“Ruin?” Emily said. “His son or daughter is on the way. You might find he’s more open to that than you think.”
“It’ll be good when they get here,” Blair said.
“I don’t want to spend the whole trip talking about our issues, though.” Sienna shook her head. “This is our vacation. Our problems will still be there when we get home.”
“I agree,” Blair said. “We need the weekend to be a chance to have some couple time with our guys.” She turned to Emily. “Sorry, Em. Are you going to be okay once they get here?”
“I’ll be fine,” Emily said. “This might be a really great opportunity for both of you. Tyson wants to take off work, which he never does, and Rocko’s fishing trip fell through. It’s perfect timing. I could get some quiet moments in—believe me, I’m very happy to spend my days away from Will and his drama back at home.”
“We won’t leave you out, Emily, we promise,” Sienna said.
Blair leaned in. “Agreed.”
Sienna clapped her hands happily. “This rest of the week, though, it’s just us girls. Rain or shine, we’ll make the most of it.”
The doorbell chimed, echoing throughout the large house.
Sienna threw the blanket off her legs. “I’ll bet that’s our chef. Right on time.” She folded the blanket, then went to let Patrick in. “I’m starving.”
A minute later, Patrick shuffled through the open living area with armfuls of bags as he had before. But tonight he’d brought a little something extra: Winston was on his heels.
Emily got up and walked through the living area and into the kitchen while Blair called the boy over to say hello.
“Sorry.” Patrick eyed Winston across the room, but didn’t elaborate.
“What are you sorry for?” Emily asked.
“I don’t usually bring my nephew to my clients’ homes, but I had no way around it.”
Winston ran across the room, returning to his uncle.
Emily greeted the boy. “I’m Emily.”
“I’m Winston. I’m six.”
She adored him already. “I hear you’re helping your uncle this evening.”
“Yeah, my mom’s finishing up a meeting for her class. She couldn’t leave early because it’s supposed to storm, and this was their last chance to get together.”
“Oh?” Emily grinned at him, finding his animated chattering endearing. “What class is she taking?”
“She’s taking a couple of them. She’s studying to be a nurse.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” Emily pulled out one of the barstools. “Want to sit up here and watch your Uncle Patrick make our dinner?”
Winston climbed onto the barstool while Emily held it steady. Taking advantage of the rotating seat, he began to spin himself around, pushing off the counter.
“Uncle Patrick and I are coming up with ideas for how to pay for Mom’s college,” he said as he spun.
Patrick pouted fondly at him and shook his head, seemingly trying to indicate that the subject of finances wasn’t something to share.
But Winston continued. “He might try a long-term rental or something.”
“A long-term rental? You know about those?” Emily asked with a chuckle.
“Not really, but Uncle Patrick said it to Mom. His restaurant uses up a lot of his savings, but he’ll make them back ten… What was it, Uncle Patrick? Oh! Tenfold.” He wrinkled his nose. “What even is tenfold?”
“It means ‘a lot,’” Patrick said. “But let’s talk about something else. We don’t want to bore Emily.”
