Micah poured himself a cup of milk and stole a piece of leftover cherry pie from that evening’s after-dinner dessert. He was taking his last bite when he heard the faint whimpering of a baby and, a moment later, Nick entered the kitchen with his baby daughter cuddled against his shoulder.
“Hey. I thought I heard someone out here.” Nick filled a bottle with water and warmed it in the microwave. He glanced at Micah. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“No.” Micah finished off the pie and glass of milk and took the dishes to the sink, washed them, and placed them in the dish rack. He walked over to Nick and kissed Mary on the head. “Apparently, she can’t either, huh?”
Nick chuckled. “This is her nightly routine.” The microwave beeped. “You want to take her for a minute while I finish fixing her bottle?”
“Gladly.” Micah smiled and took the baby, cradling her gently in his arms. She stared up at him with big blue eyes beneath a tuft of blond curls. “She is such a sweetheart,” he murmured.
“Make you want one of your own?” Nick hinted with a grin as he scooped formula into the bottle.
Micah immediately pictured him and Graham with a family of their own. “Maybe.”
“No maybes.” Nick screwed on the bottle top and shook it up. “You are one-hundred-percent daddy material.” He tested the formula’s temperature then handed the bottle to Micah and looked over his shoulder as Micah began feeding the baby. Nick draped his arm around his shoulders. “Do you think Graham would make a good father?”
“I haven’t seen him around kids yet,” Micah said quietly. “But he has a beautiful, compassionate heart.”
“Sounds like potential to me.”
Micah laughed softly. “Me, too.”
“So, this is reallyit.”Nick hugged his neck and kissed his head. “I amsohappy for you, Micah. I told you it would happen.” He grinned against his hair. “You should always listen to me.”
“I should, for sure.” Micah took a seat on a stool and rested his arms on the counter as Mary suckled from the bottle and grasped at his fingers.
“You nervous about your date?” Nick took the stool next to Micah and dragged the pie plate to him. He used the cutting spatula to take small bites from the remaining piece of cherry pie.
Micah nodded. “Very.”
“But it’s a good nervous, right?”
“Yeah,” Micah whispered. In his arms, the baby’s eyes were drifting close. Micah smiled and gently kissed her soft head. “Mark thinks I should go spend the day with Graham, offer to help him with the house.”
“Do you want to?”
“Yes.” Micah looked at Nick. “But I just got here. I have hardly spent any time with you and Wendy and the kids. Or Mark.”
Nick groaned, laughing quietly. “Jeez, Micah. This is what we’ve wanted for you all along. Do you really think we’re going to be offended if you want to spend time with him? Go. Have a great time. We’ll hang out on Christmas day. And you’ll be here until New Year’s Day, so we won’t be deprived of your company.” He clapped Micah on the back. “If you would hurry up and move out here, we could see you any time we like.”
“I would have to find another job,” Micah said. “I mean, I have plenty of savings to tide me over for a while, but eventually I’d have to find a new job.”
“I could get you on at my company until you decide what it is you want to do,” Nick said. “I’ve already looked into it. All you have to do is say the word.”
“Sounds so…simple.”
“Doesn’t have to be difficult.” Nick smiled. “And you know you can stay with us until you find a place. Your only excuse now for not moving is if you just don’t want to.” He squeezed Micah’s shoulder. “Is that it? Because as much as I want you to move closer, I don’t want you to do it if it isn’t what you really want.”
Micah sighed, looked at the baby in his arms, and smiled at Nick. “It is what I want.”
Nick was pleased. “So…just a random thought here…you could talk to Graham about buying his father’s place. And who knows, before long…he might be living there with you.”
Buy Sal’s home? Was this another part of the “plan” that God had laid out for him? He had gotten the feeling that Graham was reluctant to sell the place. But maybe if it was going to someone who had known and cared for his father, the transition would be smoother.
“That’s definitely something to consider,” Micah murmured.
Nick grinned. “You could always discuss it with him when you go over there tomorrow.”
Micah chuckled. Apparently, the matter of whether he would spend the day with Graham—was settled.
