Page 12 of Falling Together

Chapter 12

Erin

“Mommy!” Nolan yelled as soon as they walked through the sliding glass doors to the pool area. He hopped out of the pool where he had been playing with his cousin and wrapped Erin in a cold, wet hug.

Her emotions were still going haywire from earlier, so she had to work hard not to cry just from his hug.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Erin couldn’t believe she had word vomited all over Blair just a few minutes ago. Not only that, but she had actually cried on her shoulder. Correction—sobbed. It crossed so many lines, Erin didn’t want to think about it. The problem was, she couldn’t

stop

thinking about it. Blair had been so perfect and said all the right things. Erin wondered how much of what Blair had said was true.

I couldn’t imagine ever walking away from you.

What did she mean by that? Why did she say it? Did she just want to make Erin feel better or did she actually feel that way? It couldn’t really be how she felt, right? She was Nolan’s babysitter. She barely knew Erin, aside from everything she had let slip out today. But was Blair

just

a babysitter? Because ever since those words slipped out of her mouth, Erin wanted to correct her and tell her that she was so much more than that. But if she

was

more than that, what was she? Erin shook all of this from her mind. She had too many questions, many of which would, and could, never be answered.

Nolan tugged on her hand. “Mommy! Mommy! Do you want to go in the pool?”

That’s the last thing I want to do.

“Do you want me to?”

Nolan shrugged. “I don’t care. Bear does better throws.”

“Then it sounds like I better get in with you, huh?” Blair said, before flashing Erin a wide grin that made her heart race in ways it shouldn’t. “Is that okay, Mommy?”

“Go for it. I’d rather stay dry anyway.”

“Perfect.” Blair picked up a giggling Nolan and started to run toward the pool. “I hope you’re ready for this.”

She jumped in with him and when they popped out of the water, they were both laughing together. It was a breathtaking sight that Erin couldn’t take her eyes off of.

“You found yourself a pretty good babysitter there.”

Erin looked beside her to find her sister standing there. How long had she been there? “Yeah. She’s wonderful. Nolan loves her.”

“Oh yeah?” April gave her a mischievous grin. “I don’t think he’s the only one.”

Erin’s mouth immediately went dry, and she struggled to form any words. Her ears rang as what her sister said settled in. Was she trying to say that Erin

loved

Blair? That was ridiculous. Erin had a very strong appreciation for Blair and sometimes had thoughts she needed to push off to the side, but that didn’t actually mean anything. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

April held both hands in the air. “I’m just saying. I haven’t seen you look at anyone like that since Bianca.”

Just the mention of that name broke any spell Erin was under. “You mean the woman who tore my whole world apart?” Erin scoffed. “Yeah, I’d rather

not

have another one of those in my life.”

“You should invite her to go on vacation with us,” April said as if she had ignored everything out of Erin’s mouth. “Blair. Not Bianca, obviously. Bianca is a bitch.”

“Invite her to the beach? Why the hell would I do that?”

And why does that idea sound so tempting?

“To help with Nolan, of course.”

The sarcasm in her sister’s voice wasn’t lost on Erin. “I don’t need help with Nolan. Especially not with you and Sydney there.”

“

Well

, Sydney and I could watch him while you and Miss Babysitter go do something else.”

Something else.

Erin’s body heated up at the implications of those words.

Stop it!

She turned to face her sister more fully. “Listen, I know you have good intentions, but just drop it. Nothing’s happening. She’s Nolan’s babysitter and she’s

twenty-two-years-old

. For all I know, I’m closer in age to her

mom

than

her

.”

“Ah.” Her sister smirked and Erin knew whatever came out of her mouth next was going to be something she

didn’t

want to hear. “So, you’ve thought about this, huh?”

“What?” Erin shook her head more than was necessary. “Of course not.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I already like her more than Bianca.” And just like that, her sister walked away as though her words hadn’t just blown Erin’s mind.

She didn’t have time to dwell on them though, as the glass door loudly opened behind her and a boisterous male voice shouted over all of the chatter of the guests. “I’m here! The party can start.”

Erin turned around to find a young man, who appeared to be in his late teens, with shaggy blonde hair and striking blue eyes, holding up a case of beer.

Brandy, who seemed to come out of nowhere, grabbed the case of beer out of the boy’s hands. “Give me that. Why do you even have it?”

The teen shrugged. “Dad asked me to carry it out. For the

adults

, of course. Us under-twenty-oners

totally

won’t be drinking it after all of the adults are too drunk to notice.”

“Shut up, asshole,” a very familiar voice said from right behind Erin’s back.

A wet hand landed on her shoulder, and when Erin turned to look at Blair, she was pointing toward the boy. “Erin, this is my obnoxious, but sometimes lovable, brother, Blake.”

Blake. Duh.

Erin should have realized that from all of the pictures hanging around their house. The problem was his hair was much longer than it was in any of those pictures. He looked more like he belonged in California, not suburban Pennsylvania.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Blake. I’m Erin.”

Blake’s smile grew with her introduction. “Oh, I know. My sister talks about you

all the time

.”

“Remember what I said about shutting up?” Blair asked, but there wasn’t quite as much of a joking tone to her voice this time. She pointed to the girl standing next to Blake, who Erin hadn’t noticed. “This is the more important person to meet. My brother’s amazing girlfriend, who is way too good for him, Trinity.”

Trinity had red hair and freckles all over her face, which immediately developed a blush from Blair’s introduction. She held her hand out toward Erin. “It’s very nice to meet you. Blair tells us your son is the cutest kid in the world.”

“Aw, thank you. He kind of has to be. Otherwise, I’d probably leave him outside with a sign that says ‘

Free to a good home.’”

Erin added a wink to make sure everyone who could hear her realized she was kidding.

Blake clapped his hands together. “Well, ladies, I’d love to stick around and chat, but as the man, I need to do some grilling.”

“Ew. Please stop with that god-awful cis white male shit,” Blair said, sounding truly disgusted. “Also, don’t you dare go near that grill. Last year, you burned all of the hot dogs and hamburgers.”

“You’re right.” Blake bowed toward Blair. “It’s all yours, Grillmaster.”

Blair lifted her eyebrows at Erin and pointed back toward the grill. “Duty calls.”

Erin tried to keep her eyes off of Blair while she grilled, but it was nearly impossible, especially when she finished her first round of burgers and made conversation with every member of Erin’s family as she handed them plates of food. She looked away as Blair talked to her sister, to avoid April making a comment about her lingering gaze.

As soon as Blair was back at the grill, Erin couldn’t stop her eyes from shooting over there. Her sister might be wrong about the extent of Erin’s feelings for Blair, but Erin wasn’t blind. Blair was hot. Erin couldn’t deny that.

As if Blair could feel Erin’s eyes on her, she looked up from the grill and smiled over at her, winking before focusing her attention back on the burgers and hot dogs in front of her. Erin inadvertently licked her lips as she continued to watch.

God. Does it get any hotter than a sexy girl in board shorts and a bikini working the grill like it’s her job?

Just as she had that thought, Nolan walked up to Blair and tapped on her leg. The two talked for a minute before Blair reached down and lifted Nolan with one arm, resting him against her hip as she flipped the burgers with her other hand.

Okay. I stand corrected. It does get hotter than that.

After a few minutes, Blair called her dad over and handed him the spatula. When Erin noticed she and Nolan were headed in her direction, she turned away so it didn’t look like she had been staring.

“Mommy! Bear has a doggie!”

Erin turned back around at the sound of Nolan’s voice. “I know. I met him the other day.”

Nolan scrunched his nose at Blair. “Why didn’t I met him?”

“He was tired from going to work with my dad, so he laid on the couch while we ate dinner and was too much of a lazy ass to get up when you were leaving. But you’re going to meet him now, remember?”

Nolan nodded excitedly. “I’m going to met Moon!”

“Meet, buddy. You’re going to

meet

him,” Erin said with a laugh.

“I know!” Nolan answered, clearly unaware that she was correcting him. “Wanna come?” Blair asked her.

“Sure.” Erin looked around. “Where is he?”

“He’s up in my room.”

Shit.

Going to Blair’s room probably wasn’t the best idea. At least the last time she went up there, Blair was coming out, so it didn’t feel

quite

so intimate. “Maybe you two should just go. I already met him.”

Nolan reached his arms out toward her. “No, Mommy, I want you to come.”

Erin took Nolan from Blair’s arms and kissed his forehead. “Then it looks like I’m coming.”

How intimate can it really be with a toddler and a dog there?

After only a few minutes, Nolan was completely smitten with Moon, and if all of his kisses were anything to go by, Moon was smitten with him too.

“Does Moon swim?” Nolan asked Blair as he rubbed his belly.

“He does. He loves swimming.”

Nolan’s eyes lit up and he jumped from the bed, causing Moon to sit up to check what was happening. “I go swimming with him now!”

Blair ruffled Nolan’s hair. “I don’t think he’ll go down right now, buddy. Moon normally hides out when there are this many people at the house. That’s why he’s up in my room.”

“Will he get in trouble if he goes down?”

Blair shook her head. “Not at all. My parents, brother, and I have all tried to get him to go down when there are people here, but he refuses. He always drags his feet and runs back to my room.”

“I can do it!” Nolan waved his hand at Moon. “Come, doggie!”

Going against everything Blair had just said, Moon jumped from the bed and followed Nolan to the door. When Erin stood to walk after them, Nolan stopped and held a hand up at her. “Not you. He wants me. I’m his best friend.”

Erin put her hand on her chest and feigned offense. “Can I come with you?”

Nolan shook his head. “Nope. You scare him.” He pointed at Blair. “You don’t come either.”

“Ouch.” Now Blair put her hand over her chest as well.

They both watched as Nolan left the room with Moon right behind him. Blair walked to the doorway and peeked her head around the side (probably to make sure Nolan didn’t notice).

“He got him down the steps,” she said after a moment. “Better than the rest of us have ever done.” She walked back into the room and sat down on the bed. “How long do you think we have to wait before we’re allowed to go downstairs?”

Erin laughed and sat down next to her. “We’re

allowed

to go down whenever, because we’re adults and he’s a kid. He can’t tell us what to do.”

Says the woman who gets bossed around by this kid daily.

“

You’re

an adult. I’m a semi-functioning twenty-two-year-old. Plus, I don’t want to get yelled at.”

Erin ignored the comment about her age, because she didn’t want to think about that right now. “Are you telling me you’re scared of a three-year-old?”

“Hell yeah. That kid can get very sassy.”

“Oh, I know. He totally gets that from his aunt, not me.”

“

Sure

,” Blair said sarcastically. After a moment, her face became more serious. “Your family is awesome by the way.

“They really are. Well, when they’re not trying to convince me to move back home, they are.”

Or trying to talk to me about the feelings I may or may not have for a certain babysitter.

Blair studied Erin’s face for a long time as though she were trying to find something there. “And where would home be?”

“About three hours from here in Middle-of-Nowhere Pennsylvania.”

“Yikes. I can see why you wouldn’t want to go back there.”

“Right?” Erin slapped the bed, because it felt so good to hear someone agree with her for once. “I have no interest in moving back to a town that still thinks people who use the bathroom that aligns with their gender are sexual predators.”

“I agree. I couldn’t imagine. If I lived in a town like that, I don’t know if I would’ve ever come out.”

“That’s probably why it took me until my last year in college to do it.”

Blair’s eyes went wide. “Oh, wow. You should probably go back and experience it as an out-and-proud lesbian. Being out in college was ah-mazing.” She lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling wistfully. “Gay girls. Straight girls. Questioning girls. They’re all into it.”

Erin swallowed hard. “Yeah, I wouldn’t know anything about that. My ex was also my only.”

“Holy shit.” Blair shot back up into a sitting position. “Even since?”

Erin laughed. It was kind of adorable that Blair would think she actually found time to date over the past year. “Definitely not. My whole life is work and Nolan. That’s why my family wants me to move home so badly—to give me the extra help.”

Blair put her hand on Erin’s knee and squeezed, a simple touch that Erin felt throughout her whole body. “Well, now you have me. No need for small-minded hometowns.”

But how long do I have you?

Erin had only hired Blair for the summer, and she couldn’t keep Nolan out of daycare in the fall (especially since she already enrolled him), but she hated the thought of Blair not being there when she got home from work.

Erin laid her hand on top of Blair’s. “Thank you. For everything.” There was more she wanted to say, but those were words she needed to keep locked up inside.