Page 7 of Hale Yes (Highway to Hale #1)

CHAPTER THREE

It’s doubtful she has a secret wild side

Helix

I swing open the door to my house and am struck in the knees by a ball of pure sunshine.

“Uncle Helix!” a sweet little voice squeals against my legs as I fight to maintain my balance.

“How’s my doodle bug?” I ask, picking up Reece beneath her arms and lifting her until she’s wrapped around my waist. I kiss her downy cheek and inhale the scent of bubble gum. My niece always smells like bubble gum.

She props her thin arms on my shoulders and grins. “I can wipe my own butt now.”

I can’t help but laugh. “That’s good, Reecie. I’m proud of you.” Stepping back, I allow Phoenix to stride in and close the door behind him. He sets Reece’s pink suitcase in the foyer. “What are your plans tonight?” I ask him, and he winks.

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

I’m assuming that means he has a date, or more likely, a hookup, though he never goes into specifics. I don’t know why he’s so vague about it. No one would judge him for needing a night off from dad duty, and we’re all more than happy to help out because Reece is the light of our lives.

Speaking of Reecie, she grabs my face and pulls it around so she has a hundred percent of my attention. “Uncle Helix, what are we doing tonight?”

“Oh, I dunno. I thought we could maybe do some… science stuff?”

She squeals and reaches for Phoenix, and her dad takes her in his arms. Reece pats his face and says gently, as if she might hurt his feelings, “I love you so much, Daddy, but you can go now. I’ll be fine doing science stuff with Uncle Helix.”

He rubs his nose against hers before peppering her face with kisses. “Love you too, baby girl. Don’t blow up the house or anything.”

The four-year-old rolls her eyes like a damn teenager. “We won’t, silly Daddy.” Then she squirms until he sets her down, and she’s off like a shot, running toward my kitchen.

“Thanks for keeping her,” my twin says. “I’ll take her bag up to her room while you go try to save your kitchen.”

I lightly slap his arm. “No problem. It’s the highlight of my week.”

“Sooooo, how is this like science?” Reece asks as she sits atop my gray-and-white marble countertop. She’s wearing a little apron that looks like a lab coat. I had it made for her a couple weeks ago, complete with Dr. Reece stitched on the chest.

“Because you have to measure every single ingredient perfectly and add them in the proper order,” I tell her, handing her the measuring cup.

“The recipe calls for one cup of cocoa powder, and if you don’t put the exact amount, the brownies will come out gross.

Same thing if you forget the eggs or vanilla.

Just like if I add the wrong amount of something in my lab, it will mess up the entire project. ”

I show her how to make sure the top of the cocoa powder is flat and even before letting her dump it into the mixing bowl. We make a terrible mess adding all the ingredients, but it doesn’t matter. Reece is having fun.

In my best nasally nerd voice, I say, “And now, you need to turn on the conversion device to transform the compound into a semi-liquid state.”

She flicks on the stand mixer and giggles when the ingredients turn into a dark-brown sludge. “It is like science! Can I put them in the oven?”

“I think I’ll do that part, since you’re not qualified for that procedure yet,” I tell her, booping her adorable button nose. “But you can help me scoop batter into the pan and make sure it’s smooth.”

Once the treats are in the oven, we clean up our mess, and then I sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the oven with Reece on my lap. We watch the brownies rise and firm up as they cook.

“Temperature is important in most chemical reactions. See how they’re changing to a solid form with the addition of heat?”

Reece wiggles happily. “Uhh, you mean they’re changing to a yummy form.”

I grin against the top of her dark curls and place a kiss there.

I love this kid, and I like teaching her about science in a way that’s relevant and easy for her to understand.

Science is everywhere, in every aspect of our daily lives, from the technology we use to the hormones that are released when we have certain emotions to the simple act of making brownies.

Reece is brimming with energy, so once the pan is out of the oven, I ask, “You want to take a swim while they’re cooling?” She nods vehemently. “Do you need help putting your suit on?”

“Nope, I can do it by myself,” she says smartly, tromping up the staircase to the room I have set up for her. I follow her up and go to my room to change. Less than five minutes later, I hear, “Uncle Helix, I need help!”

Smiling, I make my way down the dark-wood hallway to Reece’s room, a veritable confection of bubblegum pink. That’s the color I sense when I look at my niece. “What’s the deal?”

She frowns and holds up the two straps that are supposed to wrap around her neck. “I can’t tie them.” Her bottom lip trembles, and I kneel down and press a kiss to her forehead.

“That’s okay. Girls’ bathing suits are complicated.” Turning her, I tie the strings into a bow at the nape of her neck.

“Boys sure have it easy,” she sighs like she has the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders. “All you have to do is put your shorts on.”

I stand and hitch her onto my hip before traipsing down to the ground floor. Before we can head out the back door, I hear a knock at the front of the house. Reece’s eyes widen.

“Who do you think it is? An axe murderer?”

I bust out laughing. Where does she come up with this shit?

“We don’t get many of those in this neighborhood, doodle bug,” I tell her wryly, walking across the parquet flooring to the foyer. I live in River Oaks, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Houston. Swinging open my navy-blue paneled front door, I find Perri on the brick doorstep.

“Aunt Perri!” Reece shrieks, practically leaping from my arms to my younger sister’s. I stuff my hands into the pockets of my swim trunks and watch the two embrace.

“Hi, sweetie,” Perri coos, her eyes closed as she twists side to side in a rocking motion. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too. When did you get home?”

“Last night, and when I heard you were going to be at Uncle Helix’s house tonight, I decided to come over.” My sister’s blue eyes flash to me. “If that’s okay.”

I grab the back of her blonde head and pull her toward me to kiss her forehead. “Of course it’s okay, sis. I’m glad you’re home.” Perri just graduated from the University of Michigan. We all went to her graduation, but before that, we hadn’t seen her since Christmas.

Perri shares a father with me and my brothers, but she has her mother’s looks, with pale-blonde hair and eyes that are a couple shades darker than mine and my twin’s. Remi inherited our mother’s brown eyes, though he also shares our dark hair.

“We’re going to swim while the brownies cool,” Reece chatters excitedly. “They’re special brownies.”

My sister arches a questioning eyebrow in my direction.

“Not that kind of special,” I assure her with a chuckle. “Your suit is in the pool house, if you want to swim with us.”

“I’ll go with you and tie your straps,” Reece offers. “Uncle Helix said girls’ swimsuits are complicated.”

That earns me another eyebrow from Perri, who mumbles under her breath as she passes, “Getting them off or getting them on?”

I shake my head with mirth and start to follow them, but my phone rings from the coffee table. “Perri, I gotta check this call. Keep an eye on her.”

“Got her!” she calls back.

Reece is a good swimmer, but I take absolutely no chances with my niece’s safety, and she’s never allowed in the pool area without an adult.

Swiping my phone to answer, I say, “Hey, Abigail.”

She sounds breathless when she replies. “Oh my god. I just got a call from Isla.”

I’m the laboratory director now at Hale Cosmetics, and Dr. Abigail Blake is my lab manager. Isla is our administrative assistant.

Instantly on alert, my voice turns sharp. “What’s wrong?”

“Not a single thing. Well, aside from Isla being behind on checking emails, but it was a really busy day today. You know that though since you were there. Thank you for lunch, by the way. Everyone really enjoyed the?—”

“Abigail,” I say sternly to get her back on track.

“Oh, right, right. So anyway, guess who we got an email from today?”

“Mickey Mouse,” I say dryly, and there’s a long pause before I hear a sharp bark of laughter. Abigail is book smart, but sometimes she doesn’t get my sense of humor. Or maybe it was just a lame joke.

“No, Dr. Nicolette Bell,” she announces, and I can picture her doing a little flair move with her hand.

Of course I recognize the name immediately. Though I’ve never met Dr. Bell in person, she’s highly regarded in our industry, and I’ve read several of her articles and papers. In fact, some people call her the queen of modern-day biochemistry.

“Huh. She’s with Aquarius Cosmetics now, right?”

“Yes,” Abigail gushes. “Her name was on the top of the list from that headhunter we hired last month, so we sent her an inquiry. I never heard back, so I assumed she was happy with where she was, but today we got an email that she’s interested in coming for an interview.”

The tight tension I’ve had in my chest since Abigail announced her impending departure from Hale Cosmetics finally eases a bit. “That’s really good news. I look forward to speaking with her.”

I can practically hear my manager’s wince as she hisses out a breath. “Yeah, there’s a slight problem with that. She asked to come for an interview on Friday, and you’re leaving for London tomorrow.”

“Shit,” I curse, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I can’t put off this trip. I need to finalize everything for the new European skincare launch next month.”

As well as being the lab director for the U.S. division, I’m also the head of research and development for all Hale laboratories worldwide. And this trip is extremely time-sensitive.