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She took the paper from him and read it. “Oh, it’s an art camp. Chloe, do you like art?”
The little girl nodded. “Princess Sweetie Pie and I like to draw and paint.”
Elle returned the paper to Daniel. “I do, too. I have a feeling that you and I are going to have a lot of fun while your uncle Daniel works around here today.”
“Uncle Daniel, are you staying here all day?” Chloe asked.
“I sure am. I will be right here if you need me.”
Chloe frowned and hugged her white cat.
“I thought you were going to visit my daddy and ask the doctor when I can go see him.”
Daniel’s gaze snared Elle’s for a moment and she gave a quick nod, trying to telegraph that it was fine for him to go and check on his brother and that she was happy to look after Chloe.
“It’s probably a good idea for you to go touch base with the doctor and get an update on Aidan.”
“I called this morning. They said he’d stabilized.”
She sensed a shift in his mood, a hesitancy. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong, but something was.
“Chloe and I have a lot planned,” she said to lighten the mood. “So, go ahead. We probably won’t even miss you.”
Again, Daniel snared Elle’s gaze. “I hope you’ll miss me.”
And bam, there it was again, that feeling that had her heart twisting and her lady parts singing. She needed to be careful because she wasn’t sure what those rogue feelings were about and she would wager that he wasn’t completely clear, either.
“I will miss you, Uncle Daniel. You will come back as soon as you see Daddy, right?”
There was something uneasy in his smile. In fact, it seemed as if he was only making the effort to smile for Chloe’s sake. If not for his upbeat entrance this morning and the bit about hoping she would miss him, Elle might have worried that his mood was personal. But here she was overthinking it again.
“Actually, I’m not sure if I’ll get to go today,” he said. “But I’ll ask the doctor when I talk to him.”
“You’re not going to the hospital?” Elle asked.
“We’ll see. When I spoke to the nurse, she said they’ll call me if there’s a change—”
“Good morning,” Gigi called as she pushed through the kitchen doors.
“Good morning.” Elle looked at her watch, glad for the diversion. “You’re up early this morning. It’s only 7:30.”
“I have a very good reason to be up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” She looked at Chloe and the little girl broke into a fit of giggles.
“Princess Sweetie Pie has bright eyes and a bushy tail, Gigi. See?”
She held up the cat for Gigi to inspect. “My goodness, look at that. She sure does.”
Gigi bent down so that her ear was at the level of the cat’s mouth. “What’s that, Princess Sweetie Pie? You want to play the My Little Pony game?” Chloe’s eyes got big and she moved the cat so its head bobbed up and down.
“Of course, I’d love to play, Princess Sweetie Pie,” Gigi said. “I’ll see if Chloe wants to play, too.”
The child bounced up and down with excitement. “Yes! Yes! I want to play.”
Gigi took the little girl’s hand and shot a knowing smile first to Elle and then to Daniel and back to Elle.
Could she be more obvious?
“Sorry to leave you two alone, but Chloe, Princess Sweetie Pie and I have big plans. You two entertain each other.”
She winked and then followed Chloe, who was already halfway out the kitchen door.
Elle heard Gigi greet some guests who were staying at the inn, but she couldn’t hear the conversation through the swinging door. For a moment, she considered going out to see if she could help. But it was her mother’s day to set out breakfast and tend to the guests. She knew the real reason she was tempted to go out there was that she was standing here with Daniel, with the feel of last night’s kiss still fresh on her lips, and she had that same uneasy feeling in her stomach she’d had yesterday, when Gigi had skipped out on their lunch plans and left her alone with Daniel. Once again, it was obvious that her grandmother was doing her best to push them together. Not to mention, all of Daniel’s walls seemed to go up whenever they talked about him going to the hospital. She had no idea what that was about. All she knew was things felt a little awkward.
