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“Is there a chance there’s more?”
“No,” Hannah and I said in unison.
“One is perfect.” My grandmother beamed, all earlier traces of concern gone from her expression.
Grandbabies trumped everything. Especially for my grandmother, who clearly had assumed I would never even date again, never mind have a kid.
I was still working my way around to grasping that concept myself.
Throat tight, I nodded. “Yeah, looks like the corpse can procreate. Quite a trick, huh?” At Hannah’s pointed glance, I reached up to loosen my tie. “Hannah did some of the work too.”
When my grandmother started to laugh and Hannah covered her face again, I rushed ahead. “I mean, her eggs. Jesus. Must you always live in the gutter?”
Smiling, my grandmother walked over to Hannah and cupped her cheeks. “You’ve accomplished an amazing feat, my girl. You’ve made him smile again. Whether or not he realizes it yet.”
Before Hannah could deny that fact—something I knew she would do—I stepped up behind her and laid my hands on her shoulders. She braced, but she didn’t move away. Little victories. “She also makes me sing off-key and eat ice cream in the middle of the night. Pretty sure canned pasta is our next frontier.” I kissed the top of her head. “I’m going to talk to Gran for a few minutes if that’s okay.”
“Sure. Of course. Absolutely. I’ll just wrap up the roast for later. Maybe we can do sandwiches. I made fresh bread...” She trailed off and fiddled with her updo. “C’mon, Lily, let’s get lost.”
“Hang on.”
She glanced back at me and I framed her face in my hands, much as my grandmother just had. The difference was I covered her mouth with mine, kissing her gently. Her breath shuddered out. “Don’t go too far,” I murmured, squeezing her fingers.
“Right. Okay. Yes. What was I doing?”
Lily lifted her leg and tried to scale the playpen wall, propelling Hannah forward. “Oh, no, you don’t. C’mere, Houdini.” Deftly, she snagged Lily and turned her upside down, making her laugh so hard that her face turned red. Then she righted her and gave her a smacking kiss. “Let’s go eat some mashed carrots so your daddy won’t complain about you enjoying canned carbs.”
With an arch look over her shoulder, Hannah flounced out of the room, baby in tow.
“I feel like I’m watching a soap opera, but somehow it’s Friday and I’m just about to get to the cliffhanger without seeing all the days of lead up beforehand.” My grandmother marched forward and poked me in the chest. “Do not cliffhanger that girl. Even more important? Don’t tease her and kiss her and confuse her then go all Asher on her and freeze her out while you process your feelings.”
I bristled. “I’m a man. We don’t process our feelings, we ignore them.”
“Maybe that’s your problem then, you big adorable dummy.” She grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the couch. “When are you going to get more furniture in this place?”
“I’ve been adding pieces as I go. When it was just me and an infant, I didn’t have a need for—”
At her look, I locked my fingers behind my neck and leaned back. “It’s not like that yet, Gran. We aren’t playing house. She’s Lily’s nanny.”
“And the mother of your child. Did you forget that part?”
“No.” I slid a hand down the sleeve of my jacket before tugging it off altogether. Was the room heating up or was it just me?
Oh, right, it was the weight of my multiple…situations.
“It’s just complicated,” I added into the silence.
“You care about her. I see it all over your face. And her face too. From the first moment you two ‘met’,” Gran pretended to cough, “you were sparking all over the place. At least now I understand why. She should have explained to me she knew you before I extended the job offer to her.”
“Yeah, well, remember that the next time you call me Snug all over town. She didn’t realize the position she was interviewing for was as my nanny.”
“You didn’t exchange contact information before you got biblical?”
“There was no praying involved, I assure you. But no, we didn’t exchange anything. It was a hookup, Gran. You know, like the ones you have on vacation that lead to you moving the guy into your house.”
“Hmm, seems like you did the exact same thing with yours.”
I frowned. “This situation is entirely different.”
