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Rory and Miss Sarah came out of the bedroom too. He guessed the stairs would be too much this soon for Miss Marla with her crutches.
“We’ll have lots of nights sitting on that, gossiping and running down the men in our lives. Won’t we, ladies?” Miss Sarah said.
They all agreed.
Mandy shot him a look that Ted interpreted as “Not me. I don’t have a man, and if I did, it wouldn’t be you.” Possibly he was overreacting, and in fact she could be wondering if she had enough milk to make tea for everyone, but still…, Ted thought he was right.
“Hi.” Bailey wandered in with Benjamin and Gracie. The little boy squealed when he saw his aunt and uncle. Rory took him from his mother and proceeded to make silly noises.
Ted wasn’t sure what made a person do that, but he had to say he’d found himself making a few occasionally when he came across a child.
“You got any sweets, Ted?”
“Not today, Gracie.” He moved to the window seat. “Besides, your mom told me I wasn’t allowed to give them to you.”
She pulled a face.
“Apparently they’re bad for you. Hard to believe when they taste so good, right?”
She turned around, doing a full three-sixty-degree turn in her cute little shoes that had blue sparkles on the sides.
“I like this, Mandy.” She sounded about twenty.
Ted watched Mandy reluctantly leave Bas and come over. She didn’t want to be close to him, and that wasn’t a happy thought for him. He’d hurt her last night and somehow had to make things right between them so they could at least be friends.
The problem was, she was different from other women he’d wanted. In fact, if he was being honest, he felt different about her. Ted pushed that thought to the back of his head, because it sounded ominous.
“Thanks, Gracie. You can come and visit me. We could do some baking.”
The little girl clapped her hands and did a little dance.
“My mom bakes but says she doesn’t like doing it because she does it at work. Besides, we have Blake now, and she’s always yawning. He drinks, spits up milk, and poops most of the time.”
“And you love him, right?” Ted tweaked one of her curls.
“He’s okay, I guess. Daddy said he’ll be handy to have around in a few years.”
“There you go, then,” Mandy said.
“You sit there next to Ted, Mandy.” Grace waved a hand to the space beside him. “Aunty Bailey has brought us morning tea, and I’m going to help her serve it.”
“I have, and I’d love your help, sweetie,” Bailey said, going to the kitchen with a box of food.
“I’ll help.” Mandy went to follow, but Ted grabbed her wrist as she started to rise.
“I’m sorry about last night. I handled it wrong. I want us to be friends.”
She looked at him, and he couldn’t read anything in her expression.
“Okay.”
“Why are you holding Mandy’s wrist? Do you like her, Ted?”
“I was helping her up, Gracie.”
The little girl’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t add anything. She ran off to greet Buzz, who’d just arrived.
“Really, I want us to be able to spend time in each other’s company without the awkwardness. I’m sorry if I’ve handled stuff wrong—”
