Chapter 11 #2
“They’re getting excited about school being over soon, aren’t they?”
“Absolutely. They’re excited about camp. They’re excited about swimming. They’re excited about going to the park and sleeping in, and Belle’s old enough to have real school friends that have parties and sleepovers, and she’s very excited and nervous about that.”
“Do you know which kids she wants to play with? Should I have Will look into their parents to make sure everything is copacetic?”
“I—Is that a thing? I don’t know whether we should do that…”
“Okay, if you think it’s okay. I’m following your lead here.”
“God, I’m just as insane as all of them, right?” Pete chuckled softly. “You and I are just figuring it out together.”
“Yeah. At least you’ve been looking after the kids since they were born. This whole thing just dropped in my lap. Boom.” And he wasn’t complaining. It was just a lot and a lot that he had no idea about.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I mean, I’m not sorry we met, but I am sorry that… it happened like this.”
“Yeah, you and me both.” All this should have been Tony’s. All of it. But it wasn’t, and he had to focus on making sure the kids had the best life possible, not on what they’d all lost.
And maybe he was going to have to stop worrying about enjoying the relationship he’d gained too.
He smiled over at Pete, testing out the waters as he briefly touched Pete’s thigh.
Pete hummed softly, vibrating for him.
Oh nice. Okay. He threw Pete another smile before concentrating on where he was going—following Pete’s directions.
Merida was singing softly to herself, and the baby was making sweet sounds. It occurred to him that these kids were happy. Genuinely happy. And that was down in no small part to Pete.
He let that happiness wash over him as he pulled into the parking lot and found a spot for the van.
Pete smiled at him and leaned over to kiss his cheek.
He blinked, shocked, but also pleased. He cleared his throat. “We’re here,” he said, like an idiot.
“We are. I—We so are.” Pete’s cheeks were bright red, almost glowing. “Sorry. I got distracted.”
“You got distracted? You distracted me.” He shook his head and shot Pete a look. He didn’t want Pete to think the peck had been unwelcome. “You waited ’til I stopped the car, so it’s okay.”
“Oh.” Pete beamed at him, those pretty eyes focused on him. “That’s good to know…”
He felt his own cheeks heat, and he cleared his throat. Okay. They were at the grocery store and they had two little kids in the van with them. “Uh-huh. I’ll get the bags and Merida if you make sure you have your list and Flynn.” Look at him, being focused on what they were here for. Mostly.
“I’m on it. Are we ready to go shopping, kiddos?”
Merida cheered, and Flynn’s response was a long, melodic fart.
He chuckled. That kid was the gasiest being he’d ever met. At least they were leaving the fart itself back in the car as they headed for the store.
“So how do you work out who gets to sit in the front of the cart?” Because he would bet they would both fit.
“I usually carry little bit and put her in the cart, but there are two of us, so we both could push a cart if we wanted to. I just worry about trying to get them both in one. Would you like to sit in the cart, Flynn?”
Flynn reached for Pete, shaking his head.
“So I’ll carry Flynn in the pack.”
Pete sure spent a lot of time carrying Flynn in the backpack carrier.
“Okay. I’ll push our pink dragon in the cart then.
” He grabbed one as they went in and got Merida settled in it.
“Okay, lead the way.” Was it bad that he didn’t know his way around a grocery store?
It was probably bad that a grown man didn’t know where to find waffles and where to find chips, or anything else.
“So, do you not cook or do you not shop for yourself? I guess you used to eat out all the time, huh?” Suddenly, Pete blinked and stared at him. “What about your house? Gosh, did you just leave it empty?”
“I have a penthouse apartment downtown, and yes, it’s empty.
Someone comes in to clean it once a week.
And I would either eat out, order in, or skip meals if I wasn’t hungry.
” If he had a big steak with all the trimmings business lunch that started at one, he was rarely hungry for another meal in the evening.
“Oh, well, I hope we’re feeding you well enough.”
“Have I complained? Even once?” Whether it was one of the meals Will had ordered in for them or something Pete had cooked, he’d enjoyed it all.
“Absolutely not. You’ve been amazing. I’ve loved being with you.”
“I’m trying.” He’d never wanted to be a jerk.
“I can tell. I love that about you.”
His cheeks warmed when Pete said that, and he told himself that Pete didn’t mean it like that.
“Okay. You’ve got a list, right? Let’s get this done.”
“Let’s!” Pete manuevered them around the store, shopping and singing, occupying the kids.
It was amazing how comfortable Pete was at this, between the kids and the shopping, he just shone.
By the time they were done, he was exhausted, and Pete seemed energized.
They piled the groceries into the back of the van, and he wasn’t surprised at all to see that it was time to go meet Will for lunch. That had taken forever.
“I love this plug-in cooler. It makes things so much easier. We don’t have to stress the milk and meat.”
“Huh. That wouldn’t have even occured to me.”
Pete shrugged and grinned. “Waste not, want not, right? We found it and we just loved it. Tony was very into gadgets.”
“That definitely sounds like my brother.” Not that he hadn’t liked them himself, but Tony had loved them, just loved them. “You know how to get to the Zak’s on Elgin? I mean, I know where Elgin is, just not where the Zak’s is.”
“I do, also, it’s in my phone, just to be sure.” Pete winked at him. “When we get there, I need to take the kids to the toilet and get them taken care of.”
He bit the bullet and offered, “Do you want me to take one of them?”
“No, no, you go ahead and meet with Will. I just think that Merida should try to go potty, and you know that Flynn needs to be changed. There’s just no question. It’s been seven seconds. He needs his butt changed.”
He chuckled. “He does have an active butt.”
Pete’s laughter filled the air. “Once he really starts walking, that baby’s going to be active, full stop.”
“Yeah? Aren’t they all?” It was an incredible dance Pete did to look after all of them.
“Belle was really low key, compared to the other three. She still is.”
“Huh. I guess they’re all different, eh?”
“Totally. The one in question is Flynn, of course, because he’s so young.”
“He seems to have his own personality already, though.” Bay thought he was a hoot. The kid was going to be a jokester for sure; he just loved laughing.
“He’s something else.” Of course, he could tell Pete thought they all were. Four unique and wonderful kids who were something special. Of course, Pete wasn’t wrong.
Pete pointed down the road a bit and he could see the sign for Zak’s.
“You think the city hall parking garage is close enough—it’s only a couple blocks from the restaurant and there’s far more likely to be spots there than on the road.” And, frankly, he didn’t want to have to try to parallel park the minivan.
“Sure. I have the stroller. No problem.”
God, there were so many moving parts to having kids.
He just said, “Cool,” and drove past the restaurant to the underground parking beneath city hall.
“I haven’t been out to lunch like this since…” Pete swallowed hard. “A long time.”
“Yeah? I thought you had days off before… Before.”
“I did, sort of. I mean, I took my vacation when they did, but…” Pete shrugged and slid out of the car. “I’ll get the stroller.”
Damn. Pete had been a parent in all but name.
That didn’t seem fair somehow. He knew Tony and Cindy hadn’t been being evil or anything, but if they really looked at it, Pete had given up his whole life to help his brother’s family out.
Hell, Pete was giving up a heck of a lot more now, he wasn’t even getting any time off at all.
Bay shook his head and got with the program of getting the kids up to the restaurant. These were thoughts for when they weren’t about to have lunch out with the kids and Will.