Chapter 8 A Perfect Fit
A PERFECT FIT
“There he is,” Janet Bond said on Saturday. “Come to see his mother.”
“If you came into the office I’d see you more,” Ethan said, moving closer to give her a one-armed hug and kiss on the cheek.
He wanted to come over in the helicopter, but no one was coming to the island this morning and he got caught up in the office when there would have been time to get a ride last night.
No reason for his brother to make a trip for him when coming on the ferry wasn’t the end of the world.
He’d be here with his car and could stay the night, maybe go back to the casino.
Though the memories of that were still a little too fresh in his mind.
And starting on Monday he’d be seeing Nora daily.
He had to be crazy to have done that. But he was putting work first and he was positive she was going to be a perfect fit.
“Why would I go into the office when there isn’t anything for me to do there?” his mother asked.
“I’m more likely to see you there than Egan.”
“That’s right but still false,” Egan said, walking into the room holding his daughter, Khloe. At just three months old, the baby was wide awake and looking around the room while chilling in her father’s arms.
Ethan moved in closer and put his hands out. “Give her to me.”
“Gladly. She’s got gas. If she drops a load in your arms, you get diaper duty,” Egan said.
“Should have figured that is why you’d hand her over so quickly.” He snuggled his niece closer to his nose, rubbing it against her much tinier one, then inhaling the fresh, clean baby scent.
Until she ripped one, then grunted.
Egan was roaring and backing out of the room.
“Give her to me,” his mother said.
He handed her over. “Yeah, I’ll take her back when it’s done. Where is Kaden?”
“Blake is in the bathroom with him. Potty training is hit or miss,” his mother said.
Egan returned to the back of the massive house on the island at the same time his mother laid Khloe down to change her.
Kaden was running before his father, Egan pretending to keep pace but losing.
“I won. I won,” Kaden hollered. “Uncle Ethan.”
“Hey there, buddy,” he said, squatting down as Kaden barreled toward him, then crashed into his chest knocking them both over.
“Oops, should have warned you,” Egan said. “That’s his new thing.”
“Damn, he’s tough.”
“Like his mother,” Blake said, walking in. “I need to be to put up with him and my husband. Has his father’s personality too.”
“Is Kaden playing pranks yet?” he asked. “Because once that happens, you’re in trouble.”
Blake turned to point her finger at Egan. “Don’t you dare.”
Egan shrugged and grinned. “You can’t stop him if he wants to do it.”
His mother laughed and handed Khloe back to Ethan. “This one will be just as sweet as her momma then.”
“Blake, sweet? Nope,” Egan said. “She’s all full of sass and vinegar and I love it.”
His brother walked over and pulled his wife under his arm, giving her a big smacking kiss, then picking her up to her squealing and cradling her in his arms.
“Put me down before you drop me.”
“Oh, Mom. My wife is insulting my manhood. You need to tell her it will hurt my feelings.”
“Egan, behave,” his mother said. “Or no dessert for you.”
“I get it then,” Ethan said proudly. “I deserve it.”
“Stop whining,” his father said, walking into the room. “You’ve got your new assistant starting on Monday.”
“I have to admit,” his mother said. “I was surprised when your father told me you hired Norris’s daughter. You don’t see that as a conflict?”
He looked down at his niece, putting his attention there rather than anyone looking into his eyes so that they couldn’t see what he was really thinking or feeling about his new assistant.
“No,” he said. “We all know Norris can be an ass.”
“Language around my kids,” Egan said, putting his wife down. Blake rubbed his arm and gave him a kiss.
That. That was exactly what he wanted in his life.
Why the hell couldn’t he find it when his two brothers did on an island with slim pickings?
“Uncle Ethan!”
He turned when he heard his name yelled again. This time his other niece, Adrienne, came running into the room in a light yellow sundress and white sneakers, followed by her mother, Bella, and his brother, Eli, carrying his second nephew, Oliver, who was sleeping in a car seat.
“Hey there, my two favorite girls.”
He sat on the couch so that Adrienne could climb up next to him and look at her cousin closer. “Khloe is like my doll.”
“But you’re nicer to your cousin than a doll, right? Just like Ollie,” Eli said.
“Is that what you’re calling him?”
“Seems to fit,” Bella said.
“Back to Ethan,” his mother said. “Now that you’re comfy with your nieces.”
“The only girls that stick to his side,” Eli said, smirking.
Fuck. Did his brother know what had happened a few weeks ago?
He’d have to find out. And if that was the case, why wasn’t he told before now?
“Leave your brother alone,” his mother said. “He’ll find his person when it’s right.”
“When he stops working so hard,” Eli said.
“You’re one to talk. Bella fell into your lap. If she hadn’t, you’d probably still be single.”
Eli turned and winked at his wife. “I never forgot her and she knew it. Why do you think her uncle sent her to me to be watched?”
“He sent me to be watched by Griffin, not you,” Bella said, laughing.
“Dude,” Egan said, laughing. “She has your number.”
“Griffin and I are a team,” Eli said. “And it doesn’t matter. I got the woman in the end. You, on the other hand, you had to save your wife.”
“I’d hardly say I was saved,” Blake argued. “But I feared I’d lose my rental by missing the ferry.”
“See,” Egan said, puffing his chest. “Saved. I swooped in and flew you off into the sunset. Literally.”
“You boys never stop,” his father said.
“Back to Ethan. You met with Nora. Do you think she’s like her father?”
“Not even close,” he said. “She’s completely different in personality. She was even concerned she might have to work with him, but I assured her that wasn’t the case. Just with his assistant once in a while, if that.”
He had a lot of ventures on his own that Nora would handle. Including a minority stake in the tech company that Blake’s father and brother owned, where she ran the software development end.
It was possible to mix work and family. He’d done it most of his life and had a great example from his father.
Not that Nora was his family.
But there was a past and could be a conflict. He wouldn’t let that happen.
“I told your mother that Nora seemed quiet but confident. I don’t believe she’s had a close relationship with her father, but she moved here. Norris has never been one to talk about his personal life much.”
“Because he probably doesn’t have one,” he said.
“I got a little background from her, so did Blair.” He had to be careful what he shared, as some of it came from his other interaction with Nora.
“She lived in Burlington with her mother for years. Her mother remarried and moved and nothing was holding her there. Norris asked her to come to Boston for them to reconnect.”
“Sounds as if they were estranged?” his mother asked.
“I’m not sure if that is a word I’d use, but not positive. I think it’s more strained, but willing to work. She’s been here less than a month and was interviewing for jobs.”
“Interesting,” Eli said. “Might be something like landing in your lap.”
Eli wiggled his eyebrows some, but his parents weren’t paying attention.
He’d have to get to the bottom of that soon enough.
He looked down and saw Khloe’s eyes closing. “This one is ready to fall asleep. Is that what you want?”
“I’ll take her,” Blake said. “I want to get a bottle in her first. Egan—”
“On it.” His brother was already up and grabbing an empty bottle with a can of formula and moving to the kitchen.
“Can I feed her?” Adrienne asked.
“She’s great feeding Ollie,” Eli said.
“You can,” Blake said. “We’ll sit next to each other on the couch while you do it.”
Ethan got up to make room for them, then walked to the glass doors and opened them up to the covered deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
There was something about this place that was crazy calming.
Maybe he should look into a place of his own.
But who the hell had time? He barely spent much time in his condo, but at least he had a water view there too.
He turned when he heard footsteps behind him and saw Eli approaching. Great. Of all people.
“What’s your deal with the looks and comments?” Ethan asked.
Eli grinned. “You know there are no secrets in the casino. I find out everything.”
Ethan sighed. “What’d you find out?”
“That you went to your room with someone, but woke up alone.”
“So?” Ethan shot back. “You’ve done that plenty, before your wife fell into your lap.”
Eli smirked. “Fair. And I wouldn’t have thought twice about it except it was brought to Griffin’s attention that a woman was caught tiptoeing out of your room like she’d just stolen something.”
Only his heart.
What. The. Fuck.
Where the hell did that come from?
“Nope,” he muttered.
“Then that same staffer went back to the desk and checked the name on the room.”
“And saw it was mine,” he said. “So she ran to you? Whatever happened to confidentiality?”
Eli held up a hand. “Relax. She didn’t say a word to me. She told Griffin, just in case. Because that woman checked out before the first ferry. Nobody does that.”
Goddammit. His brother was putting the pieces together faster than he wanted.
“I didn’t know that,” he said carefully.
“Just like you might not have known, or wanted, her sneaking out. Jones is a common name, but I don’t know any other men named Norris. Eleanor was on the room, which Nora could be short for. Related?”
He exhaled. “His daughter.”
Eli burst out laughing. “You’re shitting me. Did you know who she was that night?”
“Nope,” he said, the p hitting harder than he intended.
That only made Eli laugh harder. “So she ghosted you and then showed up to apply for a job?”
“The first part, yeah. The second, no. She came to see her father. Everything else just… happened.”
“Like fate, on this island.”
“Shhh.” He shot him a look. “Don’t let Mom hear you say that.”
Because maybe deep down he was thinking the same thing.
“Now this is rich,” Eli said. “You had a one night stand with someone who lied about who she was.”
“She didn’t lie. She gave her first name. So did I.”
“Did she know who you were?”
Ethan’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. She thought I knew her too. We were just talking, then it turned into something else.”
“And now you’re her boss? This just keeps getting better. Dad know?”
“No. And I’d like to keep it that way. Nora and I came to an understanding. The past stays buried. Strictly professional from here on out.”
“Sure, it does,” Eli said, clapping his shoulder before walking off with a grin.