Meredith:I have groceries in the car for you. Including ingredients for a pie. I’m coming.
Gray:Pie? Come. Now. Bring Oscar.
She laughed again, and her worries fled.
Meredith:Be there in 2 minutes.
Meredith scanned the living room. She’d need to bring a few toys to keep Oscar occupied. She grabbed his Bilibo bucket and filled it with his Tobble blocks and his fire engine. She picked up Oscar and read Gray’s next text once she was back in the car.
Gray:I’m upstairs writing. I’ll head down when I take a break.
Good. Obviously, he was feeling well. If that held, he’d have an appetite after he finished writing, and she’d have a meal ready for him.
The drive took only minutes. “Oscar, do you want to play with somebig dogs?”Through the rearview mirror, she watched her son’s eyes bug with excitement.
“What bid dogs?”
Meredith pulled into Gray’s drive and parked. “Their names are Vulcan and Juno, and they’re really big.”
As she unbuckled him from the car seat, Oscar looked up at her. “Are dey mean?”
She shook her head. “No, they’re sweet. And they love to play with their tennis ball.”
“Play wiff balls?” His brown eyes could not have grown any larger.
Meredith laughed. “Yes. You can throw the ball for them.”
Oscar clapped when she set him down on the driveway. “Let me get the bags, and we’ll walk to the door together.”
She loaded her arms with groceries and left Oscar’s toys in the car. The dogs would keep him occupied for a little while.
“Dogs!” Oscar squealed when Juno and Vulcan met them at the door. They were taller than he was, but he showed no fear. Both animals stepped closer, sniffing him as he giggled. The dogs whipped their tails with excitement, seeming to mimic Oscar’s joy.
“Hey, guys,” Meredith said, stepping into the foyer with her awkward load and closing the door with her hip.
“Meredith? That you?”
She heard Gray call from upstairs. A smile broke across her face at the sound. “Yep. We’re here.”
Before she could herd Oscar and the dogs to the kitchen, she heard footfalls on the stairs. In a moment he was in front of her, taking the bags.
“Let me get those.”
His eyes were the first things she noticed. The way his eyes smiled at her had the power to stop her breath. She felt her color rise. Crushing on the boss was a bad idea, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“You must be Oscar,” Gray said, clutching the grocery bags to his chest and sinking into a squat to be eye to eye with her son. “Do you like my dogs?”
Oscar, all shyness in front of this big stranger, simply nodded.
Gray was dressed in a charcoal Henley and dark-washed jeans. Crouched down by her son, he filled out both so well, Meredith had to fight the urge to reach for his bicep and squeeze it. Instead, she tried talking.
“We’re going to throw the ball for them,” she managed. And since her voice was steady enough, she let herself meet his eyes. “You look well this morning.” What she really wanted to tell him was“You look amazing. Every damn day.”
Gray nodded and stood. “I feel okay right now. The writing’s going well.”
Meredith grabbed Oscar by the hand and followed Gray into the kitchen.
“Then please don’t let us disturb you,” she said, meaning it. “We’ll play with the dogs for a bit, and then I’ll start cooking.”
