Mary hugged them.
“We’re grabbing coffee, then hitting the road.”
“Want me to get it for you?” I asked.
“Thanks, Nina, but I can pour them,” Mary said. “John, the caterers will be here any minute. Can you help Nina finish up?”
“On it.”
John and Mary had the kind of fairy tale marriage that every girl dreamed of having, including me.Especially me.
I didn’t have high hopes; no one wanted to date a broke college student caring for her sick, elderly grandmother.
You’re young.I heard Nana Sue’s voice in my head.There’s plenty of time to find the love of your life.
I was twenty-six, so it wasn’t like my biological clock was doom-ticking.I have plenty of time. Dating would be easier after I graduated next semester, but in the meantime, I had to focus on completing my hospitality degree, caring for Nana Sue, and working.
After my recent promotion to assistant manager, I was determined to work even harder to prove my worth.I won’t get fired from this job. The promotion increased my income and gave me invaluable experience in the industry.
Win-win.
And I get all the free coffee I can drink. Win.
“Okay, Nina, what do you need me to do?”
“I um,” I wasn’t prepared to give John Sheppard, who personified intimidation, orders.
“I know when I’m outside my wheelhouse, so you’re in charge.”
“Okay. We need to blow up the balloons.” Mary wanted to make a silver and purple balloon arch.
“Please tell me there’s a machine for that.” John’s smile helped put me at ease.
I scrunched my face and admitted, “There’s a hand pump.”
I’d attached less than half of the balloons to the metal frame when reinforcements arrived. And by reinforcements, I meant the staff of Sheppard & Sons Investigations, the company John owned with his three sons.
Both Sheppard parents owned their own businesses. Madi, a nurse practitioner after twelve years as a corpsman in the Navy, was the only Sheppard child not involved with SSI. Her fiancé, Matt, however, was a bodyguard on their payroll.
After the greetings were over, John traded the balloon pump for his granddaughter, Natalie, and put her father, Jack, to work.
There were too many cooks in the kitchen, so I stepped aside and let the family finish decorating.
“Hey Nina,” Meg said, bouncing her niece, Rose, on her hip. “Are you doing anything fun for summer break?”
I never do anything fun anymore. I stopped the negative pattern and smiled. “Not really. Just working.”
“That’s too bad,” Emily said, bouncing her son, Richard, Rose’s twin, on her hip. “Any interest in babysitting the twins so Jamie and I can take a night off?”
I loved babysitting, and not just because the cash was tax-free income. I loved kids and wanted a large family of my own someday. Babysitting was great practice.
“I’d love to, but why aren’t you asking Mary?”Or your parents.
“We want to socialize the twins outside the family.”
Outside the family.Because no matter what Mary said, I wasn’t really a part of the family. Though I’d love to be part of a big, loving family like the Sheppards.
From what I’d heard, Emily had worked from home so she wouldn’t need daycare when she finally returned to work, so it’d make sense for them to hire an outside babysitter to socialize the twins.
