Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Bay avoided going down for lunch or supper for a few days after their last adult night.
He cursed himself constantly. He had to keep his desires to himself because he was going to wind up driving Pete away, and that was about the worst thing he could do.
The kids needed Pete. Hell, he needed Pete because he couldn’t deal with the kids all on his own.
Falling for the guy was about the stupidest thing he could do. And yet here he was…
His stomach growled, and he sighed. He had to get a hold of himself and be a grown-up and just go have supper with the family. He couldn’t spend the next eighteen years avoiding Pete.
A soft knock came to his door. “Uncle Bay, Petey says supper’s ready. It’s spaghetti and meatballs. And he didn’t put cheese on the garlic bread, even though I told him I was supposed to have your cheese.” Belle sounded aggravated.
“I’m coming, Belle.” He closed his laptop and told himself to be a grown-up already and went out and took her hand so they could head downstairs togeether. “Maybe he didn’t want cheese on the garlic bread today?”
“No, I told him. He’s just sad, I think.”
“Oh, why is he sad?”
She shrugged. “I guess he misses Daddy and Mommy. They were very best friends.”
“Yeah, I know. We all miss them, eh? Some days that hits harder than others, you know?” He hoped it wasn’t because of him.
They walked into the kitchen.
The kids were sitting around the kitchen table, except for the baby, who was on Pete’s back in a carrier. “Hey there, supper’s ready. There’s chocolate silk pie for dessert, so we should all be good to go.”
Bay had to admit it smelled amazing.
“My stomach is going to start growling, it smells so good in here.” He went to his spot and offered Pete a smile. Damn, the man looked good.
“Happy Friday.” Pete smiled for him. “The kids requested pasta. I hope you don’t mind.”
He offered a smile back. “I’ve never had any complaints about the food you’ve made.” They’d stopped the food delivery service after the first couple of weeks of it, Pete saying he prefered doing the meals himself. “It smells absolutely delicious.”
“Well, come on in, sit down, and eat. There’s salad too.” Pete got everybody set up, and then started putting the baby in a highchair, grabbing some applesauce in a jar out of the fridge.
Bay sat and dished himself up a bunch of noodles, then covered them in the sauce. “Can you pass the garlic bread, please, Belle. Naked, just how I like it.”
He was pleased to discover that some of the garlic bread did in fact have cheese on it. Pete hadn’t left cheese-loving Belle wanting.
“Poor Uncle Bay. You don’t know how to eat garlic bread,” she teased.
He chuckled. “I just don’t like it drowned in cheese because I like the garlicky flavor—it’s called garlic bread after all,” he dared to tease back.
“Garlic is hot!” Belle told him. “It’s spicy. Only Pete does spicy food. He likes all the spices.”
“I do like my stuff spicy hot. But I save that for times when I’m eating by myself. I wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities.” Pete offered Belle a wink and a smile.
Fuck, Pete was a good-looking man. And the fact that he cared so hard for Bay’s nephews and nieces made him even sexier for some reason. Bay was so fucked. Or not fucked as it happened because he couldn’t make a move on Pete no matter how much he wanted to. The man worked for him, after all.
They all sat down and began eating. Pete focusing on the baby before he ate himself. There was a lot of laughter from the kids, chattering about their school and spelling and reading and just general family stuff.
All this was because of Pete. Backing off of his attraction, no matter how strong it was, was the right thing to do.
Pete cleaned the table off once they were done, and Belle headed to her room to read, Eric settled in for his half hour of cartoons, and Merida came to Bay with a stuffie.
“Him’s hurted.”
“He is?” Bay took the stuffie, looking for a torn limb or a hole or something. “What’s wrong with him?”
She pursed her lips, obviously thinking. “Hims has a boo-boo on his nose.” She pointed to her nose, then grinned at him.
“Oh, yeah, look at that. Does he need a nose bandaid?” A nose bandaid? Where had he come up with that?
She nodded. “A nose-aid. A bandnosie… yes.”
Bandnosie. Oh man, he was going to bust a gut laughing if he wasn’t careful, and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “A bandnosie?” he asked, looking over to Pete for guidance.
Pete nodded, then he reached up, opened a cabinet in the kitchen, and pulled out a little, round, tiny Band-Aid. It was pink.
“There you go, one Bandnosie.” Pete didn’t even crack a smile.
“That is amazing.” He put the Bandnosie on the stuffie’s nose. “There you go. All better.”
“Sank you!” She blew him a kiss and then wandered off.
“I’m going to go put the baby down, and then I’ll come back and start the bath process. If you want a piece of chocolate pie, you’re welcome to it whenever. It’s in the fridge.” Pete offered him a quiet smile and a nod.
“Thanks, Pete. As always, you’re the best.” Man, he had screwed up their relationship badly.
He should have just ignored the attraction, and just quietly backed off when he realized he was flirting, just stopped and not made a big deal of it.
Pete had said he was attracted first, though, right?
He’d just been trying to stave off a problem.
It felt like excuses, no matter how he put it.
Pete didn’t answer, just took the baby off.
After a few minutes, Merida came in, wearing her nightgown, hair damp. “Time for bed! Read a story?”
He sighed softly but nodded and took her hand, leading her up to her room. “What story do you want today?”
“Octopuppy.” She grabbed it from the bookshelf.
“You got it.” He put her in bed, sat next to her, and read her the story. And two more before insisting it was bedtime.
By the time he got out, he gave kisses to bathed Eric and Belle, finding the kitchen spotless, all the leftovers put away and a dessert plate and fork left out for him.
The pie looked amazing, but he didn’t want to eat it on his own. And whose fault was that? His. Totally his. He’d made that proclamation and then stopped hanging out with Pete. What kind of message did that send?
He sent a text to Pete.
The three dots lingered quite a while, and then,
Bay took a deep breath. Okay. Okay, that was a start.
He found another plate and a fork and sliced up the pie, dishing them each out a piece.
Pete came out in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and hoodie. “Hey. Would you like some milk to go with your pie?”
“That actually sounds great—something about chocolate and milk that just go hand in hand. Thanks.”
He sat because he figured here in the bright, happy kitchen with the hard chairs would be easier to do this than in the more comfy and cozy living room.
Pete brought over two glasses of milk. “What do you have planned this weekend?”
“I hadn’t given it any thought, honestly. What’s the plan with the kids?” He’d help out with that. It was only fair.
“Oh, let’s see.” Pete pulled out his phone “Merida has stories for tots at the library while Eric is at t-ball practice. Belle has a crocheting class and a dance class, and three of them have swimming class, and I have swimming with babies on Saturday. Sunday, I need to go get everyone summer clothes because everyone has grown out of everything. We need to talk about what we’re going to do for Merida’s birthday.
Also, everyone is going to have to start planning different camps because it’s coming up to camp season.
Then it’s getting ready for the last week of school. ”
Bay blinked at Pete as he pushed the panic down.
That was so much and it was the weekend!
He cleared his throat a few times, then nodded.
“I want to help as much as I can, so you can tell me what of all of that you need me to do. And I need to apologize for not being around much the last week. I…” He took a deep breath.
“I handled our last conversation badly and I’m sorry for that. ”
Pete’s cheeks went bright red. “Well, thank you for apologizing, but it wasn’t necessary. You’re absolutely right, and I’m sorry. You have my word that I will be absolutely focused on the kids.”
But that was Pete’s job. He shouldn’t have to be focused on the kids twenty-four/seven for the rest of his life.
Bay shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the answer here.
We can be friendly—hell, we can be friends.
And I think adult time will keep us both sane, having someone to talk to, to just be with.
And I don’t think the fact that I pay you to look after the kids makes us being friends creepy.
But for some reason if you add in anything physical, it feels like I’d be taking advantage of you.
And if we did decide to do it anyway and it went bad—” Bay shook his head.
“I can’t do that to the kids. They’ve already lost two parents; they can’t lose you too.
” He was doing it right this time, right?
Trying to fix the relationship between them without taking it too far?
“Well, honestly, you don’t.”
“What?” He didn’t follow.
“You don’t pay me to watch the kids.” Pete shrugged, offered him a smile that didn’t quite make it all the way to his eyes.
“The trust pays me to take care of the kids. You can’t fire me.
I’m just here. But you’re right—I totally can be friends, and I think that’s smart.
I promise not to make you uncomfortable again.
You have my word.” Pete took a bite of his pie.
“It’s pretty good. If you want to come to swimming or do you want to do the library or t-ball just let me know what parts you want.
Then the organizing of camps and stuff? That’s going to need your input too.
At least the older two are both going to want to go. ”