Page 12

Chapter 11

Rina

“ D o you have everything you need?” I ask Izzy.

She’s frantically looking around. “Yep! I think so… let me see. Phone. Wallet. Keys. Baby… oh my god! The baby.”

“Shhh,” Keelan comes out from the nursery, shutting the door, one finger pressed to his lips. “I finally got her to nap.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Izzy sighs with a hand to her chest. “Thank you both for agreeing to watch her. You really didn’t have to. Just promise me that if it’s too much, you’ll call Ryker’s Mom or Aunt Ginny. Please.”

“Iz,” Keelan says, coming up next to me and sliding an arm over my shoulder. “We are grown adults. We can handle this.” He says, motioning between us.

I take a step away from him and let his arm fall between us. “ I’m a grown adult. The verdict is still out on you.”

He throws a hand in my direction.

“Great,” Izzy says, through a plastered smile. “But seriously… call them.”

“Go,” I say, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her out the door. “Everything will be fine. Enjoy your honeymoon. You only get three days so you better drink plenty of Pina Coladas on the beach.”

Ryker opens the door. “Rideshare is here. Is my wife ready?”

“Gah! Don’t call my sister your wife… it’s so weird,” Keelan says, making a face.

I look at him. “Oh my god, get over it. They’ve been living together. They made a baby. What do you think goes on behind closed doors?”

“And in your guest room… and in your jacuzzi,” Ryker adds with a smirk. Izzy slaps him on the chest.

Keelan drags a hand down his face. “I could’ve gone my whole life not knowing that information.”

Ryker reaches out, placing a hand on Keelan’s shoulder. “Then I’ll spare you the details about that one time in your Bronco.”

“Go!” Keelan says, pointing at the door. “Please just…” he makes heaving sounds. “Go.”

Izzy laughs and approaches her brother for a hug. “No parties.”

“Seriously, Iz? You can’t trust me not to throw a party for three days?”

“No,” she and Ryker both say in unison.

Rykers turns to me. “I trust you’ll make sure it stays that way?”

I nod. “Party police is on duty.”

“It’s her favorite duty,” Keelan mutters, now pushing them both out the door just as their rideshare driver honks.

The door shuts behind them and he leans against it, facing me.

“Welp, here we are. Just the two of us."

"Your niece is here," I remind him.

"Well, three's company."

"And don't forget about the dog."

We both look down the darkened hallway leading to the guest rooms. Standing there, eerily quiet and watching us is Izzy's dog, Wednesday.

The little black poodle mix that used to be Izzy's only companion hasn't taken a liking to playing second fiddle to a tiny human.

She shows her disdain by creepily watching everyone from the dark corners of the house until somebody notices her.

And since we do, she turns and disappears into an empty room.

"That dog is so weird," I say.

"She just takes some warming up too. Not unlike somebody I know." He quirks a brow up in my direction.

I turn on my heel and head for the kitchen. “Anyways… I think we should lay down a few ground rules, shall we?”

Keelan groans. “Just a bunch of killjoys. All of you. Tell me,” he follows me into the kitchen. “Do you guys enjoy being miserable?”

We stand facing each other across the kitchen island. “Rule number one,” I say, holding up a finger and completely ignoring him. “No touching.”

“Are we talking about the baby or–”

“Rule number two,” I hold up a second finger, cutting him off. “We’ll take turns doing nighttime feedings. I’m not going to be up all night while you just sleep like a log.”

He crosses his arms over his chest and taps a finger to his lips in thought.

“What?” I ask.

“Do you really think I’d just let you stay up all night with the baby?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Have you ever cared for a baby?”

“Have you?” he retorts.

I straighten.

He catches himself.“I’m–Jesus Rina… I’m sorry, that was insensitive. I—”

I hold a hand up to stop him. “It’s fine.”

He drops his arms and leans toward me on the island. “Ri, it’s not fine.”

“Yes it is. I’m fine.”

“Can we at least talk about it?”

“No,” I grab my laptop off the counter and make my way to the couch. I need to put space between us.

As I sit, I see on the reflection of Ryker’s giant flat-screen TV that Keelan’s watching me.

“Look, Hicks told me," he says, a little reserved.

"Hicks told you what?" I type out my password and open up my emails.

"He told me, before he left for Georgia, he told me why you and Bonehead got married so fast."

I stop scrolling. "You have no idea."

He gets closer. "I know you want to be a mom."

I shut the laptop almost as soon as I open it. “Just because we’re stuck in the same house for the next three days does not mean we’re forced to interact, Landry. I have work to do. I’m sure you can find something to entertain yourself with while Stella naps. Until then, can we just please… not.”

I watch on the dark TV screen as he drops his head, exasperated. “Fine.”

“Good.” I open the laptop again. That familiar pang in my chest is beating. The one I always get when I'm this close to Keelan. Old feelings. Never laid to rest.

I ignore it. And instead open an email from my new colleague.

Subject line: Update

Hello Rina.

I want to ensure that everything is running smoothly when you come back into the office on Weds for the sync meeting with Mack. Attached is a list of all the things I’ve taken over. I also have some suggestions I think would be beneficial for you to focus on for the PR side of things. As you know, I turned one of the league’s lowest-ranked baseball teams into the team that everyone wanted to watch, selling out arenas in just a matter of months. I plan to do the same with the Heatwave.

Thank you for your cooperation. I look forward to hearing back.

Sincerely, Jennyfer Cobbs

Heatwave Director of Marketing

I open the document. She’s changed dates for events that I had set up. She’s re-doing the entire Heatwave calendar. She’s using my assistant to help her with tasks.

At some point in reading the document, my hand clenches so tight that I have crescent marks from where my manicure sinks into my palm.

I let it go, shaking it out and trying to breathe. It’s fine. Just like with everything in life–I’ll figure this out.

I hear Stella’s little cry ring out through the quiet house. When I look back into the kitchen, Keelan is gone.

I slide the laptop off my lap and rise from the couch, making my way down the hall to her room. The door is already slightly open when I reach it.

Through the small sliver, I see Keelan reaching for his little niece. She’s swaddled in a blanket, and he bends down to pick her up.

“There’s my Stella-girl,” he coos at the child. “I’ve missed you, my sweet.”

He holds her to his chest and nuzzles her little cheek.

“Is my sweet girl hungry?”

The baby’s sobs calm down as her uncle rocks her side to side like it’s second nature for him. The scene takes me by surprise.

I’ve never seen Keelan care for a child. Much less, show so much tenderness and love. Somehow, I’ve missed seeing him with his niece all these months. And thank god, because the feelings flaring up in me are sending me for a very inconvenient loop.

He must hear me in the hall because he turns toward the door, and our eyes meet. “Looks like we have an audience, Stella. Smile for your Aunt Rina.”

I clear my throat and push the door open. He holds the baby up so she can see me.

Her rosy cheeks poke out from the swaddle job. “Wow. Izzy’s swaddle skills are getting better. This baby is practically a burrito.”

Keelan huffs out a laugh through his nose. “Please… Iz wishes she could wrap a swaddle as good as me.”

I’m reaching for the baby when I stop, looking at Keelan. “You know how to swaddle?”

“Who do you think swaddled Izzy when she was a baby and dad was at practice while mom worked?”

I don’t take my eyes off him. I’m in total disbelief. This isn’t Keelan. He doesn’t calm crying babies and make ovaries explode into thin air.

“Huh,” is all I manage to say.

He smirks. “Wanna hold her while I go get her bottle?”

I open my arms and he gently slides her into them. I turn and sit in the rocking chair as he looks back at us from the door. “You look good holding a baby, Ri.”

He means well. But those words are a gut punch. Those are the words that break me.

He disappears into the hall just as the first tear forms in the corner of my eye and slides down my cheek onto the small child. She makes a face that reminds me of her mom.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to Stella. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

I wipe the tear, but it’s quickly followed by another. And suddenly, I’m rocking in this chair, holding this child like it’s everything. Because deep down… I know that it is.

And I think Keelan knows, too.