Page 76 of Bargain With the Boss

“Absolutely.”

I scrolled through my messages, finding one from Gavin about some missing freight for two of our jobs. “Great,” I muttered and made two calls while I waited for my car.

I nodded to Jerry and slid a bill into his hand as he hopped out and I got in. I plugged into my Bluetooth and finished the call as I sped down Main Street then cut over Grange to the warehouses.

Annoyed that FHK Property Group looked deserted, I peeled back out and headed for the lake.

Dammit, was she with Claire?

Or Jude?

I slammed my hand against my steering wheel, going for Jude.

His grand house was one of the few historic houses that hadn’t needed a lot of work. Matching SUVs were in the driveway telling me Maddie and Jude were both home.

The sound of laughter and Maddie’s bright voice met me as I climbed the winding walkway. She was outside with Owenand Nessa on the wide expanse of lawn. A patchwork quilt was spread out with Owen happily coloring between two different books. The carrier had a sleeping Nessa with Maddie sitting cross-legged beside her, a coloring book of her own open on her lap.

She spotted me and brightened. “Well, hey there Uncle X.”

Owen popped to his feet and sped down the walkway to me. I caught him with a grunt and swept him up into my arms to hook him on my hip. “What’s up little man?”

“Wanna color with us?”

“I gotta go to work, I’m just stopping in for a minute.”

His face fell. “Oh, okay.”

I crouched down onto the quilt and looked in on the sleeping baby. So quiet and pink and small. “Being a good big brother?”

Owen nodded emphatically. “She’s too little to color yet, but I’ll teach her soon.”

“Good to hear.” I accepted the extra coloring book with a laugh and dropped onto my butt. Guess I was coloring whether I wanted to or not. Selecting blue and yellow crayons, I lightly filled in the sky of the thickly lined picture, then worked on the sun. “Have you seen your Aunt Sydney?”

“Aunt Sydee had breakfast with us at the spoon, but that’s the last I saw her.”

“Right, thanks buddy.”

Maddie gave me a raised eyebrow.

I cleared my throat. “I might have misplaced our recruit. Think the hubs knows where she is?”

Maddie traded my blue crayon for one of her red ones. “You have this handy little thing in your pocket called a phone.”

I huffed out a laugh. “I tried that.”

“We haven’t seen her. In fact I’ve only seen her twice since she’s been here this visit.”

I frowned. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, she seems very distracted.”

We swapped crayons and I absently colored the truck in my picture a bright ass pink as I puzzledover that comment.

Owen leaned over my coloring book. “Cool truck, Uncle X.”

“Thanks, bud.” I ruffled his hair. “I’m going to go talk to your dad.”

“Kay.” He waved. “Bye.”