Page 50 of Hello Trouble

FLETCHER

With the younger two girls in bed and Maya finishing up homework in her room, I went to the home office to file paperwork for the practice. It was the least favorite part of my day, but it had to get done.

I was so much in the zone, I didn’t notice my wife coming into the office until her pregnancy bump knocked over a picture frame on my desk.

“Shit,” she muttered, picking it up and then brushing her hand over her belly. “I’m never going to get used to this.”

I looked up at her, amused. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she grumbled. “Enormous. When’s this baby coming out again?”

“You’ve got a few months, I’m afraid,” I said with an apologetic smile. “How was Della?”

“Great, but there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

I closed my laptop and rubbed my eyes. “I’m all ears. Let’s head out to the kitchen?”

“Sure.”

I went around the desk, putting my arm around her waist. I loved the way her stomach rounded with our child. Her hand covered my own, and she walked with me to the island, sitting at one of the barstools.

“Care for a mocktail?” I offered, grabbing a couple glasses from the cabinet.

“Sure.” She leaned forward on the counter, resting her chin in her hand. “It’s funny they call them virgin drinks, since all us pregnant whores are the ones drinking them.”

I nearly snorted. “Liv.”

She grinned. “You know how I got pregnant. Or should I refresh your memory?”

My cock twitched. “Damn, woman, let me make your drink first.”

She replied with a wicked giggle, and I went about cutting a lime in half, pulling a few leaves from the mint plant above the sink, and adding sparkling water.

“So I had an idea I think could be really good,” Liv began tentatively. The last time she talked like this, I ended up with a puppy she and Maya found alongside the road. So when I turned to face her, it was with a heavy dose of skepticism.

“I—”

We heard the sound of a loud engine along the road and growing closer in the driveway, then gave each other a look.

“Hayes,” we said at the same time.

She gave me a smile. “Better mix an extra drink.” She pushed up from the stool, going to the front door, and I may have stared at her ample curves as she walked away.

A few seconds later, I heard her greeting Hayes and the tread of his boots as he came inside. He got to the counter, and before he even said hello, he declared, “You’ve got to give Della a job.”

Liv and I both stared at him in shock.

“Hey, that was my idea!” Liv protested.

Now I was staring at both of them, absolutely confused. “Okay, what the hell is going on? Della has a job.”

My wife and my brother sat at the counter, filling me in on how Della actually couldn’t stay at her job. How her timing was off in deciding to stay, and it left her in a bad position, having to find another job or stick with her plan to move out of Cottonwood Falls.

Hayes said, “Brenda’s old as dirt—she can’t work with you forever. And Liv’s complained to me about you working at night.”

I gave my wife a look, but she lifted her chin.

“It’s true. I would love to get my husband back at night and keep my best friend in town.

And didn’t Brenda tell you she wants to look at retiring in the next year or two?

She wants to spend more time with her grandkids.

This way, you’d have the office manager part of the business solid before bringing in a new nurse.

You even said you wanted to start offering more aesthetic services, which you can’t do if your nurse spends half her time on paperwork and?—”

I held up my hand to stall Liv’s spiel. She could go on for hours until she got her point across. “Can you both give me a second to think?”

They gave each other a look and then nodded.

Without their chatter, I had a second to pour myself a Moscow mule, lean against the counter, and take a few sips.

They were making a lot of sense, but I hadn’t planned to bring on anyone new.

It would be an extra cost and would take time to train her on the job duties, not to mention working with my wife’s best friend and my brother’s girlfriend could get messy. Someone had to be practical here.

“I haven’t even opened a position or interviewed her,” I said.

Hayes’s brow puckered as he pushed his glass away. “Why do you need to interview her? Edna kept her on for eighteen years, and you know she doesn’t deal with dead weight.”

Liv nodded in agreement. “Not to mention she’s here every week. She’s babysat our children for literal days before. You’re telling me you’d trust her with the most important humans in your life and not some paperwork she’s overqualified to handle?”

My cheeks got hot at the mention, and instead of responding, I turned to my brother. “Okay, but what if you and Della break up?” I countered. “I don’t want you mad at me because I’m working with your ex.”

Hayes glowered at me. “Give me a little credit.”

I held my hands up in surrender and looked between them, both of them staring me down like they wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Then I heard my eldest daughter say, “Are you going to work with Auntie Della? That’s a great idea, Daddy!

” She breezed into the kitchen, going to the fridge in her pajamas.

I let out a sigh, rubbing my temples. Now they just needed Rhett to come over, and the four strongest-willed people I knew could all gang up on me. “You planned this, didn’t you?” I asked Liv.

She held up her hands. “Maya’s a brilliant girl all on her own.”

Maya pulled back from the fridge, holding a yogurt. “Thanks, Livvy.”

My wife smiled at her. “Of course, babe.”

Hayes ran his fingers through his hair. “So are you in or not?”

I let out a sigh, knowing I’d been bested. It was a good idea, even if I hadn’t come up with it on my own. “I’ll need to write a job description and do an interview, but I’ll consider it.”

Before the words were even out of my mouth, Hayes and Liv were celebrating together. And I had to laugh at this crazy life. Sometimes things didn’t work out the way you expected them to—they worked out exactly how they were meant to.