas called from somewhere on the other side of the house.
“Coming!” I called back as I gathered the sheets to take to the basement.
~*~*~
The morning was busy with dishes, laundry, and getting Drake and Trigger started on the search for my mother’s storage unit. By mid-morning, I had finally convinced Lisa to take a nap on the couch, but the kids and Carl were wound up so we went for a walk in the woods. Carl scooped Abigail up like it was the most natural thing in the world and walked ahead of us down the path. The kids and I kept up as they drilled me with random questions. Most of their questions centered on the types of trees and plants we passed. Being I lacked most nature skills, Carl answered for me. Then the questions started to get more personal.
“Are you going to marry Uncle Grady?” Sara asked.
“Not today.”
“Someday?” Sara asked.
“Maybe.”
“Will that make him my dad?” Nicholas asked.
“I suppose that’s up to you,” I said, shrugging. “He’s sort of doing the job already, without the title.”
“Does he want to be my dad?” Nicholas asked.
“I think so. Maybe you should ask him.”
“Will you wear a white dress if you get married?” Sara asked.
“I’d look better in a black dress.”
“Mom!” Nicholas laughed. “You can’t wear black to a wedding.”
“Why not? Most tuxes are black.”
“But the boys wear the tuxes.”
“Maybe I’ll wear a black dress, and Grady can wear a white tux.”
“Do I get to be your flower girl?” Sara asked.
“What if I don’t get married until you’re an adult? You might be too old to be a flower girl.”
“No fair!” Sara pouted. “That means it will be Abigail’s turn.”
I snorted and pushed them to hurry along so we didn’t lose Carl. When we finished the loop on the west property, I guided them back to the house so I could restart the laundry and get the beds put back together. Lisa had woken from her nap and took Abigail.
I had just finished putting the last of the clean coffee cups away when Lisa came into the kitchen with tears streaming down her cheeks. I reached out to take Abigail from her. “Do you want to talk about whatever is bothering you?”
She shook her head no.
“What do you need? What can I do to help?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want the kids to see me like this.”
“I’ll call Donovan and take care of Abby. Head home and call if you need me.”
She nodded and slipped out the garage door. I grabbed my phone and called Donovan. I also sent Alex a text, asking him to check on Lisa if he got a break.
As I was setting my phone on the counter, Abigail made a gurgling noise. I froze, not wanting to look as something warm and smelly ran down the opening of my sweater and into my bra.
“No… Abigail!” I groaned. “Please tell me you did not just puke on me!” I looked to see Abigail grinning spit bubbles up at me.
Grady and Whiskey started laughing from the entrance of the kitchen.
“Take her!” I hissed, holding her out to them.
Whiskey took Abby over to the sink to clean her up as I walked past a still laughing Grady. Carl, Sara, and Nicholas giggled as I walked past them and down the hall. I went straight to the bathroom and saw the puke had hit more than my chest. “My hair!”
“It will wash,” Grady said, coming in behind me. He walked over and started the shower before he turned to help me with the sweater.
He went to throw the sweater in the hamper but I took it and threw it in the trash. “I own a clothing store. I’m never wearing that sweater again.”
Grady laughed as he took the trash out of the bathroom with him.
“He might think it’s funny, but he obviously doesn’t think I look sexy covered in baby puke. Otherwise he would’ve stayed to shower with me,” I said to myself as I finished undressing.
“You think a little baby spit-up is going to scare me off?” Grady chuckled from the bathroom door as he pulled off his T-shirt. “I just didn’t want to hear you bitch about the smell when you got out of the shower.”
“You can’t be serious?” I laughed, looking at my hair and chest.
He kicked the bathroom door shut. “Whiskey said he’d watch the kids for us while I helped you clean up.”
~*~*~
Twenty minutes later, my hair still wet, I carried a stack of files into the dining room. “Okay, everybody,” I called to the kids, Carl, Whiskey, and Grady as I dropped the stack of files on the table. “I need to get some work done, and either everyone helps me, or they have to watch TV in the family room.”
“I’ll grab my laptop,” Sara said, running up the stairs.
“Me too,” Nicholas said as he ran down the hall.
“Tech took my laptop,” Carl whined.
“What did you do this time?” Grady sighed, taking a seat at the dining room table.
“Nothing,” Carl said as he shuffled a sock covered foot back forth across the carpet.
Whiskey laughed, handing Abigail to Grady before unlocking the credenza and retrieving both Carl’s laptop and the house laptop. “He used Tech’s credit card to buy five hundred dollars of lottery tickets online.”
“Did you win?” I asked.
Carl grinned. “I won four dollars!”
“And lost four hundred and ninety-six,” Whiskey reminded him.
“Carl, you need to pay Tech back,” I said.
“I can’t. Scott has all my money,” Carl said, referring to the group home leader of the home in Florida where Carl used to live.
“Call Scott. Confess your sins, my friend.”
“He can’t.” Whiskey laughed. “Tech took his phone too. I’ve never seen Tech so pissed.”
I pulled my phone and handed it to Carl. He walked into the living room with it. I looked down at Grady who was shaking with laughter. “Admit it,” I said to him. “Your life was boring before you moved here.”
“Living here is a non-stop adventure.” He reached for my hand, lifting it up to his lips. �
��You and yours are so odd.”
“I’m not odd,” Sara said as she came down the stairs.
“Shh,” I said to Grady, whopping him on the arm. “Don’t ruin it for me. They’re free labor.”
The kids giggled, and Carl returned, handing me the phone. “I think I’m in trouble,” Carl pouted. “Scott wants to talk to you.”
“Hey, Scott,” I answered, walking down the hall to talk in private.
“I scolded him for the lottery tickets, but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”
“If he doesn’t have the money to cover the tickets, I’ll pay for it and make him earn it back. I was hoping you’d scold him though, so it’s all good.”
“He has the money. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Carl has sold a lot of inventions over the years. As his power of attorney, I’ve let the money pile in a savings account. It’s grown to an amount, though, that I’m not sure what to do with it. And since Carl’s been living there, maybe it’s time to move his belongings and transfer the power of attorney.”
“Carl may decide he wants to go back to Florida—”
“No! No! Don’t send me back!” Carl screeched from behind me.
“Scott, let me call you back,” I said before hanging up.
Carl ran down the hall before I could stop him and out the living room sliding door.
“What’s wrong?” Grady asked, grabbing my arm to stop me.
“He thinks I want him to go back to Miami.”
“Stay with the kids,” he said to me as he handed Abigail back to Whiskey. “I’ll go chase him down and talk to him.”
Grady ran out the sliding door which was still open.
“You don’t want to send Carl home, do you, Mom?”
“No, dummy,” Sara said. “He’s family. Family’s forever. He’s stuck with us.”
“No name calling, Sara. But you’re right. Carl’s family,” I said, leaning over Sara and giving her raspberry kisses on her cheek as she giggled. “We’re all stuck with each other.”
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