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“I wasn’t taking a shot at you, Piper.” He smiled. “How’s it going with this little princess? You purchased that water blaster yet?”
“She’s good... great, actually. Everyone’s helping, but I get the night shift because that’s only fair. I’m only doing two shifts here at the moment, for sanity’s sake, and the rest of the time I’m with her.”
“I changed one of those nappies,” Luke said. “Seriously, man, how did that come out of such a sweet little girl?”
“It’s a mystery,” Dylan said.
The Howards and the Trainers talked for an hour, and Piper worked and watched. When it was time for them to go she was sad because she’d enjoyed listening to them. Dylan had sat with Grace on his lap the entire time and the little girl couldn’t have been happier. To be fair, Piper wouldn’t have minded trading places, but that was never going to happen again.
“I don’t....” The words fell away as Ava wobbled on her feet, then dropped to the floor.
“Ava!” Dylan handed Grace to Jack and knelt beside his sister. “Call for the ambulance!”
Luke was there in seconds. All the Trainers were fully trained in first aid, but Luke as a firefighter had taken that training to the next level.
He took Ava’s hand and checked her pulse, then raised her legs. Joe got a box for him to put them on. He checked the back of her head, but said there was no lump.
“She’s breathing, just fainted,” he said to the worried siblings beside him. “But she needs to be checked out.”
Luke unzipped her jacket and made her comfortable.
When they heard the siren, Ava was sitting up, but her skin color was tinged with yellow now, and her breathing rapid. She leaned against her brother while Charlie held her hand.
“I don’t want to go to the hospital,” Ava said.
“Too bad.” Dylan picked her up. “You are.”
He walked out the door with Charlie and Luke on his heels.
“Jesus!” Jack said. “What the hell was that?”
“Don’t know, but guess we’ll find out.” Joe sat again. “Scared the shit out of me, I don’t mind saying. One minute she was upright, then down.”
“Good to see them a unit though, don’t you think?” Jack picked up his coffee and took a large, fortifying mouthful. Grace was now playing at their feet with a box of toys Piper had brought in.
“Real good.”
“Thought you didn’t much like Dylan,” Joe said.
“A man can change his mind.” Jack shot Piper another one of those looks her cousins had been throwing her all morning.
“He’s a good man, Jack, and just the kind I’d like for our cousin.”
“What!” Piper shook her head at Joe’s words. “What the hell did you just say?”
She was subjected to a double stare down from her cousins.
“You heard,” Joe said. “He’s a good man, and he’d be good for you. So whatever the hell this shit is between you, if anything comes of it, I won’t have an issue. Now keep your voice down so Grace doesn’t hear you.”
He’d mouthed the word shit.
It was extremely rare Piper was ever at a loss for words, but now was one of those moments.
“Firstly, I don’t need your permission,” she managed to get out.
“Notice she didn’t say she wasn’t interested,” Jack said, smirking.
“Secondly,” Piper gritted out, “he is leaving here soon, and I absolutely do not have any ‘shit’ going on with him. Plus, I now have a child!”
