3 #2
“I don’t know,” said Mark. “We may have made a bad first impression, but I bet you could bring her around.”
Rowan gave him strong side-eye.
“What? Based on her car alone, she is clearly more our kind of people than theirs.” He gestured to the tidal wave of cars where Rowan’s blue Ferrari and Mark’s red Tesla stood out among the sea of black and charcoal German automobiles.
“She swears like a sailor. She knows how to strategize and plan an ambush. She’s not scared of...
apparently anything. And she had a POW-MIA sticker on her back window.
Honestly, since you brought it up, if you’re looking for a potential partner, I’d start with her. ”
“I did not bring it up. You brought it up,” said Rowan. “And I’m going home now before you come up with some sort of bizarre rom-com plot for us to fall in love and have eight babies.”
“Eight does seem like a lot,” said Mark with a grin. “See you tomorrow.”
Rowan grabbed some take-out on his way home and brought it into his condo.
The building was on the south side of Lake Union and had a great view, but was a run-down eighties monstrosity that had once been three condos.
The building had cost him a million and a half but he had the luxury of being able to renovate everything to his liking and security tastes.
Compared to the million-dollar two-bedroom apartments next to the Space Needle, it was a steal.
It was also still under construction and costing him an arm and a leg. Like the rest of his life.
His phone rang as he separated his chopsticks.
“Hey, Forest,” he said, putting the call on speaker. “What’s up?”
“Hey! Two things.” His brother had taken to itemizing his conversations, probably because Oliver had condensed his time and attention span. “Can you babysit next Tuesday afternoon for a couple of hours?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind him being in the office.”
“As long as no guns are lying around, then sure. I need Olly out from underfoot while I interview nannies.”
“Don’t you want him there for nannies?” asked Rowan, confused. “And what happened to Mrs. Brown?”
“Mrs. Brown is moving back to Colorado to take care of her own grandbabies. I offered her triple the salary, and she said that’s sweet and patted me on the head, but the answer was still no.
And these are the first round of interviews where I get rid of the gum chewers and college kids.
Once I’ve got a couple I like, I’ll introduce them to Olly. ”
“Got it,” said Rowan. “Yeah, bring him by. The guys all love him. We will feed him sugar and let him play with whatever Doc’s invented this week.”
“OK, do we need to have another talk about child safety?” demanded Forest.
“Hey, I basically raised the two of you, and you both still have all your fingers.”
“Considering some of the shit we got up to, I don’t know how you managed that. But if we could have slightly higher standards for Olly, that would be great.”
Rowan chuckled. “Well, you’re home every night and feeding him some amount of spaghetti, judging from the pictures, so you’re already doing better than our parents.”
“Yeah, our parents aren’t exactly a high bar to clear,” said Forest sourly.
Their father’s disappearing act when Rowan was eleven had actually been an uptick in the quality of their lives because although it had taken income out of the house, at least he wasn’t there to hit them anymore.
“But that does bring me to item two. Have you heard from Ash lately?”
Their younger brother Asher was some sort of tech investment whiz, and Rowan readily admitted that he didn’t understand half of what Ash did.
What he could tell was that sometimes Ash’s schedule ran heavy and then opened up for a lot of free time, which meant it was sometimes hard to connect if their schedules didn’t run hot and cold at the same time.
The family text thread had been helpful for that.
Rowan flipped open his messages and skimmed through.
“No, I haven’t heard from him, and he hasn’t done more than thumbs-up pictures of Olly all week.”
“Yeah, I tried to call him yesterday, and it went… badly?”
“What kind of badly?” asked Rowan.
“Like, I think he was at work and wasn’t willing to say anything but yes or no to anything I asked.”
“Do we think someone is holding him hostage?” asked Rowan with a laugh.
“No,” said Forest hesitantly, “but I asked about Emma, and I got ultra frosty Ash telling me that Emma would not be attending anything for the foreseeable future and that he would appreciate it if I didn’t discuss her with anyone.”
Rowan let out a low whistle. Ash had been dating Emma Van Lanken for two years, and Rowan had assumed they were stable. Rowan hadn’t liked Emma—he thought the heiress was cold, snobby, and selfish—but all indications had pointed toward a solid relationship.
“Maybe I’ll hit him up and see if he wants to get dinner on the weekend. We’ll get more out of him in person.”
“Good idea,” said Forest, sounding relieved. “What night, though? Because my babysitting options are limited.”
“We’ll do Saturday night, and I will find you a babysitter,” promised Rowan, thinking he could make Mark and Jenny practice their parenting skills on Olly.
Forest sighed, sounding tired. “Thanks, Rowan. I know this probably sounds dumb, but sometimes arranging Olly’s schedule is one more thing, and I can’t handle it.”
“You’re making it,” said Rowan encouragingly, thinking that Forest could outsource more.
“Yeah, I’m making it,” said Forest. “But that’s all I’m doing. Most nights, I just pass out on the couch.”
“You could call in for reinforcements more often,” said Rowan. “I don’t mind helping out.”
“I know, but you’re busy.”
Rowan made a note to start dropping in on Forest more often. Uncle Rowan could definitely be taking Olly off for a few adventures. Forest needed some downtime.
“Well, clear your Saturday evening,” said Rowan. “I’ll pin down Ash, and then we’ll figure out what’s going on, and you can spend time with an adult for once.”
“You mean Ash, right?”
“Ha. Ha.”
Forest chuckled. “No, we all know you’re the adult. You’ve always been our grown-up.”
“Maybe that’s why I feel ancient,” said Rowan.
“Well, let’s go out and get drunk, then,” said Forest. “That’s sure to make us feel better.”
Rowan laughed. “Not so sure about that, but we can try.”