44. Sunny
Chapter 44
Sunny
T he daycare near the new house was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. Housed in a quaint little cottage, there were several rooms, each dedicated to children of different ages.
We had been led by a sweet staff member to the toddler room, where Luka would be placed. As soon as we stepped foot inside, I couldn't help but smile. It was a baby's paradise.
Brightly colored toys spilled out of containers. The floor was made up of colorful foam jigsaw puzzle pieces that made for a soft landing for any little ones who were just starting to toddle around, like Luka. Several staff members were dotted around the room, sitting with the children, playing with them.
As soon as he pulled his head out from my chest to look around, Luka was immediately enthralled and wanted to be let down.
The staff member talked to us for a good twenty minutes while he toddled around the room, grabbing different toys and interacting with the other children.
Walker lightly rubbed my back as I watched him. He could probably smell the nerves rolling off me. It was understandable, though. Leaving my child alone in a new place was always going to be scary.
Thankfully, for his first session, we were allowed to stay with him. Walker and I sat in a corner of the room with all the children’s books. Every now and then, a child would toddle up to me, and I would happily interact with them.
I had expected Luka to be more nervous, perhaps choosing to go and play for a moment before returning to see me regularly. Only, he did nothing of the sort. As soon as I put him down, he ran off to play with the toys and was thoroughly enthralled with his new friends, seemingly forgetting about me.
“Well, he certainly seems happy,” I said, watching him playing with another boy, stacking several large, colorful blocks.
“He does,” Walker agreed. “I think this could be a really good place for him.”
“He’s not even bothered about me being here. I thought he would be worried about me leaving.”
“That’s a good thing, though,” Walker said, taking my hand in his. “We want him to be happy here. That doesn't mean he loves you any less.”
“I know.” I pouted, making Walker chuckle.
He leaned back against the wall. “What do you want to do after this? We've got the entire day. I'm pretty sure the guys will be finished and back at the house around the same time as us. We could go get food.”
My stomach gurgled. I wasn't going to turn down an offer of food.
“Maybe that Italian place we saw in town?” I asked hopefully. I had passed there the other day while shopping for some produce at the farmers market, and the smells emanating from that restaurant had been downright glorious. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since.
“We all love Italian food, so it sounds like a good idea.” As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, no doubt shooting off a text to the others.
Sure enough, a second later, my phone buzzed with a new message in the pack group chat, which Blaze had named the Red Hot Hotties.
Walker : Italian good tonight?
Blaze : You know I’ll eat anything.
Rune : That new place near the farmers market? I had a feeling it was only a matter of time until we went there.
I smiled as their replies came in. In the past, whenever I recommended a restaurant to Gregory, he would usually complain that it wasn't nice enough for him. He was so caught up with appearances that we never really got to enjoy ourselves.
My pack, on the other hand, just wanted to eat some good food, and they didn't care if I wore sweatpants to the restaurant.
Rune : The farmers market is still open. Should we grab more strawberries for the little man? I noticed there was only one or two left after I made his breakfast this morning.
Blaze : There’s an extra container in the back of the fridge I picked up yesterday, but the way our boy gets through berries, I don’t think that’s a bad idea.
Smiling down at the screen, I put my phone away and focused on watching Luka. He played for a few more hours before he finally got exhausted and crawled into my lap.
“Looks like someone's ready for a nap,” Walker said as Luka snuggled deeper into my arms.
“He’ll sleep in his car seat on the way to the restaurant.”
“I'm sure one of the guys will happily stay in the car with him while you run to the farmers market as well. That way, he'll probably have a good hour nap before we get to the restaurant. There's no rush, though. We can eat whenever works best for him. The last thing I want to do is deprive this little terror of his meatballs.”
I cocked my head to the side as I brushed Luka’s hair out of his face. All my guys were so considerate of his needs. Even now that we were officially bonded, it was still heartwarming.
“It looks like Luka’s had a good day!” the young, blonde day care worker said as she approached us.
“He has,” I agreed, slowly getting to my feet, trying to avoid disturbing the toddler, who was quickly falling asleep in my arms.
Walker, seeing my struggle, shot to his feet and gently hoisted me up by my elbows. I shot him a thankful look before turning back to the daycare worker.
“So, do you think this setting will be a good fit for Luka?” she asked.
Walker and I both nodded before I said, “We do.”
Her smile widened, and she excitedly clapped her hands together. “Excellent. It's always amazing getting to welcome a new member to our little family. I'm going to quickly take you through a bit of the paperwork for security—who can pick him up and drop him off, all that stuff—and then I will let you guys go! When do you want him to officially start?”
“Probably soon,” Walker said, looking between me and the day care worker. “Sunny has classes right now, so it could be really useful. Can we do a slow schedule where we start him with two days a week for the first week or two, just until he’s a little more used to the routine?”
My eyebrows rose. Why hadn’t I thought of that? It was a really good idea and would help Luka acclimate to being away from me again.
“Of course. Why don't we start him off on Wednesday and work from there?”
“Sounds perfect,” I agreed.
Blaze and Rune were already in the parking lot for the farmers market when we pulled up. They were leaning against the truck, talking casually, until they saw Walker’s SUV pull into the lot.
“Sunshine!” Blaze greeted in an exuberant whisper when he noticed the napping Luka, pulling me into a hug. “How did it go?”
“Was it good enough?” Rune asked intently. We were all nervous about Luka potentially starting daycare, it seemed.
“It's actually a really lovely place,” I admitted. “I think it will do him a world of good.”
Blaze nodded. “I know he needs to be socialized with children his age, but it's sad that he won't be at home all the time.”
Rune shook his head. “He's only going a few days a week, you'll hardly notice it. You'll be at the fire station most of the time, anyway,” he pointed out. “Are you happy with it, Cher?”
“I am. We are going to start him off with two days a week and maybe go up to three once he's used to it.”
Blaze held his hand out to Walker. “Gimme the keys.”
Walker cocked an eyebrow. “Why the hell would I give you the keys to my SUV?”
“Because I'm going to need the keys if I'm going to watch over the sleeping baby that’s in your car while you accompany Sunny through the market.”
Walker glared intently at his pack mate for a moment before sighing and handing over the keys. “If you take it for a joyride, I will make your life miserable.”
Blaze beamed at him. “Oh, I have no doubt about that,” he said, before opening the back door and sliding into the seat next to where Luka was dozing in his car seat.
A large hand grabbed mine. Rune. “Come on, let’s go get more sustenance for the berry monster,” he said, tugging me toward the food stalls.
I had intended to only get strawberries, as they were Luka’s favorite, but they had an incredible selection of various fruits, so I also ended up with raspberries, a watermelon, a pineapple, and even some pomegranates.
Rune had found several large, fresh bags of spring greens for the bunnies and had stocked up on them, now that we had two bunnies in the house to feed. The new addition was settling in. He kept to himself while he was getting used to the space, but slowly, he would come out of his shell. Luka was obsessed with him and Sooty. Every morning before breakfast, he would insist on feeding the bunnies first.
Walker had paid for the fruit before I even asked the sweet old man running the stall how much it would be. While part of me wanted to tell him off, I was starting to understand that a large part of what made Walker himself was that he always wanted to take care of people, and that included paying for things.
My earlier worries about him constantly paying for things had mostly ebbed. After all, we were a full pack now, not just accidentally bonded. Still, sometimes I had to resist the urge to be a brat and swipe my card before he got a chance.
Something told me that his reaction could potentially be very fun for me.
“I’m not sure if he’ll like the mango,” I said as we wandered out of the market and back toward the cars.
“Blaze is a big mango fan. If Luka doesn’t like it, he’ll devour all three in one sitting,” Rune assured me. “Also, I was thinking about making a cheese and broccoli soup this week—how is he with broccoli?”
“He loves it,” I said. “I used to make it for him all the time. I don't know why I haven't recently.”
“The broccoli at our grocery store looks disgusting. You need to go to the organic grocery store or get it from the market,” Walker explained.
That must have been why. Whenever I went shopping, if any of the produce didn't look good enough, I simply skipped it until the next time.
“Don't worry, I've got the good broccoli,” Rune assured me. “I’ll do it for lunch tomorrow.”
“I can bake up some bread bowls,” I said, the idea already forming in my mind.
“Deal!” Rune grinned, pulling me in for a side hug as we reached the cars.
Blaze was sitting in the driver’s seat, a sleepy-looking Luka curled up in his arms, watching a dancing fruit video on his phone screen.
“Hey,” I greeted softly as I opened the door. “When did he wake up?”
Blaze looked away from his phone to smile softly at me. “Just a moment ago, he’s still not fully awake yet. Did you get everything you wanted?”
I snorted lightly. “And more.”
“That’s the curse of the farmers market. It’s a delicious curse, but a curse nonetheless.”
We all piled into the restaurant, Blaze still holding Luka, who was slowly returning to the land of the living.
The waitress greeted us warmly before sitting us in one of the gigantic corner booths. Without even having to be asked, she scuttled off to the corner and grabbed a high chair for Luka.
Once we were all situated and drinks were ordered, I looked over the menu. “This all looks so good. I don’t know what to pick!”
“What are your top options?” Walker asked as he perused the menu himself. He was sitting opposite me, one of his hands reaching out and passing a breadstick to Luka, who was happily chewing on it.
“I’m stuck between the lasagna and the carbonara.”
“You get the carbonara, I’ll get the lasagna, and we can share.”
I looked gleefully at him. “Walker, you may just be my favorite!” I declared, ignoring the protests from our other pack mates.
Walker, grinning from ear to ear, shrugged at his pack mates. “I can’t help that I’m amazing!”
Blaze stuck his tongue out playfully, but burst into spluttering laughter as Rune shoved a breadstick into his mouth.
Biting my lip, I observed the pair of them ribbing each other.
We must have looked like a perfectly normal pack going out for dinner together. We were loud, chaotic, and it was amazing.
And it was mine.