Page 22 of Manny Included
“Cool.How long ’til those are ready, Manny Pete?”Bay asked him, stomach growling as if on cue.
“First ones are coming off!Second ones are five minutes behind.”
“Kids first, I’m assuming.Do any of them need to be cut for them?”Look at Bay, picking up on what the kids might need.
“Yes, please,” Belle piped up.“And I like lots of maple syrup.”
“Me too!”Eric cried.
“You guys don’t like french toast, do you?”Bay teased.
“Yes!”Belle laughed, and Flynn tossed a piece of banana in the air.
Bay smiled, and between that and the way his hair was all over the place, he looked younger, reminded him more of Tony.
It hurt because Tony had literally been his best friend—had been for years.All of his adult life.He didn’t know what to think about that, so he focused on french toast.
He focused on feeding kids, loving kids, cleaning and teaching, just managing the basics.Any extra things could happen later.
ChapterFive
Aweek after the funeral and Bay felt like they were finally starting to find some sort of routine.Maybe he was just getting used to the chaos.Belle and Flynn had been back in school for four days now.There were prepped meals in the fridge and freezer—really good meals at that.The cleaners had come yesterday and had done an amazing job so he’d hired them to come in for a couple hours on Mondays and Thursdays.
He was actually getting work done.He’d been working from the formal dining room, but working from home for Covid had taught him he could do it.And since it was working, he and Will had put their heads together and had bought everything he needed to turn the master into a bedroom and office for himself.Which he was looking forward to because the dining table and chairs were not optimal and he was going to need more of Pete’s massages.
The only thing they were dragging on was the part-time nanny so Pete could have some days off.So far, Pete had looked at all the applicants and refused to even interview any of them.Bay told himself that the only person Pete was hurting for being so picky was himself—he didn’t get a break until they had one, so Bay was going to let it slide.
Merida threw a toy across the room and Bay checked his watch.Pete should be back from taking the kids to school any minute now.He couldn’t wait because the twenty minutes he was alone with the two babies every day were terrifying.
Merida gave him a long, slow look, her little face screwed up, bright red curls a mass of unruliness.“Play?”
“What?”He blinked at her.
“Play wif me.”She toddled over, grabbed the toy, and stuck it in his face.
“Oh.”How?But he didn’t say that out loud.He took the stuffed panda from her, looked at it.“Okay.”Then he threw it across the room like she had.
Her lips dropped open, and she cackled, the sound merry and bright, making the baby’s eyes fly open.He rolled over to blink at her and then started crawling for the toy.
“That’s my toy!”Merida cried, scrambling over to it.
The baby started to cry, and Bay panicked.He didn’t want any crying!
“Please don’t cry!”
Merida just rolled her eyes, walked over, grabbed another stuffy, and shoved it in the baby’s face.
That actually worked, Flynn double fisted the highland cow toy and shoved one leg into his mouth, sucking on it.
“Nicely done, Merida.”
The little girl beamed at him, pushed her hair out of her face, and then chunked the toy at him, hitting him square in the nose.Bang!
Okay, so she was going to be a softball player.He was going to get her a coach.Maybe he’d wait until she was three, but it was definitely in the cards.
He lobbed the toy back at her, making sure it didn’t go in her face, but hit her leg instead.
She clapped for him, laughing happily, and for the first time since he found out his brother died, he felt like he’d genuinely done something right; he’d handled something.He’d made that little girl laugh.