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Twenty-Seven
Robin was going to snap and feed them all three to the nearest Bigfoot she could find.
Surely, Bigfoot was out and around on Saturdays, right?
She half hoped.
"Let's go to the park!" she yelled. In the space of three nanoseconds, she had three beautiful kids staring at her expectantly.
"Can we take our baseball stuff?" Wesley asked. He'd been obsessed with baseball, to Doug's chagrin, from the age of three when Rory had given the boys matching mitts and balls for their birthday. Philip wasn't as into it, but he was usually up for throwing the ball with his brother when Wesley demanded it.
"As long as everything that leaves this house makes it back to this house. We are not making a return trip this time. You have one minute to grab what you want. Grab Becky’s mitt and ball and Mommy's mitt. We'll play, too." Sometimes her daughter felt a bit left out when the boys would play with each other. Becky was a mix of interests right now—she might want to play ball with her mom, or she might want to slide down the slides. But if they didn't take her mitt, and she saw the boys having fun—it could mean a meltdown.
Two-and-a-half-year-olds could be so melodramatic.
Especially her child.
Robin would rather carry the little pink mitt in Becky’s bag herself than deal with that today. And it wasn’t even noon yet.
Her children were driving her crazy. There was no other word for it. Spring break meant parental torture. All the schools everywhere were in on it. It was a massive conspiracy.
Probably the teachers’ revenge for dealing with the kids the rest of the time. It was the only explanation that made sense.
She forgot that their path to the park went right behind Nick's house, down the alley that ran between his road and the one behind it.
Robin tightened her hold on Becky when she saw the far-too-hot man in jeans and a thin red T-shirt, tossing a softball at a little girl with wild red hair.
He looked up, right at her. He straightened when he recognized her. "Robin. Hey…”
"Hi, Nick." Sunburn. It was sunburn making her cheeks flame. That’s what it was. Not the things he’d hinted at the night before, before Rory had interrupted. Her friend had spent the night, then left after breakfast for whatever she and Charlotte had had planned. "We're on our way to the park up the road. Before we strangle each other. The alley is the fastest route.”
"Hi! Hi! Hi!” Becky practically chirped at him. Becky, who had never met a stranger in her life. “I have a pink ball!"
Nova eyed Becky curiously. Becky just kept twisting Robin's hand around, jumping. The twins were quiet—strangers intimidated them a bit. Sometimes she wondered if it was their natural personalities, or because of how Doug had controlled every interaction they’d had as toddlers, ruthlessly. She shoved those memories away. “Kids, this is my boss, and Uncle Phil's younger brother, Nick. These are his kids, Noah and Nova. Nick, kids, these are my children Philip, Wesley, and Becky."
Nick nodded at the kids. "It's very nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
Philip eyed him suspiciously, stepping in front of Robin—between her and the stranger. Her little warrior, that one. “You look like Uncle Phil and my cousin Pete."
"That's because Phil is my brother and Pete is my nephew. You look very much like your mother."
"Yep. I know. My brother and I both do.”
"We got mitts, too." Wesley said, eying Noah with interest. Baseball was all it took for him. “Mom bought us new ones this year. Our old ones got too small. We still got to break them in.”
"Mine is new, too," Noah said. He stood back from the rest as Nova came to Robin and lifted her arms for a hug.
Robin freed Becky's hand and lifted Nova quickly. "Hi, sweetheart. I see you got a new mitt, too."
Nova grinned. "Yep. Just like Noah did."
Everything was wonderful if it was just like Noah's. Robin had learned that early on. "That's great, baby girl."
She looked at Nova's father, womanfully ignoring how the red cotton made his chest look even broader than it was. That red cotton looked...soft. Touchable.
Robin reined herself in. She was not going to stand there, ogling her boss in his own backyard. "If you're interested, the park league has extended sign-ups for softball and baseball another week. We had some trouble getting coaches, but Phil is going to take Patton's team this year. Noah would be in his age group. You could probably get him on to Phil's team, no problem. If he'd like to play."
Noah stiffened and looked down at the mitt in his hand. "I don't know if I'm any good."
