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Ty disappears down the hall and into the bathroom, and I fight the urge to take off toward the exit. It’s not that anyone’s being rude to me—in fact, it’s just the opposite. Since Ty introduced me, his family’s been nothing short of magnanimous during a truly trying time for them.
I’m impressed by their ability to manage manners with emotions and wonder why my father and I never got that memo.
Still, everyone is outside Daisy’s room now, busy chatting with one another and celebrating the growth of their obviously tight-knit family. And I’m just standing here, willowing in the wind.
I am a woman who doesn’t really know what to do. I don’t feel like I should be involving myself in their conversations, and truthfully, I don’t think I could even manage that.
I discreetly take a few steps away from the little crowd, but I don’t miss that Ty’s eldest brother Remy is watching me again, stealing furtive glances in pauses in his conversation with Jude, and it’s making me uneasy.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not, like, creeper-type scary. It just feels like he knows. Like he knows what’s going on with Ty and me and knows the inner workings of my soul.
And I feel entirely too bare under the scrutiny.
Just look away, Remy. You’re dancing around a couple of things I’m not even talking to myself about right now, let alone a stranger.
I manage to avoid his eyes for another thirty seconds by spinning to admire a random piece of cheap art on the wall, but my avoidance is caught short when he touches me gently on the shoulder, letting me know the time of reckoning has arrived.
My spin is dramatic, but my smile is fake, so all in all, I’d say they balance each other out as I turn to face him—and the music.
“Hey, Rachel,” he greets, a genuinely friendly smile making him look slightly less frightening—but only slightly. “Thanks for coming out to support Flynn and Daisy. Means a lot to all of us.”
I nod, licking my lips. “Uh, sure.” I didn’t exactly get much of a choice, but you don’t need to know that.
He holds out a business card between his ring and middle finger, and I blink down at it numbly.
“Here. I thought I’d take the opportunity to give you this, just in case you need to get in touch with me someday.”
I shake my head as I read the fine print on the front. “Well, thanks. But I don’t think I’ll be in need of any help with day trading or investments anytime soon. I’m about as poor as it gets in the graduate student world. I know these shoes look fancy, but they’re secondhand and a gift from my sister.”
He shrugs curiously, chuckling a little—I think, to put me at ease. It doesn’t work, of course, but I appreciate the effort. “That’s okay. Take it anyway. Just in case.”
My eyebrows pinch together in confusion, but I know to the depths of my being that taking the card and putting it in my bag, even if it’ll never be seen again, is the easiest option here. I can’t exactly make a scene in the middle of the maternity ward of St. Luke’s Hospital, and even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.
I may not be completely confident in what my role is here today, but it isn’t to make Ty’s life harder.
I reach out and slide the card out of his fingers, opening the main compartment of my purse and tossing it inside. He nods and smiles, stepping away just as Ty is returning from the bathroom, shaking his hands out in front of him with a giant goofy smile on his face.
“No paper towels,” he remarks, flicking a water droplet onto Remy as he arrives just for the fun of it.
I purse my lips into a semi-smile and then cross my arms over my chest.
“You’re lucky we just witnessed the miracle of life today, or I’d slap that grin right off your face,” Remy fires back verbally, making Ty laugh even deeper and look to me conspiratorially.
“He’s been threatening that for years.” He puts his hands out wide to his sides and then waves them up and down. “Here I am. Still grinning.”
I hate how much I like this version of Ty. The no-holds-barred, no-work, all-play, happy-to-exist man who has a whole lot of love to give.
He’s fun and comforting, and if I let myself, I might just start to feel a little too much for him.
I take a deep breath and steady my voice to make it sound as friendly as possible when I request, “Can we get going soon? I don’t want to rush you at all, but I… Well, I’m supposed to take the closing shift at the bakery tonight. I almost forgot.”
