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It had been several years since he’d gone this long without seeing his family, and he missed them. He would be facing deep disappointment and anger from them on his return, but he just hoped that it didn’t take too long to get past all of that.
Putting his phone in his pocket, he left the kitchen. “I’m going to go pack up, so we don’t have a lot to do tomorrow.”
Peyton had several large suitcases and boxes that Amberlyn had packed for him. It appeared that she hadn’t held anything back, for which Jay was grateful. He had nothing for a little boy in his apartment, and he knew it would be better for Peyton to be surrounded by familiar things.
Thankfully, Will had his car there too, so they’d have enough room for all Peyton’s stuff without having to rent a trailer.
In his room, Jay packed away everything but what he planned to wear the next day. He’d only brought one suitcase, so it didn’t take too long.
When he went to Peyton’s room, the little boy appeared in the doorway.
“Do you want to pick out some clothes to wear tomorrow?” Jay asked.
Jay sat down on the bed, watching as Peyton looked through his clothes. Peyton brought over a pair of jean joggers and a T-shirt with what Jay had discovered was his favorite cartoon character on the front.
“Can I wear these?”
“Yep. Those are perfect. Which shoes do you want?”
After a few more minutes, Peyton had picked out a complete outfit. Jay set them aside, along with a pair of pajamas and underwear, then began to pack away the rest of his things.
“Why don’t you take a shower?” Jay suggested.
Showering wasn’t Peyton’s favorite thing. He much preferred a bath, since he didn’t have to wash his hair.
“Bath, please?”
Jay regarded him for a moment, then decided that he didn’t really want to have to deal with washing his hair that night either. He was going to need to ask Janessa, or maybe Misha, about how to deal with the little boy’s hair.
For as long as he could remember, Jay had kept his hair short. As an athlete, it had just been easier, and now it was his preference. Part of him wanted to cut Peyton’s short as well, buthe wouldn’t do that unless the boy asked him to. And if that didn’t happen, he’d learn how to take care of it, because he was his dad now.
“Yes. You can have a bath.”
“Yay!” Peyton punched the air, then hurried to the bathroom.
Jay followed him and turned on the tap in the tub, adding a little bubble bath liquid to the warm water. After helping Peyton into the tub, Jay left the bathroom door open while he finished packing up the boy’s stuff. He could hear him chatting as he played with the handful of toys that had come in the suitcase that Amberlyn had said would be enough for him until he reached Jay’s place.
The more Jay packed away, the more the nerves for the next day built.
He hadn’t felt nerves like that in ages. It had probably last been back in college when he’d played for a championship title.
However, so much more was at stake now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It had been nearly two weeks after Jay’s departure, and Misha was a bundle of nerves as she let herself into the clinic. She was the first one there for a change, but she’d been awake early, and there had been no chance of her falling back to sleep.
Janessa had called the night before to let Misha know that she’d heard from Will and apparently Jay would be returning the next day from wherever he’d been. She hadn’t had any more details, but just knowing that had been enough to fill Misha with an anxiousness that hadn’t been conducive to sleep.
She put her stuff in her office, then headed to the breakroom. Knowing she’d need coffee to make up for her sleepless night, Misha went ahead and made a pot. She stared at the dark liquid streaming into the carafe, trying to numb herself to what might lie ahead.
Jay hadn’t replied to any of her texts, which might have made her feel completely hopeless except that he hadn’t replied to anyone else’s either. Janessa had been very vocal in her displeasure about that. Gareth hadn’t been happy either, but he hadn’t voiced his unhappiness like Janessa had.
Whatever Jay was going through, he’d made it much harder on himself by not keeping in contact with his siblings. They were all worried about him, and for some—namely Janessa and Cole—that worry was manifesting as anger. His parents had even come home early from Haiti.
There had been a lot of speculation about what might have happened to drive Jay away from Serenity. However, it had only been a couple of days since Misha had heard for the first time about the woman who had appeared at the clinic just before everything had changed with Jay.
No one knew who she was, just that her name was Amberlyn. Misha had wanted to be relieved that the woman wasn’t Casey, but all she’d felt was sick. She’d braced herself for the fact that she might have lost Jay. Now, with his return, she’d find out for sure.
